Some Questions about Pitbulls

two females, littermates or not, I would ALWAYS crate them when I'm not around.
Pit bulls more often than not lean towards dog aggression. I just wouldn't leave them unsupervised, ever. If you're not in the room, one should be with you, or both should be crated.
I know they're only puppies (right?), so I would start this now so they get used to it.
When not home, crate both.
I have a pit bull mix and she NEVER has free reign of my house. She's crated if I run to the gas station down the street for a pack of gum.

Chances are, your girls will get along fine, but if you're a responsible owner, I'd separate them when you're not around. And as they get older, I'd keep an even closer eye on them.

You're doing good to socialize them now as pups. Keep that up. Get them around as many dogs as possible while they're puppies so that there is more a chance that they'll be better with other dogs as they get older.

The best thing you can do for your dogs is to enroll them in obedience training. That is sooo important, and IMO, absolutely mecessary, especially with a strong, dominant breed.

Keep them seperated/crated when you are not home. Feed them seperately. Moniter them at all times.

They need lots of exercise. Exercise, dicipline, affection (Yes, it's "Cesars Way" but I find that it's helpful, and very true)
A tired dog, is a happy dog.

How old are they??

They're 4 months at the moment.

Now is a GREAT time to start obedience classes.

Start ASAP because this is the most impressionable time of their lives, and they need lots of positive reinforcment, and guidance.

Never hit them, or yell, or punish them by putting them outsie or in their crate. Be calm, but firm, and consistant.

Would you like me to suggest some books for you??

I would love books.  As I said I've read some but am always looking for more.

I agree, do not use the crate as a punishment.
But it IS OK to give non-punishment time-outs during the day. I do this with my dog because she likes to pace. She's a nervous dog.
Obedience training, yes, but do NOT find someone who is going to be a POSITIVE trainer. Don't go to one that is going to push prong collars. I'm going to tell you, with pit bulls pulling comes naturally. They usually have a high prey drive and VERY strong necks. Anytime a leash is tight on that prong collar, that's a correction. A prong collar isn't going to make much of a difference to a pit bull, you know? It works for some, but not for mine. If she is going to pull, she's going to pull no matter WHAT she has on. I'm positive treat training with my dog right now. I use treats and the "heel" command A LOT. Heck, "heel" almost works like my "watch" command now. I say "heel", she stops, looks at me, comes and sits next to me and looks to me for a treat. I've got her attention. When she pulls during walks, I stop the walk. We don't go home, I just stop the walk and say "heel". Then I pull out a treat. Sorry to ramble on, I'm just really happy because I *think* I might have figured out how to get my dog to NOT pull on our walks without having to use a prong collar.

Pit bulls are VERY human loving and can be VERY sensitive to human discipline, so don't speak harshly. There really shouldn't be a need to, they are VERY much a dog that LOVES to please their owner.

[linkhttp://www.amazon.com/Bones-Would-Rain-Sky-Relationships/dp/B000FL88VC/sr=1-1/qid=1167664128/ref=sr_1_1/103-7176934-4100606?ie=UTF8&s=books]bones would rain from the sky[/link]-Suzanne Clothier

[linkhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0968420710/ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/103-7176934-4100606?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books]Dogs are from neptune[/link]-jean donaldson

[linkhttp://www.amazon.com/Culture-Clash-Jean-Donaldson/dp/1888047054/sr=1-1/qid=1167664167/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7176934-4100606?ie=UTF8&s=books]The Culture clash[/link]-Jean donaldson

[linkhttp://www.amazon.com/Fight-Jean-Donaldson/dp/0970562969/sr=1-2/qid=1167664167/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/103-7176934-4100606?ie=UTF8&s=books]Fight![/link]-jean donaldson

[linkhttp://www.amazon.com/Mine-Jean-Donaldson/dp/0970562942/sr=1-3/qid=1167664167/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/103-7176934-4100606?ie=UTF8&s=books]Mine![/link]-jean donaldson

Try and get through these books in that order. These are the staples in dog training books. They don't exactly tell you how to train your dog, but rather how to evaluate your dogs mental capacity for learning, and learn a bit about dog psychology and learning theory. This will greatly help any owner, especially those who own dogs who tend to lean towards dog-dog aggression.

If you get those, you should [linkhttp://www.amazon.com/Excel-Erated-Learning-Explaining-Plain-English/dp/1888047070/sr=1-1/qid=1167664066/ref=sr_1_1/103-7176934-4100606?ie=UTF8&s=books]Excelerated Learning: How dogs think in plain english and how best to teach them[/link] by pam reid



(all books linked to amazon.com)

Wait....

Obedience training, yes, but do NOT find someone who is going to be a POSITIVE trainer. Don't go to one that is going to push prong collars. I'm going to tell you, with pit bulls pulling comes naturally. They usually have a high prey drive and VERY strong necks. Anytime a leash is tight on that prong collar, that's a correction. A prong collar isn't going to make much of a difference to a pit bull, you know? It works for some, but not for mine. If she is going to pull, she's going to pull no matter WHAT she has on. I'm positive treat training with my dog right now. I use treats and the "heel" command A LOT. Heck, "heel" almost works like my "watch" command now. I say "heel", she stops, looks at me, comes and sits next to me and looks to me for a treat. I've got her attention. When she pulls during walks, I stop the walk. We don't go home, I just stop the walk and say "heel". Then I pull out a treat. Sorry to ramble on, I'm just really happy because I *think* I might have figured out how to get my dog to NOT pull on our walks without having to use a prong collar.

Pit bulls are VERY human loving and can be VERY sensitive to human discipline, so don't speak harshly. There really shouldn't be a need to, they are VERY much a dog that LOVES to please their owner.

I find these two statements contradictory...Don't find a +R trainer, yet they are very sensitive to human discipline? Human discipling is NOT just speaking harshly. -R would be beating the dog, shocking the dog, whipping the dog in the major sensory nerves in the hind legs, yelling at the dog, popping the dog on the collar....Do you think someone would want to do that to a dog? I don't have a problem with lightly popping, but the rest of those used in -R should only be used as a last resort if the dog is a threat to society and the owner doesn't want to euthanize the dog.

and even if pulling comes naturally to a pit, if you go to a nice, +R trainer, the pulling can be ceased. Of course it can with -R, but with obvious reasons, I think +R should be everyones top choice.

Lifyre-What area are you from? If your located near me and chewbecca, I have great trainers to refer you to. If not, well, I know of quite a few across the country that work. If you have any other questions, you can always ask me. Another good person to ask is spiritdogs (Anne). She's a great trainer, and loves to help everyone!

Good luck with your fuzz butts!

The most important thing right now is to get these girls into two separate positive classes.  The reason?   They need socialization with a lot of other dogs that they don't live with!!!!  And, they need to learn to respect and look to you for guidance, rather than each other.
Do crate train them, and always feed and give treats separately. 
With Pits and Pit mixes, you won't always be able to tell when the "switch goes off".  They can become dog aggressive quite suddenly, even with dogs they have known, and even played with.  As puppies, they play well with others, are almost always loud and growly when they play, and easily managed.  As adults they must be kept safe - not dogs for the dog park usually.
The books that belgmal_girl recommended are excellent.  To find a positive trainer, check these sites:
www.ccpdt.com
www.clickertraining.com

If these girls are 4 months old, you have waited way too long to get them into classes.  Do it yesterday!!!

ORIGINAL: belgmal_girl

Wait....

Obedience training, yes, but do NOT find someone who is going to be a POSITIVE trainer. Don't go to one that is going to push prong collars. I'm going to tell you, with pit bulls pulling comes naturally. They usually have a high prey drive and VERY strong necks. Anytime a leash is tight on that prong collar, that's a correction. A prong collar isn't going to make much of a difference to a pit bull, you know? It works for some, but not for mine. If she is going to pull, she's going to pull no matter WHAT she has on. I'm positive treat training with my dog right now. I use treats and the "heel" command A LOT. Heck, "heel" almost works like my "watch" command now. I say "heel", she stops, looks at me, comes and sits next to me and looks to me for a treat. I've got her attention. When she pulls during walks, I stop the walk. We don't go home, I just stop the walk and say "heel". Then I pull out a treat. Sorry to ramble on, I'm just really happy because I *think* I might have figured out how to get my dog to NOT pull on our walks without having to use a prong collar.

Pit bulls are VERY human loving and can be VERY sensitive to human discipline, so don't speak harshly. There really shouldn't be a need to, they are VERY much a dog that LOVES to please their owner.

I find these two statements contradictory...Don't find a +R trainer, yet they are very sensitive to human discipline? Human discipling is NOT just speaking harshly. -R would be beating the dog, shocking the dog, whipping the dog in the major sensory nerves in the hind legs, yelling at the dog, popping the dog on the collar....Do you think someone would want to do that to a dog? I don't have a problem with lightly popping, but the rest of those used in -R should only be used as a last resort if the dog is a threat to society and the owner doesn't want to euthanize the dog.

and even if pulling comes naturally to a pit, if you go to a nice, +R trainer, the pulling can be ceased. Of course it can with -R, but with obvious reasons, I think +R should be everyones top choice.

Lifyre-What area are you from? If your located near me and chewbecca, I have great trainers to refer you to. If not, well, I know of quite a few across the country that work. If you have any other questions, you can always ask me. Another good person to ask is spiritdogs (Anne). She's a great trainer, and loves to help everyone!

Good luck with your fuzz butts!

That positive training thing was a typo on my part. Sorry.
I meant to say find someone who IS going to be a positive trainer. My coffee hadn't kicked in yet.

oooh, and if you ARE near me (the Chicagoland area) I am going to refer you to "Anything is Pawsible" in Chicago. I've heard WONDERFUL things (ESPECIALLY with the dealing of pit bull training specifically) about the head trainer there. I am now in contact with the lady who did Ella's intake at the shelter and she's been doing pit bull rescue for years and working with these people and she said that no one can beat Rendy when it comes to training pit bulls. She's a +R trainer and just fabulous from what I hear.

I'm in Sourthern California High Desert.  We've had the puppies for 8 days now so we didn't have much opportunity to get them into classes before.  We'll get them into classes asap.

My concern about crate training is that I hate to confine a dog to that small of a space for any length of time during the day.  This would really be an absolute last resort for me if there was no other option.

There is no other option. You MUST crate train. Don't make it a negative thing. Plush the crate out with blankets, doggy beds, put a blanket over the sides (this will not only reduce negative behaviors like barking or growling while in the crate, but it also creates a den-like environment and MY dog loves it). When you have to put them in there, get kongs and fill them up with treats or freeze peanut butter in them.

You have to crate with pit bulls. ESPECIALLY if there are two of them in your house. Pit bulls can jump VERY high, so baby gates aren't going to be enough to separate your two from eachother when you're not there. They can chew holes in walls and, well, any dog can be destructive, so if you were thinking of simply just putting them in separate rooms and closing doors, you might be setting your dogs up for destruction trouble if you try that. Crates are safe, can be a positive thing for your dog, and once they are crate trained you won't have it any other way.[]

ok, sorry about my rant[] It upsets me when people say that sort of thing, and I go overboard...


I know where you are in CA...my grandparents live in palm springs (or near there anyways). Hmmm...I have no idea what you should do for training around there. I'll check with my mom