Help! PitBull/Lab mix won't train!

[jorchey70]

I have a black lab, pit mix puppy as well, she hasnt been to hard to break potty training. I have noticed they are stubborn and like to go when they want.
The biggest issue I am having right now is aggression with her food and with rawhide bones. If I come near her while shes eating she gets defensive and growls and snaps. Same way with a rawhide bone. This is the only time she gets that way. How can I break her of that? I have had her since she was a 2 months old she is now 7 months.

[Honeycrisp]

Rawhide bones arent good for them anyway, they can get soggy and stuck in their throats, we stopped giving them and the growling ended (ours got nasty too). Re the food, maybe feeding her smaller portions and more often - ? Would make her 'earn' her food, have her sit and make her wait til the bowl is down and you tell her 'ok, you can eat it now' (wouldnt put her in a 'stay' for too long, just a few seconds). How is she when you give her treats, does she take them gently from your hand or does she grab them - ? - would also work on that if she grabs. A lot of it prob. is typical puppy behavior but you want to work on it now, while she's young, before it escalates, maybe both of you enrolling in puppy classes would help (she will have to be spayed, not sure if she is but it's a good thing to get done), your vet might be able to recommend some (would prob. stay away from PetCo/PetsMart classes as imo they're not that great, the 'trainers' don't have much training etc). Anyway, give her short sessions and end on a happy positive note, puppies tend to have short attention spans. Re the food possession, others will have good advice.

[Orion2]

OP had the exact same experience with my GSD mix. We'd walk around outside for what seemed like an eternity and the second I gave up and took her inside she'd poop! Grrrrrrr!!!! I thought she'd never be trained but I'm happy to say 9 years later she's NEVER, and I mean NEVER had an accident once she was trained. It was well worth my patience.

She's a very bright girl but just takes a while to complete her business even now so once I learned it takes a little longer for her than most dogs all was well.

[movedtothecoast]

I have raised many a pup and by 12 weeks they are fairly well
house trained so were it me I would have her checked for a bladder infection.
since you feel like you are doing everything right[ I believe you] there
just might be something else going on.

[k9coach]

Originally Posted by jorchey70

I have a black lab, pit mix puppy as well, she hasnt been to hard to break potty training. I have noticed they are stubborn and like to go when they want.
The biggest issue I am having right now is aggression with her food and with rawhide bones. If I come near her while shes eating she gets defensive and growls and snaps. Same way with a rawhide bone. This is the only time she gets that way. How can I break her of that? I have had her since she was a 2 months old she is now 7 months.

Are you certain you have always fed her the correct amount for her age and weight maintenance?

Here are my guides for food aggression and resource guarding:

The Goal in preventing & curing Food Aggression directed at PEOPLE: Dog should see human as the SOURCE of all food, not as a THREAT to food source.

Techniques:

1) Determine total amount to be fed per meal. Let’s use 1.5 cups for example. Feed meal in 3 parts. Feed ½ cup and allow dog to finish, never disturbing dog in any way. Approach empty dish and add another ½ cup. Allow dog to finish undisturbed. Approach again and add final ½ cup of food. This method is one way to show a dog that every time you approach his dish it is to ADD more food, never to take any away.

2) Fill dog’s dish with food and allow dog to begin eating. Approach and add a couple delicious, stinky, high value treats to dish while dog is still eating, then step away and let dog eat undisturbed. Approach once more before dog finishes meal and add a couple more yummy treats, allowing dog to finish undisturbed.

3) Feed dog from your hand. This can be done by literally using your hands as the food dish, or you can hold the dish in your hands and have dog eat from the bowl. This method is highly recommended for pups, dogs who have not shown marked food aggression, and dogs who have already experienced a few weeks of #1 and #2 above and have responded well.

NEVER, EVER take a dog’s dish away from him while he is eating unless it is an emergency (like you accidentally dropped a shard of glass in the bowl!) The only reason to ever remove a dog’s food while he is eating is if there is something dangerous in the food dish.

It is not wise to pet or touch dogs while they are eating. It is highly annoying and causes dogs to form a negative association with people around their food. You would not appreciate someone patting you on the head or back while you are trying to eat.



Here is the beauty of the techniques described: they convince the dog completely that having you approach his food dish is the greatest thing ever. Therefore, if there is ever a time in the future when someone does have to grab a dish away or bumps into the dog while he’s eating, the dog has a long history of positive associations to fall back on and will react positively or in a neutral way any time a person gets near his meal. If nothing bad, annoying, or threatening has ever happened when a person got near his food dish, and in fact plenty of good things have happened, the dog has no reason to object or react negatively to a person near his dish!

Keep the goal in mind always: Dog should see human as the SOURCE of all food, not as a THREAT to food source. That means always add, never take away, and never annoy!


Resource Guarding:

Dogs tend to guard resources they see as a) very valuable and b) in scarce or limited supply.

It is important to remember that to some extent, protecting valuable resources is NORMAL dog behavior. However, more serious resource guarding can get very dangerous.

Teaching Off, Give it & Leave it right from the start will help prevent resource guarding.

Two approaches to environmental management

Theory #1: Abundance / Resource Flooding

Items in abundant supply lose value, so dogs don’t feel the need to guard.

An example of resource flooding in the case of a dog that guards toys: have 20 toys in each room of the house. (As the resource guarding habit fades from lack of rehearsal, very gradually decrease # of toys in each room).

Theory #2: Prevent rehearsal of resource guarding behavior

Remove triggers from the environment completely. If dog guards dog beds, don’t have dog beds around. If dog guards furniture space, don’t allow dog on any furniture / block access to furniture.


Do NOT punish dog for displaying resource guarding behaviors (like growling, baring teeth, etc.) Scruff shaking, alpha rolling, striking, and other physical punishments will do two things:

1) Prove the dog right (“I knew something bad would happen if you came near me”)
2) Extinguish “warning behaviors” – and that’s how you end up with a dog that attacks without warning!

[JuJuFromNJ]

My newest pit bull pup is 10 months now. She had her last accident in the house sometime between 3 and 4 months, she was a super easy puppy tho so I think I got lucky with this one. Have you ever had such a young pup? I've raised a few and training is the biggest thing. All my dogs go to class, same trainer every time. Even tho I know how to train, been doing it everyday at home for years, imo I think group classes are the best. Why not try to provide proper guidance and socializing from the beginning, instead of hoping for the best, and possibly having to deal with worse problems when the pup is no longer a pup and seemingly stuck in its ways? Start with puppy class, wait a couple months, then start with the basic obedience classes. About housebreaking..... take her out more often, literally like every hour during the day, and spend more time with her outside.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by jorchey70 View Post
I have a black lab, pit mix puppy as well, she hasnt been to hard to break potty training. I have noticed they are stubborn and like to go when they want.
The biggest issue I am having right now is aggression with her food and with rawhide bones. If I come near her while shes eating she gets defensive and growls and snaps. Same way with a rawhide bone. This is the only time she gets that way. How can I break her of that? I have had her since she was a 2 months old she is now 7 months.

I am taking your post LITERALLY and believing what you typed. That even getting CLOSE causes those reactions. NO. This cannot happen! Of course there could be more going on as a REASON for this that we have no clue about. Like being cooped up alone too much, or unfair or incorrect human treatment or whatever... and creating anti social problems. But just addressing this FOOD and AGGRESSION thing....

In my experience as a dog walker/petsitter a Pit Bull Lab mix is a very challenging dog. Something about that cross brings out a VERY high energy dominant dog. And by DOMINANT I mean the skill to achieve THEIR goals and manipulate their environment to get what they want. This even happens with "overly playful" personality dogs I'm not talking about strictly aggression. This does NOT go away by itself it escalates.

Don't mess around with this. While I may differ slightly with it, you should try K9Coach's advise. There is either a trust problem or leadership problem here. Or both.

Anyway. YOU MUST BE the PACK LEADER so she understands that it's not her responsibility, that the human is there to HELP, PROTECT, AND GUIDE. Yes there's a mutual respect but the HUMAN is the leader. And fair. All dogs NEED THIS especially even when they don't appear to be "needy", being in a pack is in their dna. Until she can drive a car or write a check, she's not to boss of the house. DEFINITELY do NOT "console her" like "It's ok, it's ok" in a high pitch voice. That is soft energy weak energy. You need to be calm, confident assertive energy. Unless you want to be the roommate.

NO EDIBLE TREATS. STOP that immediately to remove ONE source of problems. The snapping is REALLY BAD, I'm not exaggerating. If you feel that your energy is too soft and you cannot present calm assertive leadership get some help from a professional. This isn't dog training with cute tricks (even though making her sit etc will reenforce leadership).

A high energy dog should have lots of Nylabones type of indestructible, chewable non edible toys to "chew their energy out" but now that we have this aggression you might need to rethink that and rely on PHYSICAL EXERCISE like long walks at least twice a day that she should be having, anyway.

I bet you will see other dominance with her that didn't bother you before. Like owning "her" place on the couch or bed and you just laugh it off. Or crazy tug of war (DON"T DO THIS). Or dragging you around the neighborhood, or constantly nosing and leaning on you or EVEN - GUARDING YOU when people come in. Does she sit in between YOU and your guest? NO. GO SIT DOWN OVER THERE -------->.

Also WALK WALK WALK. To get her energy OUT, give her a change of scenery from being cooped up in a building AND form a pack bond with you as a leader. Running around a back yard like a nut is nothing like actual exercise with FOCUS getting from point A to point B and draining out the physical and psychological energy. Yes you can drain energy with forced mental focus but it's not FAIR to exhaust a dog with THAT when they have no outlet physically because dogs WALK. It's what they do. And it's selfish of humans to only look for their own personal reward of having a dog companion but not fulfill THEIR needs. Or pretend that being unstable nuts is "normal".

She must not walk ahead of you or enter/exit doors in front of you. Do NOT OPEN THE DOOR until she is standing/sitting CALMLY at the door and looks UP AT YOU for direction. All four feet on the floor. NOT ONE sticking up ready to "goooooo". You stand there in between her and the door for as long as it takes then open the door. IF SHE TRIES OR SUCCEEDS in bolting ahead of you....start OVER. Bring her right back in and start again. These are subtle things that are training her brain to FOLLOW and TRUST YOU. Be consistent.

What happens if you hold the food bowl in the air for her to eat from? DO NOT TRY THIS AND GET BITTEN IF YOU DON"T DO IT ALREADY. I say in the AIR because on the FLOOR allows her to "guard it" by standing over it.

Dogs do not follow weak energy they dismiss you. Then their brains make up faux issues to "control" or "deal with". Imaginary problems that only a HUMAN can show are NOT problems.

ETA: Let me correct myself. I should have said "that only a HUMAN or ANOTHER DOG can show are NOT problems.:

[AishaPearl]

I have a 8 month old chocolate lab/pit puppy we just adopted and she is doing the same exact thing. It is frustrating. But she is very food motivated and she is learning quick. We have started a daily routine with her where I wake up at 530am every morning and take her jogging for an hour and a half and then she ends up sleeping for a while when im at work and we walk her after dinner around 6 and then again around 730 and we put her in her crate at 8 for the night and we put a chew toy in there too. She has been doing good. We went from 5-6 accidents a day to maybe one or two.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by AishaPearl

I have a 8 month old chocolate lab/pit puppy we just adopted and she is doing the same exact thing. It is frustrating. But she is very food motivated and she is learning quick. We have started a daily routine with her where I wake up at 530am every morning and take her jogging for an hour and a half and then she ends up sleeping for a while when im at work and we walk her after dinner around 6 and then again around 730 and we put her in her crate at 8 for the night and we put a chew toy in there too. She has been doing good. We went from 5-6 accidents a day to maybe one or two.

I am very proud of you getting up early to run your dog.

That is fantastic and I'm sure she is so grateful. That mix is challenging and high energy and she needs all the help she can get to work it out so she can relax. You have a double challenge because Chocolate are even more high strung, IME.

That's a long day in the crate so she's not doing so badly.

DON'T walk or run her after eating or drinking at night she could bloat. I suggest you walk her first then feed her. Then the last visit outside can be just sniffing and stuff.