1 year old female pitt bull

Question
I have two pitt bulls.  The older one is a 5 year old male and the other is not quite a year old female.  My first question is why does my female keep putting her butt end on or near my other pitt's head (when he's laying down)and even mine if I get on the floor to play with her.  She will also lean her butt end against us.  At first I thought it was a non-aggressive dominate thing, but she's submissive to me with no problems.  My other question also is about my little girl.  She is extremely friendly toward everyone including strangers.  Although this is not normally a bad thing, how do I train her to view strangers with some caution or at least restraint without making her fear strangers?  Although I am always with them when I take them outside, I'm afraid of her running to someone on the road or being stolen by someone.  She is a beautiful "blue" color and extremely friendly and we all know what people do when they steal pitt bulls.  Thank you for your time and advise.

Answer
Dear Tanya,

With regard to the butt in your other dog's face and in yours, you should bring her to the veterinarian to rule out any medical/physical issues.  She may just be soliciting a nice butt scratch, but she may be saying "this hurts".  Go to the vet.

Regarding strangers, I don't think you have to worry about this.  Dogs generally will become adequately skeptical of strangers as they reach age 2.  You may be comparing her to the 5 year old who already has reached full skeptical adulthood.  With a pit your problem is not to get her more suspicious but less.  Keep getting her out and about and meeting lots of people and friendly dogs.  She'll naturally grow out of her puppy-ish trustful self soon enough.

From what you're saying I'm concerned that you are taking her outside off-leash.  She can't be stolen or run off if you have her on leash, so please leash her when you are out in public unless you have the opportunity to bring her to a safe, fenced off-leash dog park where she can get some good running in.

Thanks for writing.
Suzanne Harris, BSc, CPDT
http://www.dogdaysusa.com