I have a 5 year old pittbull, who is very obedient and loves my two year old son. The problem is hes so hyper im afraid hell hurt him by accident by jumping around so much. What can I do to get him to calm down and not be so crazy?

grammadidi

Jessyfay: The purpose of this posting was to answer the dog owner's question of what she could do to get her happy, hyper dog to calm down while around her two year old child. It was NOT to discuss whether or not the breed should be banned. I would suggest that you take that issue to our Issues and Causes board if you want to address it.

As for the woman who's child was attacked by the pitbull, it was a very unfortunate accident, brought on by ignorance. Again, I will reiterate RubyPitbull's earlier post where she stated: "If you have an untrained, poorly trained, unsocialized, or inbred dog, you are going to have a problem dog. Period."

I also take offence to your posting that we are only blinded by the love of these dogs. I am blinded by the ignorance of people who blame a breed of dog instead of the acts of people who breed indiscriminately, fail to train appropriately, those who fail to do their homework and purchase a dog from a back-street breeder or puppy mill pet store, and those who fail to realize that all dogs ARE animals and, as such can and will react like animals.

I have worked with veterinarians almost all of my life. I have owned a CKC registered kennel breeding Silky Terriers and German Shorthaired Pointers. I worked with the Ontario Humane Society for many years. I am a foster mom for a dog rescue. I own two dogs - one weighs 125 lbs, and the other 65 lbs. I have done volunteer work with Therapy Dogs through St. John's Ambulance. I have taught dog obedience for many, many years. I have my favourite breeds, and the pitbull doesn't happen to be one of them. However, I would FAR rather work with and own a pitbull than many other breeds that are out there. I can also honestly say that all of the breeds that I am not particularly fond of are horribly inbred by people who don't know a darn thing about breeding dogs to bettering the breed, or those who do not take the time to train their dog appropriately. I personally have seen far more other breeds of dogs been put to sleep due to a violent or aggressive act than I have pitbulls.

At any rate, as stated earlier, this particular board really isn't the forum for such a debate, so please feel free to address it further on the Issues and Cause's board and limit the discussion here to how to answer this person's question.

Many thanks,

Didi

labman

The AVMA opposes breed specific laws. I trust them more than PETA.

grammadidi

The AVMA is a lot less controversial, too!

Didi

chuff

I'm not a dog expert but who honestly believes anything PETA says? They are a political organization with an agenda and as an organization they are not even consistent with there own stated beliefs and goals, as they themselves kill animals.

I'm not a pitbull expert but I have a friend who owns one and has 3 children all 8 years old an under. That particular dog is in a good family enviroment and is taken care of. I'm only speaking from experience but I think actually treating your dog with respect and not beating it or training it to attack people is what makes most dogs of any breed a "good dog."

You do hear about pitbulls on the news and some cases they appeared to have snapped but many times you also find out they were being breed specifically to attack and hurt other animals. Many times they are used as "bait" dogs. Well if you beat a smaller animal for 3 years and suddenly one day he "snaps" and kills a human baby or small child, I'm kind of left wondering, what did you think was going to happen?

Sorry I know that doesn't really help the OP but this thread caught my attention so I just thought I'd say my piece.

AKaeTrue

alphadog,

I have a 115 lb Rottweiler and I have 2 small children.
Our dog has been cherished, loved, hugged, kissed, and well socialized with stranger people and animals.

She has been trained very well with manners - her sweetness she offers happily and willingly ...

My dog caught on very quickly and remembers her good manners even when I don't - LOL...

Using these simple commands: Come, Sit, Stay, Stop, Back, Wait, Easy, Slow, No, and OK, along with the hand gestures that go along with them worked wonders for me while training.

She has all her manners down pat with using those commands...
Your dog can too, but you'll need to teach the meaning of the words before you start telling your dog to do them, otherwise, they will have no meaning.
If your dog knows what the word means, you can apply the word to many different situations...

For instance, my dog is not allowed to go up and down the stairs when someones on them, she has to Wait... (I did this for my children so she wouldn't knock them down the stairs)
I don't have to tell her to Wait anymore, she just does...
She, on her own will, will not step foot on the stairs when someone else is on them...
I started out teaching her Wait by placing a treat in front on her nose and told her Wait while she was laying down.
Every time she went to eat the treat, I block the treat with my hand and said No / wait / wait. Then I'd say "Wait" again and remove my hand.
We repeated this process until she no longer went to eat the treat.
Then I'd say OK giving her the OK to eat the treat. (she already knew NO and OK)
From there, we worked our way up to bigger Wait tasks.

Back, is a good one I used for when we'd come home and she was excited to see us.
As soon as we came in the front door, I would tell her Back, Back...
Then I would tell her Stop so that she'd calm down,
then I'd tell her Easy and only say hello to her after she did what I asked her to do.

Now, she automatically backs up (she's excited to see us, but she's too far away to knock us over)
Then she immediately calms down because she know thats what she has to do in order to get a hello.

I no longer have to tell her or remind her to use her good manners.

I'm not the best to describe the techniques used in the training method, but this site has some good sticky notes on training.
Or, you could consult a dog trainer in your area.

sleeper

well about that hinged jaw saying is bull........(some) are just very strong the breed is nothing like it was back in the day most are just ed up mastiff mix's to make them big and if you have a pitbull from puppy hood with a young kid lets just say you dont need anything else to protect your house or kid's they will do no harm to the family with love and exercise........ also for people that fight these loveing kind dogs should do life in prison so they can fight to the death !!!!!!!! if you like fighting go fight your self or are you a p!!!

sleeper

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sleeper

and to answer your Q walk your dog alot and that should do it, dont just let it run free all the time WALK IT!............and im sure this post is a year old lol.........