Introducing Miss Reba

Oldman · March 25, 2005, 03:02:59 PM

Well awhile back my mother's dog passed away. A month later our vet called (knowing we cannot say no) and told us of this little 14 pound full grown female pit bull. Age was about 10 months. It seems whoever had her did not feed her enough to allow her to grow.

So Mother took her think that Reba would stay very small. Well Reba with 5 months of eating good grew a little. A little? She is now 30 plus pounds. She is still very small compaired to a normal pit. However, she is more dog than Mother can handle so we got another dog~~! About the only thing on her that grew to full size are her ears....then some to boot.

A few hours after she got here yesterday Reba and our Boxer Bonnie Blu hit it off... Reba can walk under Bonnie but she is running the fat off of Bonnie. It is so funny~~!

This is a picture of her on top of Skyway, yesterday, twenty minutes after they first met. She would run and get on top on him when I moved towards her. We figure it was a man that had her before us and that is why she is scared of me.

Miss Reba

Any who I'm the one that feeds her, and at the moment she has walked into my office. So in time it will pass. The next step is to start to train her. Small Pit or not she is still a Pit and you have to have a handle on that breed of dog.

This morning when I got up Skyway had left his couch and went to his bed in the living room. Reba was asleep on top him~~! And I mean totally on top of him! Too funny uh? She looked like a blanket on him. Her head was resting on the base of his. Her legs over the sides of him. In a couple of years she will be a fine well mannered dog.
Olds

http://rminor.com

BigSmoker · March 25, 2005, 06:15:44 PM

Olds,
I also through a series of events(a way nother story) found a pit bull puppy at my home(I am told she is a pit bull). She was so dehydrated I thought she was a goner. My wife force bottle fed her every 2 hrs for several days until she was strong enough to start being fed with a syringe(without the needle of course)with a mixture of chicken stock and rice cereal. First trip to the vet a week or so later went well. Shes healthy and fine. She had been so malnourished though she was on the borderline of having rickets. Long story short now she eats like a horse and is very healthy. My question is what particular training are you going to give the dog. We have already house broken ours with almost no effort. She is very smart and friendly. After some research(I had only heard bad things about pits before this)I found these dogs are very passive to humans and very loyal companions, especially to children. Agressive behavior towards humans must be taught/trained. Their problem lies with agressiveness towards other animals, if any agression ever appears. I also found out most people(myself included)don't even know what a pit bull looks like and identify any breed that resembles a pit bull the bad dog. Anyway any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

Oldman · March 25, 2005, 10:49:18 PM

BigSmoker <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I found these dogs are very passive to humans and very loyal companions, especially to children. Agressive behavior towards humans must be taught/trained. Their problem lies with agressiveness towards other animals, if any agression ever appears<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

What you have found out is true. However, there is more to this then what you currently are seeing in your dog. Pits are very loyal to the family. Too loyal at times. If someone comes up behind us (which has happened before) and spooks Skyway, or he thinks I'm in danager wheel chair with-standing or not he is one bad A$$ dog. Yes you can say this about any dog. However, Pits are very hard headed when the hair comes up. This is where the training and control comes into play. Even after 5 years with me there have been a couple of times when I had to get into Skyway's face. Without the training I would have failed in controling him those times.

If you take your dog to a standard training school, they will teach you about "learned responses." For example why does a dog go nuts when the mail man comes and then leaves? Why would a dog want to eat the mailman when you open the door so he can deliever a package. Yet if it was anyone else comes to the door and it is opened the dog settles down.

They will teach you what words not to use. For example you never tell a dog to lay down. Why? The dog cannot understand the difference between the words lay and stay. Next if you tell your dog his is a good dog when he stays as you commanded him that is the wrong phase. Why? He is always a good dog and as such the phase is generic and has no real meaning/ re-enforcment other than being a good feeling. Don't you tell him he is a good dog when he is playing with you? What about when he loves on you? Or when friends come over and you say he is a good dog when he is standing there? The correct phrase is good stay.Or when he dogs comes when you call him it is good come. When he lays down it is good down.

There are three key command words I have taught Skyway The first two are: Mine and Look at me. For example there is a friend of mine who wishes to meet Skyway. The first thing I do is take that person's hand by the wrist. I command Skyway to Look at me. He will look directly into my eyes and I will then issue the second command. Mine as I hold my friends hand to Skyway's nose. This tells Skyway that this person belongs to me.

Training is an all day, everyday event. In the house, outside, whatever we doing. In the house if I call him and when comes it is good come.

The third key command I taught him he hates! It is: Who Did That! I use this command when he has done something that does not please me. The biggest problem I see with people is they do not understand that a dog wishes to please you. That if the dog does not it is because the person has not taken the time to show the dog what is good. Also yelling or hitting a dog is a complete NO No! I pick a sheet of paper and shake it and all of my dogs are flat on the floor. Yet I have never yelled or hit them... ever.

If you train your dog you will find that pits don't train easy. That just getting them to heel correctly is a 15 month event. Oh they will stay by your side but they want to lead the walk. Which is their means of controlling you.

When Skyway was still walking on all 4 feet he would be with me in my car in the front seat. I could open my door and leave it open. Go into a store, and no matter who went by that door he never went out it. I taught him that door was my door, using the Mine command. He knew that door belong to me and it was not his to use.

When you train a dog, you control the dog and the dog loves it. There may very well come a time when your pit's hair goes up. The question is how are you going to control that situation. Kicking, yelling and hitting? Or are you going to be able to touch the dog and give the command Look at me?

Now one word about Pits going nuts. As you know Pits pound for pound or so are one of the strongest dogs around. They can take a beating and keep on coming back to fight. Pits don't cost a lot of money. Many people inter-bred their pits and that is where the bad pit comes into play.

Generally entry level schools are under $75.00. One hour per week with homework. 8-weeks. Those schools are there to teach you and not your dog.

Do you own test concerning your control of your dog. Get her to heel and then get her to heel and not break it when she see another dog. If you cannot get her to do this, then should an event happen you will not be able to control her. Once the hair is up on a pit, and there is an engagement God help who is on the other end. And there is nothing you are going to be able to do about it.

All and all it took me about 2 1/2 years to really get total control over Skyway. I've trained several dogs in my life. None of them was as hard headed as a Pit. Every teacher I've talked to has always said the same thing. Pits are hard to teach, but once there the reward make the effort worth while.

Let me share the small story concerning this reward. We were leaving the Vet's office and these two people where come in. They had two big mixed dogs that were pulling them and trying to get to Skyway. These folks were yelling and pulling their dogs back with great effort. Well Skyway's hair was up, all of his teeth showing. I said in a firm voice, "See Me" as I took a sheet of paper I had in my back pocket and shook it over his head. He looked up at me and I gave the command "Sit." He sat. As the couple pulled their dogs by us the man sheepishly said, "Our dogs have us trained well!"

Olds

http://rminor.com

Oldman · March 25, 2005, 11:29:53 PM

Oh there is a common word I use for biegn commands. Ready

Example. "Ready" (a short pause) "Stop." Or "Ready" (a short pause) "Left."

By using the lead word Ready with a pause, Skyway knows that there is a command coming.

A month or so after Skyway went into his cart we were walking at the golf course. A couple with there child was walking towards us. As they got within 20 feet or so I gave the Ready-pause-Left command. Skyway turn left and walked off of the sidewalk.... Talk about another proud moment where the painfull training of him was forgotten. That woman said to me "Did you just tell to go left?" My reply was Yepper I did.

There is a small business area we walk through everyday. Skyway just sets people back as I'm not holding his leash. Yet at every crossroad he stops and does not move until I give the Ready-pause-Go command. Two section are a 4-way stop, and man does he get great reviews. You cannot imagine the comments said about him to me or the one direct to him~~! Hell we have had more than one car block the inter-section for us. I guess they were thinking that they were protecting us. I mean to tell ya they park there car in the middle of the road until we got to the other side~~!

When the training is over there is a bond that I cannot explain in words here. You just have to find out about it for yourself.

I will be honest about this: Since Skyway went down, I'm much...maybe too soft on him. But he is my boy and I love him. We have a bond. We have a trust. He knows that I'm still in control...even when I let him get away with small things now.

Olds

http://rminor.com

BigSmoker · March 26, 2005, 12:02:57 AM

Thanks Olds. You have shed lots of light my way and I appreciate it.

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

Oldman · March 26, 2005, 02:18:46 PM

BigSmoker you are more than welcome. If you do go through the pains of training your pit the day will come when someone will come up to you and then you will hear them say: Oh God that's a Pit Bull! As they stop not knowing what to expect. It is then when you give that Ready-pause-Left command and she turn left and walks off with you. At that point you can look back and reply. Yepper she is the real deal. She is a Pit~~!

Just give the command loud enough so you can educate that person [^]

On another note: Once this bond through training completed make sure your entire family understands and follows with the correct phases. Also I believe the bond is greater by much due to the training, and God help the person that is not invited into your home.

We had an intruder a good 3 years back that came through the kitchen window around 4 am. I was awakened to much screaming. The guy was trying to get back out through the window. When I got to the kitchen (gun in hand of course) Skyway had his right leg at the calf in his mouth. That guy was hanging out the window screaming his A$$ off, but he was not going anywhere. From what I can figure our Boxer was the first to see him. Skyway must have been in my office Well this guy hit Bonnie with the pry bar he had used to break open the window. Well she yelled and at that point the Alpha Male came totally out of Skyway. It took me a good 20 seconds to get Skyway and Bonnie to turn loose of this guy.

The bond created was so great that when I got the guy back into the kitchen and on the floor, Skyway kept placeing himself between this guy and Bonnie and myself. That guy was really torn up. Arms, legs, hands, I must have slept through the first several minutes of the attack.

After the cops came and left, Bonnie settled down pretty quickly. However, it took well over 2 hours of me talking to Skyway before his hair laid back down on his back. He was so Alpha that Susan and Bonnie would not go near him.

I believe to this day the only reason I will able to touch and talk to him during his state of Alpha mind was the bond and trust between us that came from the training. I also believe that if Skyway had not been so Alpha that the intruder would have killed Bonnie with that bar and then there would have been a shoot out in my house. The guy also had a gun. We found it under the kitchen table.

Am I proud of him? Yes I am. Do I ever want to see that side of him again. Hell no. Once in a lifetime is enough. For a moment there I thought he was going to kill the guy. For a moment there I did not think I could get him to break. In the end I had to grab Skyway's nose as he was tearing up this guys leg. As I grabbed his nose I growled at him in my harshest voice: See Me--NO!

EDIT: I almost did not share this with you because of the words Pit Bull. However, Skyway today is the dog that when we walk over at the parkway that same little girl always say to me as she is trying to kiss him on the nose... "Can you stop him from sticking his tounge in my mouth?"

In my first reply to you we spoke of Loyalty. Folks just don't know how Loyal a Pit is to their family. Without the training we went through together there is no doubt I would have had to kill Skyway in order to save that man's life.

Olds

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BigSmoker · March 26, 2005, 03:30:08 PM

Again more info I needed to know so I can be prepared for a worst case scenerio.

Jeff

Some say BBQ is in your blood, if thats true my blood must be BBQ sauce.

Oldman · March 26, 2005, 03:57:03 PM

Jeff,
I do hope what I've shared does not give you reason to get rid of your Pit. They are without a doubt the best pet family member we have ever had. Good temperment, lots of love given to the family, and once trained a show case to dispel the mis-truths about them.

When Skyway passes, my next dog will be another red-noise Pit Bull. He will be named after this one. Red nose Pits males are 70-75 pounds. Just the right size for a home. Just don't have two males. A couple of females is ok with one male.

I got a feeling from other postings you had done and from this thread your Pit and You are soon to be headed to school... good luck! God Speed and it will take time. But trust me once you get there and it is done, and the basic learning is over with you will be one proud Papa~!

One last command. Teach your Pit the understanding of the command Yours I don't I need to explain that to you. Yours is yours...

Olds

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