Pit Bull Health Tip of The Month:
Pit Bull Stress and How to Relieve it

Stress is a common thing in the world of Pit Bulls. We demand quite a bit from our companions and in turn we sometimes neglect to fulfill their basic needs.

This month I would like to talk about stress and stress relief because it is critically important for a happy, healthy Pit Bull.

What causes stress?

A few things that can cause stress are:

1. Lack of attention. Dogs that are left to their own devices can stress out when they run out of interesting things to do.



2. Lack of exercise. Pit Bulls are energetic animals. I have never seen a "couch potato" within the breed that wasn't old or hurt. Otherwise they were stir crazy if they didn't get at least a couple of hours of hard exercise.



3. Lack of mental stimulation. Or things to test their mental abilities. Pit Bulls are smart. This is proven time and time again when Pit Bulls constantly rank in the top levels of obedience, protection sports, agility, and other activities that require their mental stamina.
   
   Without mental stimulation, Pit Bulls start to misbehave.



4. Lack of a healthy diet. Horrible diets can cause stress levels in dogs because a dog that is too skinny or too fat has to work harder when they are asked to. They fatigue faster and health problems can occur from the stress and the unhealthy diet they are experiencing.

A few things to relieve stress include:

1. Mental stimulation. Buster Cubes, games of hide and seek for treats (and people), trick training all provide a mental exercise for your dog.



2. Exercise. Fetch, tug-o-war, spring pole, jenny mills, carpet mills, long daily walks, and games of find the person all provide ample opportunity for exercise.



3. Attention. A long walk once per day and an extra long play time along with obedience/trick training will stop your dog from feeling isolated from you.



4. Healthy diet. Raw food diet, salmon treats, zero grains, very little veggies, and lots of clean fresh water will help your dog maintain a healthy glow year round. It will also help reduce the stress caused by junk foods like grains, sugars and low grade dry and wet dog foods packed with nasty additives.

Out of all of these there really is not one "most important" thing. However, walking your dog for 3-5 miles every day rain or shine is extremely important for reducing stress levels. Not to mention this is the perfect bond building exercis for you and your Pit Bull pal(s).

Tired Pit Bulls that get plenty of good food, attention and mental stimulation are well behaved Pit Bulls.

Pit Bull Training Tip of the Month:
Teaching Your Pit Bull to Roll-Over on Cue

How to Teach Your Pit Bull(s) to Roll Over on Cue (aka command)

Step One: Starting with your dog in the down position you want to have your hand loaded with 5-10 tasty treats.

It's important to remember that your dog should not see you putting the treats in your hand. They will smell it when you get it close to their nose.

What I do is treat the dog 2-3 times while they are in the down position and then go straight into luring them into the roll.

Step Two: Kneel down to their level. Keep your treat hand low enough and close enough to their nose so they won't get up.

Step Three: With your loaded treat hand slowly start making a circle around your dogs head from the front around the back to the front again. Making sure your dogs nose is close or touching the lure hand all the way through this.

One possible problem you might encounter is the dog jumps up or turns their head to meet the hand on the other side. If they do this, stand up and turn your back for 1-2 seconds. Then kneel down and start again.

As you slowly circle your treat hand around their head they will start to follow it. As you move your hand to the other side they will start to roll over. It is important to keep the treat from them until they have completed the roll.

Step Four: As soon as they roll over mark the behavior with "YES!" and reward quickly with a single treat.

Step Five: Repeat steps one through four until you are easily luring your dog into the roll over.

Step Six: Start to stand up. Instead of kneeling move to bending over. Once your dog is being lured to roll over successfully from this position stand up. Now you will be motion with the your hand in the same manner you lured them with but the circle will be about waist high.

If they do not roll over turn your back for 1-2 seconds and then start again. However, this time start from the bending position and lure them into the roll over 5-10 times. Then try the standing position again. Repeat this as often as needed until your dog rolls over from the standing position.

If they try to get up and get the treat do the same as above. Move back to the semi-bent over stage and work with them for 5-10 more repetitions. Then stand up and try motioning from the standing position again.

Step Seven: Now that your dog is rolling over when you cue them with your hand from the standing position you are going to add the word, "Roll!" Or "Roll Over" to the sequence.

Start by standing in front of your dog with your loaded hand at the ready (remember not to let them see you load your hand.)

Say their name, then say, "roll" and then use your hand signal (circle motion) to cue them to roll over.

When they do jackpot them (feed them 2-5 treats one after the other fairly quickly.)

If they refuse to roll over then you will want to go back to step six until they are rolling over 90% of the time with just a hand signal.

Fading out the hand signal: Once they are rolling over when you say, "roll" and use the hand signal you will want to start fading out the hand signal. You do this by saying your dogs name, then "roll." If they roll, YES! reward.

If they do not roll over then wait one long second and then use the hand signal and give them praise instead of a treat.

If your dog is praise motivated then give them a mild form of praise like a pat on the head. Repeat the above step for fading out the hand signal until your dog rolls over on command.

Subscriber Questions
Speaking of hyperness, I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to release this excess of energy?

I have three words that will answer this question.

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise.

The question above also mentioned that after a long run and play time her dog was still bursting with energy and wanting to play and I knew of anyway to burn off this energy.

Personally I would recommend for a dog with super energy be worked out daily on a regimen. Something that will take them to the limits and then give them one full day of rest to recover.

A 3 mile run and 3 miles of walking to cool them down is a good start.

Then repeat this process later in the day. Two 3 mile runs a day is enough to make even more the most enegetic Pit Bull tired. If it doesn't? Then make it 5 miles instead of three.

Total exercise distance would be 3 mile run plus a 3 mile cool off equals 6 miles total. Do this twice a day for a 6 mile run and 6 mile cool off for a 12 mile daily excerise routine.

WARNING: The above suggestion is for dogs that are in great health, bursting with energy, and on days that are cool/warm enough not to over heat the dog.

Bring plenty of water for them to drink and give them little amounts of water at various points of the run.

Important step to remember about hard exercise: Never stop and let your dog lay down after a hard run or play session. This can lead to muscle cramps and other problems. Walk them out until their breathing returns to normal or close to normal then give them a break for a couple of minutes.

After this short break, walk them out again until their breathing returns to normal. I would also suggest giving them a vigirous rub down before and after the run/walk/play session.

A few items that you can use to burn off excess energy are:

The Flirt Pole: A long pole with a rope on the end that is attached to a toy. You have them chase this around and every once in a while let them catch it. Pit Bulls love these things and dogs with good prey drive really love them.

The Jenny: This is something like the flirt pole except the dog is attached to a large circle. In front of the dog about 30 feet is a toy they really like.

They will run to get the toy. The Jenny makes a large circle. After a few minutes of play on the Jenny tell your dog to stop, detach the toy and give it to them.

Resources:
Where to find the items and products mentioned in this months issue

Legal Stuff and Conclusion

Every thing in this email is Copyright © 2005. Jason Mann & PitBullLovers.com

You can pass this entire email to friends if you would like as long as it stays unchanged and left as is.

That concludes the legal talk.

In Conclusion

Stress can be reduced by giving your dog excitment in their life and not boring them to death. Far to often people have dogs and they think they are getting a lot of exercise (when they are not) and they think they are giving them all their needs, but they are missing the mark by a mile.

Give your dog something to do, play with them, exercise them, and most importantly obedience train them.

Teaching your dog to roll over is one way of breaking the stress and giving your dog a neat little trick they can do when company comes over.

Remember to keep your dog healthy and have them examined for health problems regularly. Especially if you want to start introducing them to hard exercises like long runs, walks, and extended fetch sessions.

In the end, keep in mind your dog loves you and it is your job to respect them enough to do everything in your power to make their life fun, healthy, safe, and long while in your care.

I hope you have enjoyed this months issue of the Pit Bull Lovers Gazette. See you next month!

Best Regards,

Jason Mann
Senior editor - The Pit Bull Lover Gazette
Proud Doggy Dad - Angel and Honey. Two of the wildest dogs I've ever had the pleasure of sharing space with.