New Puppy Training

[pitbull2008]

We just got a pitbull puppy and we need to train him. He is only 4 months old but we are going to start early since we just got him. I've been working on with teaching him how to sit but i dont know how well thats going. Everytime he puts his butt to the ground I say sit. Or if he is standing I will gently put my hand under his chin and push gently on his butt until he sits and when he sits i tell him sit and good boy. But since hes a pit i need to get him trained well to sit stay and not jump or bite since we have a 11 month old baby girl. Any suggestions? He is a smart dog I just need to train him well. We have started with the leash now and I took him around two blocks and he did fine he was just all over the place sniffing new scents. Thanks!

[catrinsparkles]

There is loads of advice that can be given and you need but the most valuable is to get to a puppy class and keep going and practising. In my opinion you are not starting training early - you are starting it slightly late as the pup is already 4 months old.

Puppy training should ideally start as soon as the pup comes home which is usually 8 weeks of age.

I pressume you are in the states so i would go to

www.apdt.com

or

http://www.siriuspup.com/

and find a pupppy class in your area and start going now, yes now, this week!

You are right your dog needs to be well behaved and you need to use positive effective methods which is why i suggest you use the links above to find a puppy class.

[tonyaarnett]

Treats! Treats are key. Work with him for about 15 minutes at a time. Hold a treat just above his nose (create your own hand signal). Wait until you have his attention, say "sit" one time, and WAIT until he does it. Then praise. If he's confused, put the treat back a bit toward the back of his head slowly so that he has to look up even farther, and his butt should go down. I didn't have to do the hand on the butt thing, and it worked for me. Do this for all tricks. Within a couple weeks I have trained my little chihauhau to sit, lay down, jump over, go under, off, to come...and we have fun trying new things all the time. Handsignals work great.

As far as the no jumping thing, do the Stilwell back turn on the dog. Do not give him any attention for jumping (and this goes for barking too). Turn your back on the dog until he is bored of jumping. You'll be amazed at how fast it works. Just make sure every visitor you know, knows to do the same thing. Don't greet the dog when he is jumping.

Hope that helps. Let me know if it works!

[pitbull2008]

Yeah well we got him when he was about three months old and I've been just working on him with the leash im not sure what the previous owners where training him. The guy had told us he was a wimpy dog and he needed to be ruffed up a little bit to get him a little more angrier. I just said uhm no thanks - we are making him a nice dog. But What kinda treats should I use. Like little bitty ones or just dog biscuits.

[emmabeth]

Little tiny REALLY REALLY tasty treats, big treats means the dog forgets what hes doing and takes too long to eat thema nd he gets too full too quick.

Tiny little treats like little bits of cheese or sausage or oven dried liver, and really stinky stuff like garlic sausage...

Squeezy cheese in a tube is also a great one as they get more flavour out of it than they do something chewy.

Have a search through this part of the forum for threads about puppy behaviour and puppy biting, and jumping up.

These are things dogs naturally do (and chewing and biting are things they NEED to do), so there are good ways to teach them its not ok to do it to people (ie you teach them to always be realllllly careful, or the fun ends immediately)..

There are bad ways too... those include shouting, hitting etc - these either frighten a pup, or make the pup think its a fun fun game, and so pup tries harder!!!! worsening the behaviour.

Hth.

[cbabygurl]

It was difficult to teach my dog to sit also. I taught my dog how to sit by showing him a treat and holding it above his head and back a little. This forces him too look up but sit at the same time. Maybe this will work for you, best of luck.

Also on the topic of treats. I tend to get large treats that I can easily break, so that their more versatile.