Hi!

[Marsee]

My name is Marsee. We live on a farm in New York State and adopted a dog that was picked up as a stray in a pack of dogs in Ohio and was sent to our local shelter. "Otto" is approximately 10-12 months old and we've had him for about a month now. They guessed him to be Shepherd/Shar Pei - we also see Pit. This is not our first dog - we've had a Shepherd and a Lab - and lost both to cancer recently. We would like to ask about some issues we've had - specifically body-slamming people! I am now laid up with a sprained knee from getting slammed by him a week or so ago. This guy is a sweetie - and we're not giving up - but sure need some ideas as this is behavior we have no experience with. Obedience training is in the very near future (waiting for a class to open up) and would like to share the journey!

[gayrghts]

My name is Marsee. We live on a farm in New York State and adopted a dog that was picked up as a stray in a pack of dogs in Ohio and was sent to our local shelter. "Otto" is approximately 10-12 months old and we've had him for about a month now. They guessed him to be Shepherd/Shar Pei - we also see Pit. This is not our first dog - we've had a Shepherd and a Lab - and lost both to cancer recently. We would like to ask about some issues we've had - specifically body-slamming people! I am now laid up with a sprained knee from getting slammed by him a week or so ago. This guy is a sweetie - and we're not giving up - but sure need some ideas as this is behavior we have no experience with. Obedience training is in the very near future (waiting for a class to open up) and would like to share the journey!

Hi, welcome, i'm also from NYS, near albany... have 2 pittie types, and a "crap bag weasel dog"

I'm sure that people will be able to help you out with some of your questions....

As soon as you get approved to post

Sorry to hear about your dog losses, and your sprained knee...

Where are you located, and where are you going to be taking him to class?

[Marsee]

Thank you! We are outside of Rochester and hope to take him to the Dog Obedience Club here. We're just waiting for them to post their April classes so we can register. It's been a heck of a time here - we look forward to better days to come!

Marsee

[madremissy]

Welcome to PBT

[gayrghts]

Neat, several members of the dog club in rochester are on here.... including Michelle our fearless, but bald (due to forum problems) leader.... and Matt....

I'm sure that they will be able to help you out....

What prompted you to adopt a pittie... or were you really thinking he was not pittie till later?

[Marinepits]

Hey, Marsee!

Welcome to the forum! And thank you for adopting a dog.

Due to a few forums "quirks", we cannot approve you to post yet, so please go ahead and ask your questions in this thread. As soon as we fix the quirks, we'll add you to the regular forum and then you can join in the rest of the fun!

Thanks for understanding!

Jenifer

[Marsee]

Our house was SO crashingly empty after the loss of our second dog. We knew we couldn't replace them, but also knew we needed to have dogs back in our lives pronto! We didn't search out a Pit Bull - just looked for a medium-sized dog - one that we could "rescue" in return for "rescuing" us. We have Shepherd experience (our boy was 125 pounds!) and felt we could handle something more challenging that might not have as good a chance of being adopted. Otto is short-haired, brown with a touch of brindling, black muzzle and a white patch on his chest - about 50 lbs. Boxer may be in there - definitely some Shepherd - a curl in his tail and wrinkled brow does suggest Shar Pei (and I hear that is common in Ohio) - we see Pit in his face and eyes.

He's been a very interesting dog so far - the most pack-driven dog we've ever had. He has been so easy to train because of that. Definitely an adolescent, however, and does his share of testing us.

[gayrghts]

Marsee... are you familiar with the NILIF method's of training... where a dog needs to work for just about everything.... including play, and pets?

That often seems to work well with pits... and any dog that seems to want to challenge the pack order....

They need to know who the alpha is... and more importantly that its not THEM....

I'm thinking the bulldozing into people, ie what sprained your knee, was part of the bully mentality... and that the NILIF will help to settle that down rather quickly, esp since you say that Otto is a pack driven dog....

Thanks again for giving a dog that's more of a challenge, a chance... some people.... many people want the easy way out, and have issues if a dog does not house break in 2.3 days

[Marsee]

I've just been reading recently about NILIF and we must be "Natural NILIF's" It's been interesting to read about it - and I realize from the reading it would be good to ask more than we do for each thing he wants. Otto was pretty well untrained just a few weeks ago, but is so pack-driven - maybe from being in a pack? He just seems to get that there are rules - wants to know what they are - and pretty much sticks to 'em to get what he wants. He housetrained beautifully - and while we wouldn't trust him yet with run of the house - we don't worry about that too much. He sits and waits for me to get his dinner, set it on the floor and "OK" before he eats - he sits quietly for his leash to be put on - he sits at the door and waits for me to go first, etc. He still needs work on more downs and continued work on stay - which he doesn't yet do too well. (As I'm writing this, I'm realizing he probably doesn't see the big deal for doing this - I'll have to come up with a great reward - Thank you!) He definitely needs more work on the leash and I think that's where we haven't yet convinced him he's not in charge. It's kind of like it's our house, but outside might still be a question. We're hoping obedience training will help with walking on the leash better. (My knees hope for that too!)

Otherwise, he's a delightful dog - LOVE his sense of humor! One morning, we did our little ritual where I ask him to go in his crate - he went in - I gave him his nylabone - he sat there for a second with the bone in his mouth. Suddenly, as I was just about to close the door, he exploded out of the crate - took two butt-tucked laps through the house, slid across the kitchen floor in an attempt to stop and turn - torpedoed back to his crate, picked up his bone and sat in there grinning at me like nothing happened.

[katiek0417]

Hi There, Welcome to PBT...

Sounds like you have your hands full (in a good way).

Have you read the thread regarding 15 minutes to walking nicely on a leash...there's some GREAT information in there...

[airwalk]

Hi Marsee, nice to have you here and you sound like you have quite the character there. Lots of folks here with tons of knowledge and always willing to share.

[pitbullmamaliz]

Welcome!

[iluvk9]

Welcome to PBT. I am sorry for your recent losses.

[gordonusnret]

Welcome to PBT,also sorry about your loss.

[Scout]

Hi Marsee...welcome to PBT!! Thank you for giving Otto a chance when other would have passed him by.

[Marsee]

Hi There, Welcome to PBT...

Sounds like you have your hands full (in a good way).

Have you read the thread regarding 15 minutes to walking nicely on a leash...there's some GREAT information in there...

Thank you, Katrina. I did go and read it and will have my husband do so, as well. I, of course, need to wait another couple of weeks for my knee to heal before trying this myself. For now, my husband is the walker, and things are going better for him. No more body-slamming so far.

He came to us with this behavior. The first night he was here, I took him out and let him go to the end of the leash. He turned and came running at me - leaped in the air and shoulder-slammed me in my shoulder! I was so surprised! With all the dogs we've had, we've never experienced this before and other than continuing training, we are at a loss as to what to do about it. It will be a long time before I trust him enough to divert my attention again. Have you (or anyone else reading this) experienced this? Any ideas about what this might be? When he slammed me to the ground, it sure felt like an assault - but he didn't attack me when I was down - just seemed to think it was all great fun and was pouncing at me like he wanted me to get up and play - which I was certainly NOT prepared to do at the time.

[cheekymunkee]

[katiek0417]

Hi There, Welcome to PBT...

Sounds like you have your hands full (in a good way).

Have you read the thread regarding 15 minutes to walking nicely on a leash...there's some GREAT information in there...

Thank you, Katrina. I did go and read it and will have my husband do so, as well. I, of course, need to wait another couple of weeks for my knee to heal before trying this myself. For now, my husband is the walker, and things are going better for him. No more body-slamming so far.

He came to us with this behavior. The first night he was here, I took him out and let him go to the end of the leash. He turned and came running at me - leaped in the air and shoulder-slammed me in my shoulder! I was so surprised! With all the dogs we've had, we've never experienced this before and other than continuing training, we are at a loss as to what to do about it. It will be a long time before I trust him enough to divert my attention again. Have you (or anyone else reading this) experienced this? Any ideas about what this might be? When he slammed me to the ground, it sure felt like an assault - but he didn't attack me when I was down - just seemed to think it was all great fun and was pouncing at me like he wanted me to get up and play - which I was certainly NOT prepared to do at the time.

Stupid as it sounds, some dogs just do that...My little female malinois is insane...she jumps straight at my face and snaps her teeth if she feels I'm not paying attention to her...One key thing is to remind him that YOU ARE the boss, and that attention comes when YOU want it to come...teaching him to sit for attention will also help...

[Marsee]

Hi There, Welcome to PBT...

Stupid as it sounds, some dogs just do that...My little female malinois is insane...she jumps straight at my face and snaps her teeth if she feels I'm not paying attention to her...One key thing is to remind him that YOU ARE the boss, and that attention comes when YOU want it to come...teaching him to sit for attention will also help...

Otto does that, too - we call it "run-by's". He will "run-by" and jump up and snap. This, too, is decreasing as my husband works with him more. We will continue to work with him (SURE WISH the dog obedience club would post their new schedule!!!!!). Glad to know Otto isn't the only one. This was quite the surprise to us. Otherwise, he is just a sweetheart and we are just fascinated by his pack orientation stuff. We've never seen this before.

We are all new to each other - Otto has only been here for a month and all we know is that he was picked up with a stray pack of dogs. I hope we will all soon learn what to expect from each other.

[gayrghts]

When you get a chance, read the thread that's titled something like Play styles...

Matt posted it not to long ago, ie within last 2 weeks...

Matt was describing how some of his dogs play one way, and others play a different way... not that it helps with solving Otto's problem... but it does show you that you're not alone.

Sometimes ignoring obnoxious behavior, and only rewarding good behavior with attention works... but sometimes the jump, and startle is a reward... and its very hard not to jump and startle when otto does this to you i'm sure.