QuestionQUESTION: hi, i just bought a pitbull puppy and i would like to know how many times a day i shoud feed him and whats the best kind of food i shoud give him? And also what is the best way to train him not to go potty in the house and to do it outside? I've walked him a couple of times and he doesn't seem to do anything while he is outside...please write back, thank you very much.
ANSWER: ****IN RESPONSE TO YOUR ADDITIONAL QUESTION ABOUT THE DOG BEING SCARED WHEN YOU TRY TO WALK HIM...Yes, a little apprehension on his part is normal at this point. It is probably just because he is not used to being on a leash. The more you work with him, the more comfortable he will become with it. Something to keep in mind that may make you feel a little more at ease- It is better to start working with him now to get him past his minor reluctance than to wait until he is older...the longer you wait, the harder it is going to be.
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QUESTION: thank you very much...i appreciate the advice and i will use it...i am trying to train and it seems he is responding to my sit command already, i am very pleased with that...for now all i want it to learn how to do is to go potty outside but i understand that will take some more time and effort
ANSWER: Just hang in there. You are right, it is just going to take some time and effort...but it will be well worth it in the end.
Be patient and try to remember that he is, in fact, a puppy. Just keep taking him outside...when he goes potty outside, reward him. If he has an accident in the house, let it go- correcting him for something he did two minutes ago won't do any good, because he won't know what you are correcting him for. If you catch him in "the act", or you think he is getting ready to use the bathroom in the house, try to redirect him outside (that is not always possible, but sometimes it is). Then reward him for going outside.
Good luck with your training! Let me know if you have any more questions.
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QUESTION: Yes, that is what i try to do...I live in an apt. building all the way on the top floor so everytime I see he is about to go I can't always go down and up the stairs, but I do pick him up and direct him towards the newspaper...DO you think that will onflict with his potty training because if it does I will just take him out everytime i tink he is about to go....also, do you think it is alright if I let him sleep with me on my bed?
ANSWER: You do what you can. If you can make it down the stairs with him, do that. If you can't make it all the way downstairs every time, you can't make it all the way downstairs. Eventually, you will have to transition him from the newspaper to outside, but I don't think that will be too terribly hard. It's just going to be an extra step in the process and may take a little more time. And as he gets older, he won't have to go to the bathroom quite as often, so that should make it a little easier for you, too.
As far as him sleeping in bed with you, that is totally up to you. Speaking from personal experience, though, if you want to be able to sleep by yourself or with someone else, I wouldn't start that trend. When my boyfriend and I got our first dog, he let the dog sleep in bed with him all the time. Then, when they moved into my house, we let him sleep between us. When he got big and it wasn't practical to have him in bed with us, we had all sorts of problems getting him to sleep in his kennel or on the floor. He would just whine and whine and whine because he wanted to be in bed with us. It took a long time to get him to where he would sleep in his kennel on his own bed all night long.
Like I said, though, that is totally up to you. If you want him to sleep on your bed, let him. I'm sure there are lots of people out there that do it with no problems whatsoever. I am just speaking from MY experience with it.
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QUESTION: ok, thank you very much. I appreciate the advice and I will continue to keep in touch with you if I have any more questions. Oh and by the way my name is Mario and my dog's name is Cassidy. Nice to meet you and I will try to post up a pic of Cassidy as soon as i can.
ANSWER: It's nice to meet you, too. Good luck to you and Cassidy!
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QUESTION: One more thing that I wanted to ask you. Is he too young to be trained other more difficult commands like stay and down? Because I try and try but he does not seem to get it, I think he is still too young to understand, he is about to be 2 months.
ANSWER: No, I don't think he is too young at all. The earlier you start training him, the better. I have actually heard some people say that they go for the really hard commands first because then, later on, the dog isn't doing "sit" as a reflex when they are trying to teach it something else. Down was probably the hardest one for us...I don't know why. It just really took a lot of time and a lot of work.
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QUESTION: And how can I tell if my puppy is a bure pred american pitbull? He is brindle,with a pattern acroos his body with stripes of light brown, and with a white stripe goig down his face into his chest...and he is about to be two months old, and he is pretty heavy, I would say about 8-10 pounds...I heard most pitbulls that are heavy they are a mix of bulldog and pitbull and I hope mine is pure ABT.
ANSWER: I could have sworn that I answered this question last night...but it isn't showing up in my "recently answered" box. So, if I already answered this for you, I apologize and you can just ignore this. ;)
The only way to know for sure whether or not Cassidy is a purebred dog is to know what his parents were.
As far as his weight goes, I don't really think you should be worried about it. He does not sound overly heavy for his age and, in reality, that may be the correct weight for his body type. I have never seen your dog, so it is hard for me to say.
The dogs you are talking about are often called "hippos" by APBT enthusiasts. Those are the dogs that are usually as wide as a housetrailer, have heads as big around as a tire, and only stand with their bellies four inches off the ground. Of course, I am exaggerating a little, but you see my point. They are usually mixed with other breeds to make them look like little low-rider pig things. I don't understand it, but a lot of people do it.
You shouldn't focus on Cassidy's weight as much as you should his body proportions. Now, his weight will always be important for health reasons...you don't want him to be fat. But, as far as how he conforms to breed standards...Height and weight standards are typically given in ranges and are proportionate to one another. If you were to take him to be judged for conformation, the judge isn't going to pick him up and say "He weighs a pound over what he should, he doesn't conform". A judge would look at his entire body to see how each part fits in proportion to all the others. They would look at the length of his tail, legs, head, nose....all of it. How those things measure up in comparison to his weight is what matters. Not his weight alone.
Does that make sense?
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QUESTION: Is it normal if he breathes a little loud when he is sleeping at night?
ANSWER: Yep. And he may even snore (my dogs do every once in a while depending on how they are laying).
Just wait until he starts "running" in his sleep. You are really going to trip over that one!
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QUESTION: Lol, yea, last night Cassidy was sleeping and it looked like he was biting his tounge or something as if he was eating something in his sleep.I woke him up so he won't injure himself.
ANSWER: My dogs are way past being puppies and they still try to "suckle" when they are sleeping. It's pretty funny. That's probably what Cassidy was doing. Did it sound like he was popping/clicking his tongue? If that's the noise you heard, then that's probably it! Ahhh...too cute!
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QUESTION: Ok, yesterday i gave Cassidy a rib bone and he tore it all up. |He ate everything, i think i should have never done that because he threw up a little last night. Is he suppouse to eat the whole bone?
AnswerMy dogs usually eat the whole thing, so I don't think that it is weird that Cassidy did. You should make sure, though, that the bones you are giving him are very solid bones and not ones that splinter. If he can chew it without little pieces breaking off, then it is most likely fine. If he starts chewing on it and he creates little sharp splinters with the bone, then you need to take it away from him and throw it away. Your best bet (if you are going to give him bones to chew on) is to get bones from a pet store, as they are made for exactly that- for your dog to chew on. DO NOT give him bones that come from human foods like chicken, pork chops, etc.
You aren't going to be the most terrible dog owner on the face of the planet for taking a bone away from him, either. So, if you are worried about him making himself sick, let him chew on it for a while and then take it away and put it up for some other time.
