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True_Pits, think you can help me?

Discussion in 'Dogs - Pit bull breeds specific' started by bullylove1, Apr 1, 2004.

  1. bullylove1

    bullylove1 New Member

    I had a question for you. I know you have a couple of dogs, and I remember you saying one was dog aggressive. I was wondering how you manage this while being out in public. I will give you a run down on Harley which I am sure you may have heard most of by now.
    Harley gets so aroused when beign outside by the scents of other dogs, and everything she gets very weary of evrything and is hard to control. She will not listen to any commands, but is a perfect angel at home and listens extremely well. Walking her is a nightmare! She will walk and neigh like a horse the whole time and never really enjoys herself when out. I bought her a harness for more control, but am going to get one made that just goes around the arms and is padded because she is still choking herself with this one. She loves to pull, and I would love to put her in little comps, but the aggression is too much. Is there any little weights I can buy her for the yard to pull? (Sorry off topic).

    She was not socialized at all when we got her, and it has been a battle outside ever since. I can usually keep her attention on me with food and toys, but as soon as she smells a dog, its like I am not even there. Our vet is very accomodating and when we have to take her, they make sure there are no dogs in the waiting room. They are great about everything.

    I guess I am just wondering if you have the same problems with your dog, or what tricks you used to help control it. The dog aggression does not bother me, I have learned to deal with that. I just want her to be happy to be outside and not so sketchy all the time.

    HELP!
     
  2. True_Pits

    True_Pits New Member

    Don't know if I can be of much help on this one. Hopefully some one else may have a better idea. I don't really worry about walking my dogs in public, Val really pulls the hell out of my arm too, I have a leather walking harness for her. I had Santana out the other day and a loose dog rushed up in the street so she was barking back. Made me so mad because people are so irresponsible. Sometimes I don't even try to do much, but I didn't want something big to happen so I just picked Santana up while this owner is trying to call her dog who is ignoring her. Then it finally goes and I put mine down and keep walking and the other dog tries it again and is being called going back in forth between running off and staying. Instead of picking the dog up or putting it inside until we are out of sight they do nothing. She is a brat, I take her on the street to drag weight and she knows where everydog dog lives this is so irretating. Even if the dog isn't out or in a dog house she will stop and stare to wait for the dog to come out. She will be pulling great then stop and I have to regain her attention quickly before the dog comes out or it will be hell to get her to come on. She goes nuts and won't come and I hate her trying to back out of the harness. I'm going to be getting some help with this one, see if I can't get tips on how to keep her focus even though she knows where the dogs live at, not let her get distracted by that. All my dogs will look though, its just their nature. Very alert in good Pit Bull fashion. Once I was walking Inferno and we came to a drain, covered with leaves as it was fall, he started whining and then trying to dig and I said come on, lets go, theres nothing there, but he wouldn't listen. Then I looked over and he was still diggging the leaves, I kicked them and said its nothing. Well when I kicked them some fell, but I heard another sound and I cleared a bit more leaves and there was a cat. So then he started screaming because he could see it. Guess he smelt the cat down there. I told him to come and pulled him away then we continued our walk. I don't really have an issue like yours. I would do the weight pull competitions with her. They are really great and I don't see dog aggression being a problem??? I'll see what info I can get about the drag weighting, these might be able to be applied with your situation. The person I'm checking with is the owner of CH ACE Venus(santanas aunt), Santana is about as nutty as her, they take her in the streets so I'm sure they have devised some way to keep her focus.
     
  3. bullylove1

    bullylove1 New Member

    Thanks. I think some good pull activity is just what she needs. She has such a great drive and I just know she would love it.
    Like you, I need to learn how to keep the focus on me when we're out. I boil chicken and cut into small pieces, but that doesn't even work all the time.
    Did you have to get your padded harness made? Evey store I have been to doesn't sell them, only the cloth clip ones.
     
  4. True_Pits

    True_Pits New Member

    You can order a harness online, have someone make one or buy them at a show. The president of our club makes them and I'm thinking about having one made for santana the one I'm using for her now is the one I used on my male so its a lil big. If you can find window weights those work great. You hook those to a chain and then to the harness. Here is a website with some nice harnesses. http://www.itsmysite.com/cdpits/ There are some other sites that you can find if you do a search for weightpull harnesses, but you get drafting and sled dog harness sites pop up too. You want one that is padded and made out of Nylon or Rayon. They come in all different colors and designs which makes it cool. You can have your dogs name/knl name put on some.
     
  5. goob

    goob New Member

    I'm not true pits, but I'm dealing with this myself with one of our dogs, so here's what I've found. Goo is similar to what you describe, except she's pretty relaxed on her walks unless she sees another dog, then takes a bit to calm back down afterwards.

    We've been working at this for the past several years, and she was doing pretty well at home, and on short walks with no or few other dogs around. Last summer I started taking her for longer walks on different routes, and we (of course) ran into more dogs that way, so she's fallen back into some old habits and developed a few new ones that we're tryign to fix now.

    The key is to be able to get her to focus on you whenever you want her to, and to work up to that sort of distraction through many many repetitions. You can also do a "trade off" for her, in Goo's case, when we pass a dog in a yard, I say "pull by", and she'll lean into the leash, pulling me along a bit as we past, rather than acting like a savage towards the other dog (I do a bit of pulling with her already, so the "pull" command is one she was familiar with). The pulling is still an outlet for her frustrations, but MUCH better than her screaming and carrying on as we walk by. Sometimes she'll eye up the dog as she passes, but a quick "AHCH! PULL!" gets her focused on moving forward again. Use whatever works, if she wants to tug (many will when they're that worked up, as it lets out their frustrations), pull out a tug and have at it; if she wants to pull, let her pull past them; if she wants to run, break into a jog as you pass them; if she wants food, feed her as you pass. She's probably VERY stressed when she sees another dog, so you have to find something she feels comfortable with. Some dogs won't eat or play at that point, because the stress level is too high, so you have to use whatever it takes. If need be, you can increase food drive by using part of her daily ration as training treats... she doesn't do the work, she doesn't get that part of the food... she won't starve if she gets a reduced portion for a few days before realizing (most are more than willing by the next day after only getting 1/2 their normal food) she has to work for her meal. Rollover rolled dog food (there are other brands as well) -the stuff that looks like a big plastic wrapped sausage- is a good food reward, has a strong smell, and ours go crazy when I pull a bag out of the freezer.... but use whatever works for her.

    This is a good article on desensitizing dog agrgessive dogs to other dogs, much better than I could explain...
    http://www.clickersolutions.com/article ... tizing.htm

    A side note.... when I tried to "turn into my dog" so she'd have to look at me to avoid being stepped on..... she didn't. I ended up trampling her near front foot, then stumbling over her, all the while with her staring forward, ears slapped back like "WTF are you doing!?!?". Be aware that they may not take heed the first few times you run into them :lol: . Also, if she normally walks a bit ahead of you, it would be good to work on getting her back more even with you so when you do step over, you'll be in her line of vision, more easily forcing her over.

    I haven't used this method yet for leashed dogs not in yards (I just have her sit, back turned, and try to keep her attention on me as they pass), or loose dogs, so don't know how it would work in those situations; and have only recently started using it with fenced dogs, though I have seen a bit of progress so far.

    It will be a BIG help if you work on focus exercises in non-distracting places (in the house, in your yard, etc) a lot over the next few weeks, as she will already understand the concept of keeping focus to get her reward.

    If you can find a good trainer or behaviorist in your area, they could probably be a big help in working on this, as they can actually see her in action.

    Good luck with her...
     
  6. bullylove1

    bullylove1 New Member

    HI Goob, thanks for your reply. I didn't know if anyone else had this problem and that's why I focused it to True_Pits.

    I have been working with her for the last couple of months on the "watch me" cue. No matter what she's doing if I say watch me she stops and looks at me. This works great everywhere EXCEPT where I need it, outside on walks.

    I laughed when you talked about tripping and stepping on your dog. NO matter what I do, Harley will stay focused on that dog. Its kinda embarassing, and that is not how I wnat to advocate for the breed. I am hopefully going to start some at home only weight training with her soon. I think that is a great idea how you tell goob to pull to put back her focus. These kind of activities are exactly what Harley needs.

    I am familiar with clicker training and use my own method of it. I snap instead of using a clicker. I could never find one here, and read that as long as you use the same sound each time, it will work. It has been pretty good and Harley is much more controllable now than when we first got her. With clicker training we have taught her to not jump n people, never to nip even in play, and are currently usign it to teach to to use only one part of the yard for bathroom breaks.

    Thanks for al your help Goob. Some great suggestions
     
  7. goob

    goob New Member

    The key to being able to keep her attention even when she sees another dog is to get it on you before she gets even mildly aggitated, which can be hard at times. Watch her closely, and be aware of your surroundings, so you can try and beat her to the punch. As soon as you see another dog, get her attention. If you don't make it in time, you can try turning her and getting her to focus as you move AWAY from the other dog (Goo of course tries to cram her head around and watch them as we walk, bumping into my legs because she doesn't watch where she's actually going :roll: ), but you may have to travel a bit backwards before she's taken her attention enough off the other dog to focus back on you.
     
  8. bullylove1

    bullylove1 New Member

    Thanks Goob,
    We still have a LOT of work ahead of us. Harley's problem isn't just SEEING dogs, but SMELLING dogs, their scent is everywhere, and it gets her really excited. We have been walking her on the same path for hte last little while to get her used to just those smells, next we will gradually change the path to incorporate new paths and work those smells in with the existing ones. Just knowing a dog lives in a specific house and not being able to see it, Harley gets aroused (not in a good way ;)).

    Thanks for your tips.
     
  9. goob

    goob New Member

    Goo also knows what houses have what dogs, and I've caught her a few times getting antsy when she's caught a whiff of another dog nearby, but the way you describe Harley is much more interested in it than Goo normally is. I would just try to redirect her to you when she starts that excited sniffing, maybe toss in a bit of obedience work to take her mind off of it. It's also a good idea to let her get used to the current smells before introducing new ones, but another thinng to consider is that if you're always walking her in new places, it will be harder for her to remember where EVERY dog is on her walks, so it could help to reduce some of er anticipation. I think it would depend on the dog for that, but it's something to consider if you think it might help. Its takes time and hard work to really see progress in situations like this, so you're right in looking at it as an ongoing process :idea:
     

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