Help..my APBT may have a bad Temperment

[Guest Anonymous]

I'm not sure what to do here, my dog is six months old and he is rediculously cowardly of people. if I have him on a leash and someone tries to get near him he starts shaking and tucks his tail under himself, hides behind me and gets real low to the ground. If i have him in my house and someone comes in he will constantly bark at them. I got him from a shelter when he was 4 months old so this may be a problem that was caused by his previous owners. I try to socialize him and he is fine with other animals but has a problem with people. And it seems like the more I try to socialize him the more cowardly he acts. I don't know if an obedience class will help much because those classes are really for the ownerand teaching the owner how to train their dog. My dog knows all his basic commands, but that all goes out the window when strangers are around. And unfortunately with his breed I think this fear will start turning around and become agression and then I'll have an 80 lb highly aggressive pit bull on my hands. I'm hoping I can nip this in the bud and turn him around. I've done lot of reseach on these dogs and also temperment and since he was picked up in a shelter it's hard to tell what kind of temperment his parents had. Anyways, any help would be much appreciated.

[Sanvean]

Have you tried a puppy class? They are not aimed at obedience so much as at socializing the puppy. (Make sure that when you do train him, you go to a class with positive methods, like clicker training, rather than corrective methods, which I think would upset your pup a lot.)

I would consult a trainer immediately, I think. It sounds like your poor baby had a traumatic experience before you got him.

[imported_Cassie]

I would definately enroll for obedience classes...I still enjoy taking my dogs to obedience...one of my Newfoundlands is 8 years old and has her CD & CDX which are obedience titles...although she has these obedience titles I still keep going to keep her socialized in a class room athmosphere...its good for myself and my dogs. All of my Newf's I have gotten when they were over the age of 1 year old...the life they lead was kennel, dog show, nothing else! some of them were fearful of every thing...men especially as they were mainly brought up around women. Even carrying a bag of potatoes would scare them, any thing new which they had never been subjected to before was scary to them, more than 3 people in a room would have them in a panic! this does not apply to all my Newf's I have owned....only a few...I also adopted a Rottweiler at 1 year which was unsocialized...she was not frightened she was offensive...I really recommend either the assistance of a animal behaviorist or attending obedience...I have been successful with all of my dogs...I never gave up on them and they have turned out wonderful...I also never coddled them when they were fearful...I firmly beleive a confident owner can have a big impact on a fearful dog...and also I have always owned more than 3 dogs at a time...my vetern dogs were very good for my younger fearful dogs...if they are not afraid why should the fearful one be afraid....that is why it is also good if your dog gets along well with other dogs is to find a few confident dog freinds to hang around with and go for walks with...this is really a great training tool...I have slowly worked my fearful dogs slowly by desensitizing them to all kinds of situations...walking up town in a busy area full of people etc..
Your pup is still young...adolescence etc can be a hard time to go through...it's very important you do things right at this point to have a good adult dog...attend obedience, talk to an animal behaviorist, and this is mainly a socialization issue...fearful dogs are not confident...you have to build up their confidence...by training in obedience you will give your dog confidence..."success builds confidence, removes confusion"
Good luck and give us progress reports.

[Sanvean]

Very good suggestions, Cassie! I forgot to add that other sports, like agility and weightpulling, can help build your dog's confidence a lot.

Also, be sure you don't talk too soothingly to your puppy when he is afraid. Many owners do this and don't realize it actually reinforces the behaviour -- it sounds like praise to them! Laugh a little and try to jolly him along when he is afraid. When Macy is scared of something, we act like we're having a great old time doing whatever it is we're doing. It seems to encourage her to loosen up, because Mommy and Daddy aren't scared of it.

[Guest Anonymous]

Two things:
1. your dogs temperment may not have been caused by mistreatment, some dogs are just really timid or submissive. Drey was that way when he first got here, I had him shipped to me from Florida and i swear it took the better part of a day to get him to come out of that kennel. he was really jumpy and extremely submissive. he would drop to the ground and his tail would be tucked almost constantly. any sudden noise or movement was scary, after lots of praise and time he is now very confident... to the point of being cocky!! Socialization and praise are going to be your biggest tool here. But most importantly dont rush him! for every one step you go forward rushing him will immediately break it all down and youll be back at step one. Give him time to realize that people are friends and that a stranger is just a friend he hasnt met yet. one thing i did was to give people atreat or have treat jar by the door so when people come over they can give him something good, it helps.

2. Dont be too easy on him. Dont baby him and dont pet him when he is being scared. it just reinforces the behavior and he thinks your scared too. Dogs are weird like that, most of what they get from people doesnt even involve words. Not surprising since they dont exactly speak english. They pick up on body language, voice tone, and facial expressions. so just be extra careful when you are in your dogs presence what you say and do because he is watching you.

[gooeydog]

First, I commend you for realizing your pup is acting out of the norm for his breed and acting upon it now, rather than waiting for it to become a serious problem. You sound like the kind of owner the breed needs right now. I'm nowhere near an expert on dog behavior and the like, but have worked with a few shy/fearful dogs, so I'll share some of what has worked with these dogs. Keep in mind that you REALLY should, if at all possible, get help from a professional trainer on working through these issues.

If he's only getting more and more afraid as you socialize him, you are probably moving too quickly for him. Slow down, move back away from the people, and work your way back up to being close to them. Socialization doesn't necessarily mean walking in and amongst other dogs/people having everyone fawn and make a fuss over them... for some dogs (one of mine, for example) it may be something as seemingly insignificant as hanging out on the parking lot of petsmart, 500 ft from the entranceway, working basic obedience and playing tug (or the like). It may not seem like a lot, but for her, it IS a LOT of effort, and at first, it was very stressful on her.

Obedience is a HUGE help in getting a dog over problems like this. Also of great help (rivaling even the obedience in some cases) is a good food and/or toy drive. Get your dog MOTIVATED. Find something he LOVES (not just likes) and use it to your advantage. If he likes tug (since he's a bully, he probably does :wink: ), use that, if he likes tennis balls, use those, if he likes steak (let's hope not, or you may go broke :lol: ), use that. Whatever you have to to get him motivated. If you can't find anything he likes, then split his daily feeding rations up into "training meals" that you'll make him work for during his training sessions. He'll be amazingly eager to work for you once he figures out he doesn't eat unless he does (may take him a day or two, but he'll figure it out). If you use a toy, spend a lot of time making it special... it's not "just" a toy, it's THE best, most exciting thing in the world, and he ONLY gets it when you're working with him and he does what you tell him. In our house, we have one tug fiend, two food hounds, one that alternates between tug and food, depending on her mood and energy level, and one who goes mainly off praise (a weirdo, praise alone isn't enough for most dogs), with the occasional game of tug/catch and/or treat thrown in when she's in the mood.

Take his reward (whatever it is you decide to use) with you EVERY time you leave the house with him, or anytime someone comes to visit (like that commercial, "Don't leave home without it" :lol: ). Start teaching him to pay attention to you NO MATTER WHAT is going on around him. To do this, start at a distance from a small distraction (maybe one person he knows, just sitting in a chair, reading a book or something), and run him through his basic obedience, with maybe some a tug/catch break thrown in to keep it interesting for him. Keep him busy (don't want him to have time to think about the scary guy/girl in the chair 200 ft away from him), and keep him focused on you. If he doesn't know the "look" or "watch" command (where he watches your face, and focuses only on you), teach him that before you start this stuff (he should also know, at the very least; "sit" and/or "down", "stay", "heel" and/or "close", and "come"). If he won't/can't focus on you, you're probably too close to the distraction, move further away from them, until he's able to focus on you and concentrate on his lessons. Work at that distance until he's completely comfortable, then move a little (that's important, don't move too close all at once, or you'll just scare him and undo the good work you've done; better to not move close enough and have to move a little closer after a few minutes, than to move too close and him fail) closer to the distraction. Work with him at that distance until he's comfortable, then move a bit closer to the distraction. If at ANY time, he seems uncomfortable, move him back to a distance where he's comfortable. You want to build success upon success, building up his confidence, NEVER putting him into (or allowing him to get into) a situation to fail and lose his confidence.

During this time, it's your job to protect HIM from others. If, while you're out training, someone allows their children to run up to him, intercept and ask the parents politely to get their children. If someone tries to pet him, politely ask them not to, telling them that he's in training. No need to elaborate unless you want to, keep it simple and polite, but be firm. If you have to, leave. No sense risking your dog's mental well being and all your hard work because some people are rude.

Once he's working close to/amongst the distraction (got a bit sidetracked there :oops: ), you can start adding more distraction to the situation (could be different types of people, people with dogs, a couple more people, etc). Again, you want to start at a distance where he's comfortable, and work your way up to being near them. Same routine as above, don't get in a rush, go at his pace.

Keep adding more distraction as you go (maybe throwing in screaming kids, rollerbladers, skateboarders, bicyclists, joggers, loud yelling people, etc), using the same method as described above to get him used to it, until he's doing well under your controlled situations. Before you try to take him out into a public situation in close quarters with people, he should be willing to focus his beady little eyes on you in ANY situation, to the point where it would take a crowbar to pry them off (like this: :o ). Have your decoys walk near him (once he's to the point where he's used to them being near), run past, talk loudly to you/him, pat him, walk over him etc, all while you keep him focused on you. Do this over and over until it's engrained into his brain that the correct reaction is NO reaction (other than keeping his eyes on you). Only when you KNOW that he's ready for it do you take him out into a situation where he has to deal with the public. Even then, if you see a possible situation that he hasn't encountered before, and aren't sure of his reaction, avoid it!

In the house, what I would do is put him away (either shut him in a room, or crate him) before answering the door. Bring your guests in, get them settled, then if they're comfortable with you bringing the dog out (this is important, as dogs can sense when a person is uneasy, etc, and it will pick up on their feelings if they don't want him there), bring him out on-leash. Sit on the opposite side of the room (or put a tiedown ring in the wall, and hook him to it), and put him in a sit/stay or down/stay while you all just sit and chat. Ignore him, and have your guests do the same. Praise him for behaving and staying quietly, but if he carries on, you should either move him farther away, or even gate him in the next room. Do this until he's practically oblivious to the visitors' presence, even when they get up and walk out of or into the room (won't work if he's gated out of the room they're in, but you get the idea), etc. Then you can put him on-leash and allow him to check them out, but if he barks or otherwise carries on, put him back in his crate/room. Have them ignore him even when he's checking them out, as some dogs get spooked by peoples greetings, and need to approach on their own terms. Don't push him to "visit" with them, as that will only make him more uneasy. If at any time he seems to be getting more and more uneasy, or is getting progressively more defensive during a visit, put him away. It's the same principle as when you work with him outside... working too close or when he's afraid already does him no good, as he'll have no concentration on you and will be learning nothing. Don't hesitate to put him up if your visitors are afraid of him, or if there are going to be a lot of them, or there are going to be other circumstances that will set him on edge, better safe than sorry.

Again, this is just what's worked for our dogs, and finding a trainer would be the best thing you could do at this point. Good luck :)

[courtnek]

All of the above advice is excellent - let me add a small piece - it sounds like you have an overly submissive dog. It sometimes helps, with a dog like that, to let him "win" a few rounds in a dominance game, to make him feel more confident.

The one I like the best for this is "tug of war"...get one of those rubber
tug-of-war toys, with ends open on each side so he can grab it with his teeth, and you can hold it in your hand. Play tug of war with a few times a day, fo about 10 minutes. Let him win once in a while, by taking the toy,
but when the game is over put it back up. Dont let him claim it as his own;
that can cause dominance issues farther down the road. Once he realizes he can win every so often, his confidence will increase. Now this is where
you need to be careful. You dont want it increasing so much that he thinks he's boss, at any time. You'll see the change as it's happening. When he stops cowering, stops tail tucking and gets more friendly and open, you
can then monitor and pay attention to how many times he wins. In every case, YOU need to win the last round, and reclaim the prize.

He may just need some confidence boosting, and I have found this an excellent way of doing it, providing you win every final round.

Good luck with him! You sound like an excellent owner

:D

[gooeydog]

Forgot something in my last post...
The process I described there is NOT fast. It can take weeks (even months) to get a dog to the point where it can comfortably work near even the first type of distraction I mentioned. It all depends on how deep the dog's fear/lack of confidence really is. Don't expect to go out and have your dog hanging out with the entire neighborhood after a week of work, it will take months (if not longer) before he's ready for that type of interaction. If you're willing to be patient and keep working at it though, even when you don't seem to be making any progress, then I think you may find that it really does help the dog to become better at handling different situations.

[Guest Anonymous]

Thankyou everybody for the great advise, I really appreciate it. :D My dog is kind of odd....last night my wifes father and his girlfriend came over and Dante was perfectly fine with them, he may have barked once at them but he was sniffing them and playing around. :-? i think that being in our own house had a lot to do with it. Anyways, I'll take all of the advise given to me and use it. I'll try working slower with Dante and socialize him slower and with less people. I'll definitely have to tell people not to pet him out in public....it seems every where we go everyone wants to touch him...cause he's soo darn cute! Anyways, to prevent more harm to his mentality than good from being done I'll have to tell people to leave him alone for now. I'll probably enroll him in a puppy class first then a obedience class after. The obedience classes around here mainly focus on the commands, where as the puppy classes allow more socialization which is what he needs. Dante knows all his basic commands...sit, stay, come, lay, stop. I'm also going to be dog sitting a friends JRT for a few weeks and he is very social and maybe my dog being around a more confident dog will help him see that he shouldn't be so afraid. Anyways, thanks again for all the advise, I'll let you know how he progresses over the next couple of weeks.

[Sanvean]

So glad we could help!

And don't forget to show us some pictures of your baby boy! ;)

[Guest Anonymous]

LOL at the price -my soul!!! :roflt: I sold that a looooong time ago!

[Rowie-the-Pooh]

Ahhhh, but you didn't sell the pictures! :wink:

We want pictures! :lol:

[courtnek]

AH, you see, this place is very, well, ADDICTING.....

Once you join us you are in our snare, and you will buy back your soul and give it to us.......

:evilbat: :evilbat: :evilbat:


LOL

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[mydogroxy]

brad,
i have female pit (almost 10 months) with very similar problems. she is very wary of strangers and downright fearful of children. although there's no way of really knowing, we're 99% sure that she was mistreated during the first 3 months of her life (before we got her). she's improved in some aspects but gotten worse in others (with children for example). the other day, she absolutely fell in love with one of our friends, who she had never met before.

it is still a very uphill battle with her and we've been looking into professional help for her. i have learned a few things since we've had her though, so here's a few tips:
1. let your pup approach strangers before allowing them to touch him. roxy is much more accepting of strangers she's "approved" rather than any old joe who runs up trying to pet her.
2. let him progress at his own pace. going too fast or too slow will only hold up the process.
3. when he acts appropriately, give TONS of praise.
4. when introducing to strangers to your pup, give them one of his favorite treats to offer him. if these strange people are giving them yumyums, they can't be all bad, right?


good luck with your pup!

[Guest Anonymous]

I got a Yamaha Vstar :lol:

[Guest Anonymous]

here's a link to pics of my bike....right now it is set up for a solo ride...but as winter approaches i'll be adding my windsheild and bags back on.
[url]http://community.webshots.com/user/vstardragon[/url] :)

[Rosebud]

:wink:

[quote name='courtnek']AH, you see, this place is very, well, ADDICTING.....

Once you join us you are in our snare, and you will buy back your soul and [color=red]give it to us.......[/color]

:evilbat: :evilbat: :evilbat:

LOL

:lol: :lol: :lol:[/quote]

Then we will sell it back to you one paw-paw at a time.

:angel:

[Guest Anonymous]

It doesn't slow the bike down too much with the windsheild and bags on, it weighs about 550 lbs. I've done all the work on her myself, theres a few moer things i want to do...stretch the tank, custom paint job, and change the rear wheel and put a low profile tire on, I enjoy working on it, I may do some sort of Pit bull theme on the bike when I customize it.