My Pit Bull Jumps Up

There are many dogs, no matter what the breed, who have a problem jumping on people. They get excited; they're not trained otherwise; and it's generally a rewarded behavior.

What you may have realized is that bully breeds are rather strong, and even though your dog may jump on you without harm, he may jump on a stranger, child, or another unsuspecting person and could accidentally hurt them. You don't want your dog to send your grandmother flying across the room.

The key is going to be consistency. If you do not want your dog to jump on you or anyone else, you'll want to create a consistent rule that everyone is aware of, even those who don't mind your dog jumping up. You don't want to confuse the dog. If you've made the decision of keeping all fours on the floor, then everyone must abide. If someone tells you that it's ok that he jumps on you, you want to respond with, 'please do not pet him until he sits. I would rather teach him to wait to be petted.'

Perfect sit to be petted

When teaching your dog to keep his feet on the floor, you'll want to make sure that you know the signs before he goes to jump. Because each dog has different signs, you'll want to pay attention to yours. Once you've figured out the behaviors, you can try a few different things to help discourage your dog from jumping up.

• When you know that you're dog is going to jump up, move slowly away while yawning or just looking away. 
• Turn away when your dog is about to jump, showing him your back, and praise when he stays on the ground. Ignore him until he calms down.

What you're going to have to do when working on this, is entice the dog to jump so that you can correct him. I know it doesn't sound fair for your dog, but he's got to learn somehow. Have the dog on the leash and invite someone over (make sure they're aware of your training); when the dog tries to jump, give him the command to ''sit" before he can attempt to jump. Praise the dog and have the newcomer treat and pet the dog. You want the dog to realize that he gets lovin's and treats when on the floor, not standing up.

You can also get the dog excited, when just you and him. Have him run around and play-play-play, then stop. When the dog continues to try to play with you, he'll probably try to jump up, walk away and ignore him.

You can also implement the "off" command, which is different than "down," which tells the dog to lay down. You want to keep doing this over and over, rewarding the dog with treats, toys, and/or pets when he stays on his fours.

Some people will gently knee the dog in the chest as he jumps up, which will cause the dog to step back. Or, others may step on the dog's back toes as he goes to jump, causing him to step back. If you choose this method, use the 'off' command as he's on his way back down, and always remember to praise the dog once he's on the ground.

NEVER PET YOUR DOG WHEN HE JUMPS UP ON YOU! This entices the behavior, as you are rewarding him for jumping. Always wait until the dog sits before petting.

Mouthy Pit Bull

There are many puppies who go through the mouthing stage, where they want to nip at everything, whether it's your hands, toes, or clothes. Sometimes, they can grow out of it, but sometimes the mouthy puppy will grow into a mouthy dog.

More often than not, it's been noticed that if you punish the dog for being mouthy, it will grow up with a biting problem. Whether you choose to yell, hit, or hold the dog's mouth, when it becomes mouthy with you, that's considered forms of punishment. If you just ignore the dog, it will eventually grow out of the stage and be a non-biting adult.

That said, it's important to realize that a puppy actually needs to bite and nip in order to learn to inhibit the bite. When play biting with littermates, the puppies give feedback to the other puppies as to what is acceptable and what is too much. A puppy who bites hard will find out that the other pups won't play with him anymore, which is where the "ignore method" comes into play, as your best strategy when dealing with a mouthy puppy is to be as passive as you can be and to ignore the nips.

Some trainers and behaviorist will suggest a high-pitched "Ouch" right before the dog's teeth connect. If you can't get the timing properly, redirect the dog's attention with a toy instead of the 'Ouch.'

Another thing to consider is getting up and leaving the puppy in the room by himself for quiet time. Go back to the room, ignore the puppy for a few seconds even after he approaches you. Then try to engage in light play.

You'll want to consider what causes the mouthiness:

• Were you overstimilating the dog, and he didn't know to stop?
• Were there too many people in the house?
• Were you too rough with him?
• Were there a lot of people running around, causing overstimulation and over-excitement?
• Was the dog tired?
• Is the dog getting enough mental and physical stimulation throughout the day?

By finding some sort of similarity with each time your puppy tries to get too nippy and mouthy with you, you will be able to figure out how to avoid those situations or to correct what is happening. By changing your behavior, you'll find that your dog will easily change his.

You may find that your dog is more prone to nipping and being mouthy when people bend over to pet him, people are too forceful upon greeting, or when the dog is snuck up on.

It is very important to figure out when your dog is the most mouthy, so that you can figure out a solution.

Just keep in mind that ignoring the pup when he becomes too mouthy, can alter the behaviors.

If your dog is a little mouthy in play, you will want to immediately stop playing fetch, tug, etc. when you feel teeth on skin. As soon as you feel teeth on skin, take hte toy away, and walk away. The dog got over excited and did not think about controlling himself. It is very important that all dogs learn how to control their behaviors no matter what the situation is.

My Puppy Chews Everything

If you have a puppy that is teething or just feels the need to chew on everything in your house, it's time for you to figure out how to correct this issue.

First off, make sure that you remove anything off the floor or away from the dog's reach, while he's in this stage. When your dog is reliable about not chewing your things, you can start to introduce these items back to their places, but while your dog doesn't know better, you're setting him up to fail, leaving everything as is.

• You want to make sure that you keep your dog well exercised. A dog that has mental stimulation and the proper exercise that he needs, will not feel the need to chew to release that energy. 
• Provide plenty of chew toys, treats, and other items that are appropriate for your dog. You want to make sure that you do not give him anything that could resemble something you don't want chewed. For example, if you don't care that your pup chews on an old slipper because you have new ones, you'll need to make the old ones different than the new ones. Same with socks; tie knots in socks to make them different from good socks you do not want gnawed on.

This phase can last up to two years, depending on the dog, so keep that in mind. You will need patience.

When you catch your pup with something that he's not supposed to have, and you will catch him at some point or another, you'll want to quickly reprimand him and give him a safe toy or a treat. Make the toy very exciting, as you'll want the dog to think whatever you're trying to give him is better than whatever he currently has.

If the problem is more when you're not around the dog chews, that's is even easier to help.... All you'll need to do is put the dog in a crate or outside when you are not home. This will prevent the dog from chewing your things when you cannot reprimand him.

Puppy Thieves

I bet you thought I was giong to write about people stealing puppies.... Nope...

Puppy Thieves are the puppies who are the thieves. They have this bad habit of stealing and running, or stealing and destroying the forbidden items that you would rather them not have or touch.

How do you correct the behavior?