Where To Start?

1349 Views 10 Replies 4 Participants Last post by 05_GTO, Mar 19, 2009

05_GTO

Discussion Starter · Mar 14, 2009

This is not my first dog, but my first strong and kinda aggressive dog. I rescued him from the pound along with the dog I got before him 7 months ago. The first dog I got was a female American Pit Bull Terrier, 2 months old, spayed, was easy to train, gets along great with humans/dogs and is not aggressive. She is now 9 months old.

I wanted to get a playmate for her so I went to the pound to get another dog, it ended up being another Pit Bull, 5 months old, neutered and from what I was told he is a Seal Pit Bull (black and white)??? Anyways he has been sick so I took him to the vet a few days ago and he is doing much better. Now he is very hyper active and plays with my other dog VERY aggressively. He is strong for his size and bites hard. I've only had him for 5 days and for 3 of those days he was in very bad shape, now that he is doing better I can start to train him.

He is already potty trained, I am now wondering should I work on the basics like sit, etc. Or should I work on him not biting so hard and playing nicer? Also how should I go about teaching him how not to bite so hard? He has attacked my other dog once when he was sick. I don't know if he was just doing it cuz he was sick and did not want to show weakness, or what.... it was over a toy from what I saw. He did not harm my other dog, but still it worried(s) me. He has not done it since and they play all the time now, but it scares me that one of them might get hurt, one of these times since he plays so aggressively.

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hanksimon

· #10 · Mar 19, 2009

There is a Sticky: The Bite Stops Here. It is important to get Bite Inhibition taught early. You can also teach the basic cues: sit, down, come. But at this stage, and at this age, I think you want to work on biting, because it is harder to teach an adult dog bite inhibition than it is to teach him to sit. And, it is MUCH easier to teach a puppy not to bite than to teach him as an adult.

I published an article, "How to Nip Nipping..." in the March/April issue of JustLabs magazine on p. 18, which is similar to "The Bite Stops Here" sticky, and may help with other behaviors, also. You should be able to read it at a larger Barnes & Nobles bookstore. I haven't checked Half Price or Borders.

- Hank Simon

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