Pitbull acting agressive?

pit bull spaniel mix is very energetic and is running all over the house!! I tried to calm her down taking her outside and playing with her but she didn't anything she just sat by the door. I brought her in and she ran to each couch and started biting them I firmly told her no and she growled and barked and she also bites me alot when I play with her and I feel like she gets to excited. She only acts this way with me and I'm with her the most she's only 4 months is this normal puppy behavior. I'm taking her to training classes too and it doesn't seem to be helping. they said when her eyes dilate to just let her calm down but how do I calm her down should I put her in the cage tell she calms down? What should I do??


Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

You have a high energy dog that needs more exercise. You have to take her for long runs, bike, rollerblade, etc. You have to tire her out before you can do any training. Second you have to start getting her to be calm submissive. To calm her down you should have her on the leash and just have her wait at your side until she does. The difficult part is the waiting. Nowadays people have a hard time waiting, everything has to be done now. You are dealing with a dog and a greater amount of time and patience is needed. You should also practice not giving her anything or doing anything unless she is calm. Do not feed, water, pet, praise, etc unless she is in a calm submissive state.
Those are just a few things to try.

My dog is old,11.And eating our cats food.Is I ok,or should we take him to the vet.?

He's old,so I hope it doesn't deal with that.

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Don't worry about it. Dogs will eat garbage if they like it. Cat food will not hurt a dog. People can eat cat and dog food as well and nothing will happen. Some doomsday preppers stock up on canned dog and cat food to eat themselves because it last a long time. Since your dog is 11 it may be harder to train him not to eat it but it can be done if you feel it is a problem. If your dog is eating your cat's food before the cat gets a chance to eat just make sure the dog is in another room then feed the cat.

I hope this helps.

My puppies keep mounting each other?
I have two 9 month old puppies...a boxer/border collie mix & a peke/shih tzu mix. The boys are best friends & really only see each other (the peke mix is friendly with other dogs but always tries to mount them & the boxer mix is terribly afraid & defensive around other dogs). They are both intact & I know that this could be the main reason for the mounting but our boxer mix never used to do it & just recently started to. I also know that part of this behavior is learned. Whenever they do it the offending dog is immediately reprimanded & put in time out but the behavior continues. Whenever me or my bf have to leave them at home, we put them in a wire playpen that's about 16 feet around because the boxer mix gets into things. Should we be leaving them alone together? And do we just have to deal with this behavior until they're neutered? Is there not anything that could be done now?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
This is a dominance behavior and should not be allowed. Neither dog should dominate the other. They have to learn that they are both the submissive and you are the dominant one. That way they will see you as the pack leader and won't challenge you. You have to teach them that they have to be calm submissive. If you see them being dominant, correct the behavior as it happens. Do not take them away from what they did. have them lay on their side and do not let them get up until they are in a calm submissive state. It may take awhile but just wait.

Asker's Comment:
I had never tried making them lay down in a submissive state...thanks!

How to keep an escape-artist dog in her kennel?

One of my dogs has recently become quite an escape-artist. She has a big plastic kennel with metal door. She will paw at the top latch until it unhinges and then push the door until the bottom latch comes out too. I reinforced the middle of the door with a carabeener, but that too was unlatched within 5 minutes!!!

We never leave her in the crate for more than 5 hours, and most days she usually is not in the crate. The only reason I crate her is to prevent her from getting into something dangerous when we are gone. We had a scare where we thought she ate a battery that was missing...$300 later she was fine, but our wallet was not! She usually does fine if we just leave her to roam the house (with bedroom and bathroom doors closed), but I still worry about her ingesting something dangerous.

I have included a pic of the kennel door below- just click on the link.

Thank you for any helpful suggestions!


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

It doesn't matter the size or shape of the kennel. What matters is how they perceive it. It is obvious that she associates the kennel with something negative, what you have to do is reverse that. For starters you should not put a dog in a kennel with pent up energy. She had a lot of energy to be working on the kennel. You have to drain the energy away before you put her in for the day. Take her for a long walk, run, bike, rollerblade. If you don't have time in the morning you should get a treadmill and have her do that in the morning for an hour before you leave for the day. Once she is exhausted from all that exercise she won't ave the energy to want to escape.

Second, does she stay in the kennel while you are home. You should practice when you are home that the kennel is a place to rest and relax. After you exercise her take her to the kennel to lay down but don't close the door. Doing this will condition her that the kennel is not a place to be confined but as 'her' place. When she starts feel more secure close the door but don't lock it, leave it a little ajar so she knows that even if the door is closed she can get out.

In time doing this will help with the escaping. You should also train her that just because something is on the floor she in not allowed to touch it and that includes food. Condition her that the only thing she should put in her mouth is what you give her.

I hope this helps

Asker's Comment:

Great points. Sammi doesn't ever go in her cage, whereas my other dog loves her cage and she spends most of her day in it. Maybe she has some separation anxiety and maybe even claustrophobia. Im just going to leave her out with lots of toys to keep her busy. Good excuse to go shop at petsmart :)

How should I train my puppy? I have a lot of questions about training my Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier puppy. I've recently been looking into clicker training and crate training but I'm not sure if those ways are the right ways to go about training my puppy. She's not here yet, I'm just planning ahead. Please suggest some methods on training as well as tips! Thanks in advance!


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
The first training should be socialization with people and dogs. Obedience training should come secondary. Also learn to establish yourself as the pack leader and set up rules, boundaries, and limitation. This will help keep your dog balanced and learn to follow your commands as it grows. You should also learn how to correct puppies as its mother would. There are videos online specifically for training puppies.


Asker's Comment:
Thanks :D There were good answers that really helped me decide in which direction I should go. I've decided not to use clicker training until later when I train in obedience.

How do dogs sleep so much?
my dog sleeps literally all day long. dosent play with toys or anything. and all night long she sleeps. i cant take a 15 minute nap w/o staying up all night. how do dogs do it

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Just like people dogs are different. Some dogs can sleep all day and some dogs are very hyper and up all day. This is what gets dogs in trouble. If the owner is a couch potato and they have an active dog the pent up energy will manifest itself into unwanted behavior. The opposite is true as well. If the owner is a outdoorsperson and likes to be active and the dog is lazy the owner will not be happy with their lazy dog. You have to find the right energy level dog for your lifestyle. Personally, I'm lazy and don't like to go out so I need a lazy house dog.


Asker's Comment:
oh i guess that makes sense. my dogs lazy as @#!*% lol

Should I take my leash-aggressive dog to the dog park?
I have two dogs that I want to take to the dog park today. My older one (2 years old) used to be leash aggressive. I was outside training him for a good 7 months and regularly took him to the dog park. When he had his leash on, he was aggressive, but once it was off at the park he was a whole different dog and always had a blast. As soon as his leash went on, it was back to aggressive. Now after a year of that he is friendly on both leash and off leash. Not sure if he grew out of it or if all that training actually worked.

My younger dog (10 months old) is about twice his size. She is also leash aggressive, but because she is much bigger and stronger, I'm nervous when she goes into aggressive mode. She would try to attack dogs AND people. I've got her to the point where she is calm around people on leash, but not dogs. I know she is dog friendly because I have taken her on playdates inside the house and a couple months ago I took her once to the dog park (before she was leash aggressive) and she had a ball. I know once she's off leash in the park she'll be friendly, and she really needs the exercise, but I'm nervous about the walk over to the gates and how she will act before she gets in. I know if I regularly take her it will help immensely with her training, but do you have any advice for how I should go about this?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

If you are going to try it I suggest you take the dog for a long walk or run to tier her out. If she has the pent up energy she will channel it to attacking another dog. Since she is tired take her to the park and walk around the park and see how she reacts to the dogs in the park. If you want to feel safer, you can put a muzzle on her so there won't be any accidents.

I hope this helps


Asker's Comment:
I took her for a 45 minute walk and fed her beforehand and watched her at the gates. She was barking, and when she stopped (took about 20 seconds) I let her in. She was great and got along with all the dogs there and coming in. I hate when people are so extreme and say I don't deserve a dog smh.

How to stop my dog from barking at kids? My dog, Rosie, is about 8 months old. Labrador/Collie cross.

She's very gentle with us in the house, and there are a lot of kids in my house. She doesn't bite nor does she bark them. She's well trained (inside the house), except for when the doorbell rings and she goes mental!

Everyday I collect my little sisters from school at 3pm, so I used to bring Rosie up with me to let my sisters friends meet her etc. I stopped however because of the following reason.

When she would see a person she doesn't know, she will bark sooo much at them. It scares me even. I say her name and tell her no in a stern voice and she'll look at me, sometimes she will stop but sometimes she doesn't.
If the kid pets her, she will snarl or nash her teeth at them.
I hate it! If a dog did that to me or my little sisters, I'd be pretty pisssed, so I understand that other parents and adults yell at me for it. I apologise etc and have stopped bringing her up.

My brother however brought her up today. They just got back and he said she snapped at a 2 year old.
We bring her for walks a lot in parks and try to get her to meet strangers, but dang, she will NOT attach herself to strangers.

I don't know what to do!
No doesn't work outside the house.
I try to tell her to sit when we come across people we don't know and I tell her to stay (all which she understands) and if she stays while the person walks past, I do that.
But if I don't, she'll be barking at them.

Not entirely sure how to stop this.
Any help would be amazing!!

Thank you very much :D


Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Obviously you have a lot of work you have to do. The first thing you should do is to make sure you are the pack leader. You do this by taking her for long walks where she is beside or behind you. Remember this is not a time for her to be sniffing around or relieving herself. This is a training exercise. Make sure you make her keep her attention on you and not what is happening around her.

Before you try socializing her again with people, kids, etc. make sure she is drained of energy. Run her or walk her until she is exhausted. If she is tired she won't have the energy to fight, bite, bark, whatever to people outside. Eventually she will learn that people are not her enemy and they want to give affection when she is in a calm submissive state.

Also let people know that she is in training and not to pet her or give any acknowledgement to her unless you see she is in a calm submissive state.

Trying to tell a dog no when it is in a level ten hysteria will accomplish nothing. The dog doesn't even hear you. You have to learn to see the warning signs that she gives and correct the behavior before it escalates. Whach, her eyes, ears, tail.

I hope this helps

Is my chihuahua a CHIHUAHUA?
We got her from a proper breeder n has been with us for 7 months .I've read that chihuahuas are loyal to their owners and very affectionate ,by which she is way different. Every time we go for a walk,She turns into an angel,forgetting me and start running to strangers and get VERY affectionate giving them huge licks like i abused her. (which I never hitted her or other abuses).my mother mostly cares her more(bath,groom take her to vets etc,) yet she Hates my mum n tries to bite her whenever there's the opportunity.She has been trained on sit,stand,spin,paw,her name n is takes walks from me but she loves my dad alot who doesn't do much,She loves my dad then me and then mum which is strange as mum takes care of her alote,then me then dad o.O. annnnnnnnnd , whenever I'm sad ,she never comforts me.She avoids me and carry on hewing her thing.And whenever we try to put her harness on for walks,Her face gets wrinkly and tries to bite our fingers off...also,she occasionally bites our feet when we walk or suddenly dance :/

P.S shes a female ;p


Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
The problem is that she is the pack leader and you are all subordinate to her. A follower never bites or disrespects the pack leader. The reason she likes your dad is because she doesn't have to discipline him as she does with you and your mom. She is praising his good behavior.

You have to establish yourself as the pack leader. The first step is to take her for a long walk with her beside or behind you. If she is in front she is the pack leader. Make sure it is a long walk that drains her energy. I tired dog is a trainable dog.

Do not give affection, food, water or anything positive unless she is in a calm submissive state. Give it at any other time is reenforcing the behavior at the time.

This is just a first step and I hope it helps

How to I teach my pitbull to be a guard dog? Okay I'll try to make this quick.
I have a 9 month old rednose pitbull and he is kinda a attack dog. I say kinda because if he hears the dog being knocked on he'll start barking and growling like crazy. But some stranger walked up to the dog and started petting and holding him and I just thought that sucked.
I got him in the first place to be protection for my family and so far it's not working out
How can I turn him into a attack/guard dog

Additional Details
To all the people who are calling me "ignorant" and a "bad pet owner" I'm not I want to know what type of community owns breeds of dogs. I work at my local dog shelter and I VOLUNTEER to help dogs. This is ABSOLOUTLEY a trick question, I don't even own any animals, but 1 cockateil.
I agree with MOST of the comments, why would anyone want to do this to one of the most mis-understood breeds is completly beyond me.
Now you guys can stop commenting crap about "me" and stop do all of this, I barely come on here and this question was to consume time, not an actual question.
Now have a good day :)


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Be happy that he alerts you when someone is at the door. If you are strong pack leader your dog will come to your aid if you are being attacked.


Asker's Comment:
The best answer and the only one that doesn't just run off and out the mouth. Most of the comments said you are ignorant and yada yada ya. They could have just said you're a bad pet owner and period. Then leave it alone, but they ran off.
Good Response :)