Some Questions about Pitbulls

Lifyre-
I also want to say, if you have a fenced in yard, NEVER leave your dogs outside while you're gone. Not only is it unsafe for your dogs (they have been known to jump 6 ft. and 10 ft. fences) as they can jump fences and then they'll be gone, but pit bulls are the number one breed that is stolen. I don't live in an extremely pit bull popular area, but people ARE fascinated with Ella whenever they see her. I will NEVER take my dog with me somewhere and leave her in the car. She could easily be stolen. And even though I don't live in a pit bull popular area, I know of 2 pups near me (from separate homes) that were stolen.

You also have to have a thick skin with this breed. People can say some pretty rotten things to owners about and TO their dogs. Be the better person by ignoring or show them how human friendly your pups are (assuming they ARE human friendly). Allow people walking by to pet your dogs.

NO DOG PARKS. EVER. I do not care HOW WELL behaved your pit mixes are. As spiritdogs has said, pits can "switch" at any time and it can be completely unknown when that time could be. The "switch" being to dog aggression. Do not bring your dogs to a dog park and put them in a position that they could very well disappoint you in. You have to remember that dog aggression (DA) is a lot of the time an inborn thing with this breed due to their fighting history and the fact that breeders would breed the most DA dogs to accomplish this. I'm not trying to be harsh, this is a definite reality with the APBT.
Some people take their dog friendly pit bulls into Petco. I, personally, won't be doing this. I don't recommend it either. Not unless you have complete control over your dog at all times and you know them like the back of your hand. I still wouldn't risk it then. I'm a super careful and paranoid bully owner, though[].

and you if you haven't already,SPAY THEM.[]

And, if you want, join this place[linkhttp://www.pitbullforum.com]pit bull forum.[/link]

They are extremely helpful and can also guide you into proper breed specific care for your dogs. There are some real bully breed owner experts there that have dealt with EVERYTHING involving pit bulls.

Oh crates are a lovely safe haven for dogs.  I live with six german shepherds and by golly sometimes the crate is their only escape from the others.  And two females?  Gosh, males will posture and "fight" for position in the pack, but females will KILL one another if given the chance.  Get them spayed as soon as you can and start the crate training NOW.  I will never have more than one female again at the same time...and my experience was with cocker spaniels.

I really dont reccomend having towo bitches in the same household, especially of this breed. However thats not to say that it cant be done. Crate training is a must but please dont rely on it as a alternatve to exersice because negative and destructive behavior will be the result which will then turn into frusteration with eachother. You are going to have your hands full no doubt about it. Please dont wait to enroll them both into obediance school or in a couple of months when they get bigger an dpull more you will be in over your head.......guaranteed. I have been raised with pit bulls since I could walk and their is no greater skill to learn then to be a strong pack leader. You will learn....if you havnt yet that these are strong, independent animals and anytime you ease up they will take full advatage of it. They are also emotional, stubborn dogs and need to know their place. My best advice I can give you is NILF....google it as NILF program.

Some recommended reading:

http://www.pitbullguide.com/?gclid=CLOxu6CCwIkCFQVqYAodJBKjQA


http://www.pitbulllovers.com/american-pit-bull-terrier-training-articles.html

http://www.amazon.com/Training-Your-Pit-Bull-Dog/dp/0764133098

Also, crating is NOT cruel. A dog will retreat to their crate as a comfortable, safe place to sleep/eat/relax/stay in when the owner is away.

IMO, there is no way around crate training for your particular situation. They NEED to be seperated, and kept safe when you are not at home to supervise.

This is the crate I have:

http://www.trenigens.com.au/shop/html/images/crate.jpg

http://www.uk-dog-cages.com/images/main-black-dog-cages.jpg

They come in black, silver, and gold.

You can put real nice beds or blankets in there.

I feed Dulce in there because she feels safest in her crate, and that's the only way I can get her to actually eat. (THANK GOD!)

I too used to think that crate training was cruel. Hwoever after reading a book about how they need a place of their own, one thta would resemble a wolf cave then it made more sense. It only becomes cruel when it is used for punishment or they dont get sufficiant esercise prior to being crated. My boss dont even latch the gate on their dogs crate because the dog loves being in there and will go in on his own free will if he needs a place to rest. Also if your dog ever needs to be at the vets overnight it is good to be crate trained. If you really dont want to crate train I would suggest using a kitchen where they cant get to eachotehr but belive me, crate training is better then coming home to one of your girls laying bloddy and lifeless on the floor. Its a harsh reality but you cant let your love of your dogs get in the way of their inherint capabilities.

Don't worry they're getting altered as soon as possible, the holidays have made it diffcult to get it done by now. 

As for crating I'll get my hands on a pair.  Should I have the dogs near each other or seperate the crates?  I think I've found a trainer out here I want to talk with him and meet him before I settle on him as a trainer but he seems to be the most experienced and has worked with police dogs and problem dogs for a long time now.

NILF sounds very good.  I think we'll use it.

We realize we may have made a mistake in getting two bitches.  We're even considering readopting one of them although my wife is adverse to this.  We both seem them as members of the family, that being said if they kill each other...

We don't plan on dog parks or the like with them.  We don't have much of a yard inside the fence, and no they never go outside alone, but we have nearly limitless space to walk them in alone.

Just make sure that the trainer that you want to take them to is a positive trainer. I believe a positive trainer is going to either use treats or clicker train and they're going to emphasize TONS of praise when your dogs obey (I believe, any trainers here please correct me if I'm wrong). I took my dog (I did NOT know any better) to someone who was NOT a positive trainer. He used prong collars (not that prongs are a bad thing) and he would pop my dog's collar real hard anytime he didn't agree with something she did or the way she looked, or if she whined. I didn't know any better and went home and corrected her exactly how he taught me and my dog began trembling. That was the end of THAT type of training and behavior corrections.
Pit bulls are very human sensitive (or can be) and harsh training might make your dogs shut down. It was starting to with mine and FAST.

Good luck and, oh, we'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see some pictures of these pretty girls!

hehe it's very important to me to try positive training first.  They already respond well to praise and treats when the potty in the right place and such.

I think I linked the pups around here somewhere but here they are again in they're full glory (or lack there of) :-p

http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r49/lifyre/Puppies/

aw! They're adorable!!!!

I wouldn't feed them side by side and at the same time, though[]

I'm SO glad you're going to go the positive trainer route. I keep talking about it because of my experience. If I followed my emotions, I'd tell the world what a horrible trainer he was, but I have to chalk it up to the fact that his training just didn't work for my dog. And I will never recommend him to anyone, ever.

yeah we're going to be changing their feeding and alot of other things cause of what you guys have told us.  I'm not sure how we're going to feed them yet but I'll think of something.  So far they have zero food aggression which is nice.  If we reach in for their food we can play with it and they lick our hands and will eat from them if we pick it up.

I do have one concern about the brown one. She's a scaredy cat. We just tried going for a run. We went one at a time and Sadie was excellent and ran with me nearly the entire time, all it took was a little treat incentive.

Smokey shut down almost as soon as we went out the door. I carried her away from the house and she ran back just fine with me and got rewarded for it. She also seems shy to run near me. Sadie runs right next to me. Smokey runs or tries to run about 6 feet away.

I hope when they're running with you, that they are ON LEASH

What are you feeding??

I would suggest feeding:

-Innova
-Eagle Pack Hollistic
-Neutro
-Natural Balance (Has puppy & Breed specific formulas)
-Wellness

Do continue to seperate them when they eat, whether they currently have food aggression or not.

Seperate the crates, don't keep them side by side. Put them on opposite walls, or at least 5-8 feet apart.
(Just to be safe)

Continue to socialize them A LOT, with dogs, cats, kids, people, small animals, etc.

I'd love to have an update after you've taken them to training

I don't run with ANY dog off a leash.  Not even my mother's old Lab unless we're out in the field on the back hill of the farm.

I'm thinking we're gunna start feeding them in their crates.  We'll seperate them as much as possible.  Should they still be able to see each other easily, should I obstruct the view, or should I see how they like each other later?

Right now they're getting Purina Puppy cause thats what they were getting at the rescue and we wanted to start there.  I've read alot of the talk on the food here so we'll be changing if we can.  We've gotta find alot of the other stuff since the places we have to get dog food here a primarily WalMart and Stater Bros (the local grocery).

I'll make sure to keep posting updates and questions and comments here.

They can see eachother. It's not like they've fought eachother already, right?
I wouldn't worry about visual, I'd worry about Physical. Does that make sense???

Change food ASAP! That is such icky food.


And feeding them in their crate is a great idea.

Also, it's not necessary to ALWAYS seperate them. Only when you are not home, and when they are going to be left unattended. They can still play and spend time together, just seperate them when you can't be there to supervise.

Here are some books at WalMart:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=202078&fromPageCatId=202083&catNavId=202072

They don't list the dog food they sell there??? I don't know, I'll show you the crates.