Jason's Corner:
Let Me Tell You a Secret ...
Date: October 2008
From the Desk: Jason Mann - Senior Editor
This month I would like to talk to you about something that a recent conversation brought
to my attention. I was talking with a friend about breed specific legislation and other
issues Pit Bull owners are facing.
During the conversation we began to talk about why there is very little positive Pit Bull
press out there. Yes, there are thousands of positive Pit Bull web sites out there but
most of those sites are only seen by Pit Bull owners like you and me.
So why is it that we do not see more positive Pit Bull press on T.V., in major papers,
and on major news channel web sites?
Let me tell you a secret ...
Media is saturated with anti-Pit Bull information because of money. A recent subscriber said I
was making it sound like it was "me against them" in a letter I sent out about anti-Pit Bull laws. Frankly
it is "me against them." Well, it is "us against them" really. Organizations like PETA and other animal rights groups
do not try to hide the fact they are trying to destroy the American Pit Bull Terrier and related breeds.
When I speak out against PETA and the Humane Society of the United States along with about 20 other
so called, "Animal loving" organizations I do so knowing their agenda. I am not a crack pot trying to
scare the daylights out of people. I am, a Pit Bull owner/fancier who worries on a daily basis that
one day my dogs and the breed I love (The American Pit Bull Terrier) will be destroyed.
Sadly, I believe one day that will be the case. Unless...
We (that's me and you) stand up and say, "Wait one second there pal. Here is the truth
and you can not step on me because you have money."
There in lies the secret.
If you tally up what PETA takes in donations a year you will find yourself in the multi-million dollar
range. Think about that for a second. They have a paid staff for marketing, they have paid lawyers,
they have paid employees who do the little jobs and they have millions of dollars to fund anti-Pit Bull
media campaigns.
By year end, 2004, PETA took in $28,926,924.00 in donations. A large portion of that money goes to paying
employees and pushing out their "total liberation" message. You can view more of these
financial's at ActivistCash.com
Here's the rub...
There are other organizations out there (The Humane Society of the United States) that take in just as much or more in donations and funding each year
and they are also pumping out anti-Pit Bull advertising, funding lawyers to help BSL get passed, and
more.
This leads me to a question. Faced with millions of dollars in revenue how are Pit Bull owners, who have
regular jobs, make average incomes, going to fight back?
Pit Bull owners do not have a media savvy organization that spends millions on positive Pit Bull advertising.
You and I are left supporting little organizations that are trying their hearts out to help but again, they
are faced with professional, business oriented, funded powerhouses that drown out their
message.
Introducing Project Pit Bull
I recently sent out an email about Project Pit Bull. Project Pit Bull is a project I started
through PitBullLovers.com that I hope will become that funded powerhouse for Pit Bull owners and our
dogs.
Honestly, I'm tired of waiting for registries and other organizations to step up to the plate and do
something on a serious level. Yes, helping local communities is great. Yes, I respect those people
working their butts off to help Pit Bulls around the world. But it's time for someone to take it
to the next level.
Why not me I asked myself. So, Project Pit Bull was born. Now I'm not a moron. I know I can
not do this alone. I need your help.
What Project Pit Bull is All About
Project Pit Bull has many goals but the idea is simple. To provide a positive, well funded,
media savvy, public relation oriented voice for Pit Bull owners.
In short, my plan is to approach the Pit Bull issues from a different angle. Instead of
running and tucking our tails between our legs in reaction to anti-Pit Bull laws and attitudes
Project Pit Bull is going to step up, stand right front of them, and say, NO MORE.
My goal, my dream, is to turn this one sided fight for Pit Bull owner rights and their
dogs lives around. I am drop dead serious when I say that I am dedicated to this idea and
with your help we can stand up and start making changes. Real Changes.
Project Pit Bull Information
The core of Project Pit Bull is funding. Without funding Project Pit Bull will not work. I
can't be more straight forward. Funding is the reason why you and I are subjected
to anti-Pit Bull media messages. Funding is what will make Project Pit Bull successful.
What I would like you to do after you read this months newsletter is to visit ProjectPitBull.org
and get more information about how you can help.
I want to thank you in advance for your support. Enjoy the rest of this months issue.
Until Next Issue,
Jason Mann
Interview with B. Haywood Author of The Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide
Anti-Pit Bull Laws and Why You Should Care
Before I get to the interview with B. Haywood (creator of DogPolitics.com, owner of MyDogVotes.com, author
The Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide and breed advocate). I would to get something
off my chest.
I speak with a lot of Pit Bull owners and when I bring up the subject of anti-Pit Bull laws it seems like people turn off. They
sigh, roll their eyes, and act as if I just spit in their milk.
I know anti-Pit Bulls is a sore subject with Pit Bull owners. Most of us simply don't know what to do, we want to help, but
we find ourselves stuck in the mud trying to find our way out.
Regardless of how you feel about anti-Pit Bull laws you should be concerned and more importantly you should be actively resisting
these laws.
With that said, I recently asked B. Haywood several questions regarding anti-Pit Bull laws. Here's the interview.
Jason: Mrs. Haywood. I'm going to just jump right in here with my first question.
Q: What is the quickest way for a Pit Bull owner to start a campaign against anti-pit bull laws?
B. Haywood: If there's no BSL - pit bull owners should be campaigning in their communities for responsible ownership and dog bite prevention on a year round basis. This positions pit bull owners as valuable members of the community who are contributing to the public health and safety - and especially that of children and the elderly.
If BSL has passed - then pit bull owners should obtain all dog bite incident reports and analyze the data - which will probably show that a) pit bulls were not the primary breed responsible for the majority of bites and breed ID is often unconfirmed or mistaken.
The bite data will also provide the roapdmap for developing a dog bite prevention plan for the community.
Jason: Excellent.
Q: What is the first thing a Pit Bull owner should do if BSL is proposed in their area?
B. Haywood: 1. Obtain a copy of the existing animal control ordinance and compare with the proposed ordinance. ID and understand the differences and how it will a) negatively impact all dogs and owners, b) failure to protect the community from bites, - and again - Pit Bull owners should be crusaders in preventing dog bites.
Jason: Moving right along.
Q: Where can a Pit Bull owner go for help regarding anti-pit bull laws?
B. Haywood: There is no single organization or magic bullet - however there are numerous lists - BSL updates, BSL Workshops in which Pit Bull owners can find assistance. They will still have to do the work on the local level - however there are members online who can help guide them.
Jason: My next question, is...
Q: If you could only tell a Pit Bull owner one thing to do about anti-pit bull laws what would that be?
B. Haywood: Be a crusader for keeping kids safe and teaching dog bite prevention and responsible ownership in your community
Anti-Pit Bull laws are a cancer within the Pit Bull community. As I mentioned in "Jason's Corner" you are up against organizations
with millions of dollars to throw at lobbying for legislation, creating multi-million dollar media campaigns, and well funded staff that run these
operations.
If you want to learn more about how you can help stop anti-Pit Bull laws in your tracks I encourage you to get B. Haywoods eBook, "The Pit Bull
Owner's Survival Guide". This guide is powerful and unique. There is nothing else like it for Pit Bull owners available on the
Internet or off the Internet.
You can learn more about The Pit Bull Owner's Survival Guide by clicking here.
(Note, when ordering through the above link a portion of all sales of The Pit Bull Survival Guide eBook goes to Project Pit Bull)
I added an extra gift for Pit Bull Lovers Gazette subscribers only as well. Take a moment and check it out.
Obedience Training for Your Pit Bull
How to Tell When Your Pit Bull is Ready for the Next Level
As a professional dog trainer I get asked a lot about how to tell when a dog is ready for more advanced training. In the following
article I'll share with you how I tell when my dogs and my clients dogs are ready for the more advanced stuff and how to proceed with confidence.
First let's look at how dogs learn.
There are four stages, Acquisition, Fluency, Generalization, and Maintenance. I'll briefly describe each one but for this article we
are going to concentrate on fluency.
Acquisition - Basically this is when your dog acquires a new behavior. They are learning something new.
Fluency - Once your dog is learning the behavior fluency is how well your dog can perform the specific behavior.
Generalization - When you move training from your living room to the front yard. You are generalizing the behavior in different locations.
Maintained - When you continue to work on the behavior to make sure it doesn't disappear or extinguish.
I would like for you to turn your attention to fluency. Fluency is how we tell if our dog is ready to move up to another behavior and
how advanced that behavior should be.
Fluency is the rate per minute in which your dog will perform a specific behavior correctly. For example, if you ask your dog to
sit 10 times and they perform it 8 times correctly then they are showing you they know the behavior quite well. However, if you
move to the front yard and repeat the exercise and they only perform the behavior 4 times they are showing you in that setting
they are not as fluent.
My rule of thumb for my dogs is they must show fluency in at least four different locations with lots of distractions.
Example: When I was teaching Angel to "wave" at people I started in my living room. Once she showed fluency
there I moved to a local park. The distractions were light. Once she showed fluency there I moved to a private lesson with
one of my clients. Once she showed fluency in that setting I moved to asking for it in a training class of 10 dogs and
owners.
You know your dog is ready to perform more advanced behaviors like a formal heel or moving sit when they can reliably
perform the basics under heavy distraction, you figure that out by using the rate per minute they perform the basics
under heavy distraction.
You will follow the same process as I did with Angel. You will ask for a sit in the house. Then outside in the yard,
then at a local park, then at the corner downtown, you might join a training class and proof your dog around untrained
dogs, and then you can move them into more advanced behaviors like a moving sit in an off leash dog training class.
Finding out how fluent your dog is with any given behavior tells you when to raise the bar.
We also have to look at what "advanced obedience" means. Is it when you can do everything off leash? Is it when
you can ask for a sit and get it immediately in the middle of the mall? Is it when your dog stops jumping on
people and sits on cue when people come through the door?
My view is, advanced is when ever you can get basic obedience under stressful, distracting situations. Advanced
obedience takes a while to achieve. However, using fluency to keep checking in on your dogs progress will tell
you when you can move them up to more advanced behaviors and settings without having to guess.
Training your Pit Bull is all about going from basic to advanced to basic to advanced. You want to consistently
check their progress and understanding of any given behavior and maintain it. If you stop asking for sits under
heavy distraction you will stop getting them.
Remember to make training fun and enjoy your Pit Bull!
Ding Dong... Trick or Treat!
A Neat Training Exercise to Improve Your Dog's Manners During Halloween
I like Halloween. I am always nostalgic this time of year. Cooler temperatures, fall colors, they bring back times
that I cherish and Halloween is one of those holidays where I get misty eyed thinking about the 5 year old Jason
stumbling around in his Devil outfit trying to amass the largest bag of candy he could.
Unfortunately those trips down memory lane are cut short by three dogs barking at the trick or treaters coming
to the door dressed in costumes. My dogs loath Halloween. They despise the door bell ringing every 30 seconds for
3 hours straight and every single visitor is a strange looking short person carrying weird sacks with them.
Over the years I have learned that Halloween is a perfect time for teaching manners at the door
for my dogs. After all, we have a training opportunity every 30-60 seconds and you are not going to get more
distracting than a 3 and a half foot tall Spiderman screaming, "TRICK OR TREAT!"
Doorbell training is a fantastic way to improve your dogs manners at the door. During Halloween
I take the opportunity to teach my dogs that "ding dong" means, "go lay down."
Personally I use mats for target areas during this exercise. I put three mats in the living room and arrange
them about 5-8 feet from the front door in various locations.
I set up a training session with my dogs the day before Halloween just to get their minds ready for
what they will be doing the following night.
I have someone ring the door bell in 60 second intervals and then I ask them to go to their mats and sit. Then I open the door, the person says, in a loud
voice, "TRICK OR TREAT!" and I hand them candy.
We repeat this for about 10 minutes.
While I get the occasional bark they have learned quite well that "ding dong" means go to your area
and lay down until I come back and release you from that area. It took one whole Halloween to teach
this behavior and it works year around if you keep up the training.
How to train this is fairly straight forward. Have someone ring the bell, lure your
dog to a mat, bed, or specific area of the house, praise like the dickens, and then release them from
their spot. Once they are moving toward the area when the door bell rings, praise them, then tell
them to go to their mat.
You can use Halloween to continue the lessons. Each time you see a Trick or Treater wobbling toward
your door get ready, have some yummy treats (for the dog), ding dong! give the "go to your mat" cue,
lure them over to the mat, praise, drop a hand full of goodies down there for them to eat, then
attend to the trick or treater.
If your dog is obviously freaked out by the kids, you may want to do this at another time, we
don't want to keep the little ones waiting for 5 minutes while you make sure your dog sits still. Otherwise
you might have a pile up of trick or treaters on your porch.
Let's break this down:
Step One: Doorbell rings, you say, "Mat", then lure the dog to their area and when
they are in that area release them (okay!, Free!, yes! whatever you want to use there) and give
them several yummy treats.
Repeat step one 20-30 times.
Step Two: Stand a few feet from the mat. The Doorbell rings, give the "mat" cue,
then point to the mat while saying the cue. When they get on the mat or in the
area, release and give them their treats.
Repeat step two 20-30 times.
Step Three: Stand a few feet away from the door. Doorbell rings, point
to the mat/area and say, "mat." The wait until they are on the mat or in the area and
then say, "good dog" proceed to open the door and act as if you are giving candy
to a trick or treater.
Repeat step three 20-30 times. Then repeat this step every time a trick or treater comes to your door
on Halloween.
Tips
1. If you find your dog keeps getting up go back to step one.
2. Put a note on the door that says, "RING DOORBELL" so every trick or treater rings the doorbell
and doesn't knock.
3. Make sure to praise your dog while they are on their mat or in their area behaving. Praise
them a lot. Do not toss treats to them because this may cause them to get up and move.
4. If you find they are not receptive to the training during this time, stop, put them in
another room, and pick up the training some other time. Maybe they will have it down by
next year.
5. Have fun, it's Halloween for goodness sake!
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