adoped pitbull help? (long post)

[ClareMarsh]

So based upon her day as it currently stands she is under exercised and probably a bit bored. This is in NO WAY a criticism of you as in fact it's better that you've kept her walks short given it sounds like she's overstimulated on them. In fact as you start to practise the new techniques, keeping her at her safe distance, reinforcing calm behaviour it is probably advisable to continue to keep her walks short. If you think that she relaxes back down at home enough you can always do more short walks per day. The important thing is that she doesn't get to the point where it all gets way too much for her to cope with, always try to quit your walks whilst it's going well

The "It's yer choice" game, once a lot of dogs "get it" they will want to avoid the treats, with my girl once we got to the bit scattering treats on the floor she would turn her body as far away from them as she could. The important thing with increasing the difficulty for the dog is not to make them really uncomfortable, a little stress at having to not take the treat is ok, but being really stressed about it isn't. Only you are going to be able to judge that with your dog.

You can also start to do the same exercises with other things that you would like your dog to be calm around, so let's say she races out the door (on leash or off leash). You can play this game to get a nice wait until you release her to go out the door. You don't need to say anything, just hold the door handle and once you have calm behaviour start to open the door, the moment she gets too excited or tries to go out the door without you releasing her you close the door again. It might take you half an hour to get out the first time but she'll improve, it will help her overall impulse control, taking her cues from you and having to work out what you want will tire her out too

Purina one isn't the greatest food, on www.dogfoodadvisor.com it gets 2 out of 5 stars. Although if she has digestive issues and is doing good on it maybe it's something you could look at changing in time if you were interested. Some of the lower quality foods (and I'm not suggesting you've gone out and bought any old cheap food because the dog for industry has done a great job of making us think many of the well known brands are fantastic when they're really not) can make it more difficult for dogs to concentrate so changing her food may also help her be calmer. A lot of us on here raw feed and there are also people who've done a lot of research on dog food and can advise on better brands. So maybe something to think about when you're ready.

Hi all, OP hereMy mother was a bit loud as she exited - she laughed sharply, like jarring sort of ha! ha! - and she was kind of like prancing away for show and my dog barked at her and kind of lunged, but not really to bite, more like she was trying to assert herself. My mom then like actually ran away for real and then my dog ran to the door frame and barked at my mom's retreating figure.

I didn't say anything after this happened and I ignored my dog for about ten mins. afterward - was I right in doing this or should I have said something like a sharp No! or an ah-ah buzzer sound type of thing? Should my mother have run off?

I think all the times she's barked or growled at my mother I've been there with her - is this a territory thing? Is she trying to protect me or something? Because when she's alone with my mother they get along super well. I can't for the life of me figure this out. This is like the fourth time this has happened in the past week or two. I know some dogs just don't like other people but again, they seem to get along well 99% of the time.

Thanks again.

Others might have a different view but it sounds to me like she is a bit under confident/doesn't like loud voices/fast movement and tries to stop those things happening around her. Your mum then running away would have made the whole situation even more arousing for her hence the barking. For the time being ideally people need to endeavour to be calmer around her and try not to raise voices/run around. This isn't forever as when you start working on other things with her she should over time become less sensitive to these things happening.

Telling her off in these situations isn't going to help much and runs the rid of her trying to suppress the behaviour and then freaking out even more. So instead I would teach her a positive interrupter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvPaqMZyo8 Obviously if her behaviour is putting another person in danger then I would physically step in.

As for if it only happening when you are there, it's likely that when you are there she feels more confident and able to tell your mum to stop doing the things that she doesn't like whereas when you are absent probably is too scared to do anything about it.

Are there other people that you live with? It sounds like there are things that your mum unintentionally does that trigger your dog. Maybe try just observing them a little, you may start to see that your dog either generally isn't comfortable around your mum (which seem unlikely given she chooses to sleep in her room sometimes) or it maybe that there are certain things that your mum does that worry your dog. You may start to see warning signals (lip licking, yawning, overly focussed on what your mum is doing etc) when your mum does certain things.

I feel like I'm writing an essay Also be aware that if you have a stressful walk then your dog is more likely to freak out at your mum doing something that she is not comfortable with. Stress builds up quickly and drains away slowly, it's worth knowing this as it can put some things into perspective.

Leads are the same as leashes... I think "lead" is the way Brits say it

Yep, Brit here a lead is a leash There's a whole world of leashes out there from 4 ft and up to 100 ft I'd probably get a couple of 6ft leashes for walking her and then get a 20ft or so for playing catch in your yard with her

OK I'm done, I'm sure others will be in to offer advice too