Health and exercise are vital to a happy, healthy dog. Pitbulls thrive on daily exercise and hard workouts. This is one reason they excel at weight pulling.
Every day I receive email’s about pit bulls with behavior problems. From jumping, chewing, licking, separation anxiety, growling, excessive barking, you name it and I’ve been asked about it at least one time.
My response to the questions is always a question…
How much exercise does your dog receive on a daily basis?
Exercise is not only important to long term health but proper exercise can help solve behavior problems too
Case in point, I recently receive an email from a lady who’s dog was “hard headed and stubborn” those are her words not mine. Her email went on to describe the actions of her dog and you can tell from the words she was at her wits end. I emailed her and asked her the above question, “How much exercise does your dog get on a daily basis?” She responded with all sorts of stuff. However, the one thing that she didn’t mention was how much she walked her dog.
Longer walks build stronger bonds between you and your pitbull and burns off excess energy
I replied again asking her to increase her walks by 50%. Turning her mediocre 1 mile into 2 miles every single day.
A few days later she replied to me and said her dog was not chewing as much, listened better, and had completely stopped jumping on guests (the reason why she emailed me.)
This is not an isolated incident. I have HUNDREDS of examples from people around the world who have written in with their testimonials about how a simple walk changed their dogs and their own lives dramatically. You should also know that I’m not tooting my own horn here, but sharing with you vital information that has proven to be effective in 99.9% of the cases I’ve dealt with. Exercise is that important. It can literally take a dog that is out of control and change their attitudes within a very short period of time.
If your dog is misbehaving and doing things like barking, jumping, mouthing, chewing etc… start taking long walks (2-5 miles) every single day and note the difference. I’m confident you’ll see a dramatic change.
The Pit Bull Training Handbook
Pitbulls need Structure and Leadership Not Doggy Friends and Isolation
Learning to lead your dog and be a leader isn’t easy. Dogs are different and they respond to their own language. A language we as people find hard to understand and even harder to put into action. However, there are some things you can do right now that will help.
More exercise. I’m talking a ton of it. Longer play sessions, longer walks, longer times in the pool, etc… as long as your dog is healthy there shouldn’t be a problem. Of course common sense plays a role, you don’t want to immediately go from no walking to 5 miles in 90 degree heat. Take it slowly and build them up step by step.
Less love, more structure. What I mean by this is, we tend to over do it in the love department sometimes and no real boundaries are set for the dogs. This breeds lack of respect and that is one of the major problems people cause themselves.
In order for your dog to respect you they have to understand there are rules to abide by. These are simple rules and until they are learned the attention is kept to a minimum.
If you love your dog 24/7 and they jump on people, chew on things, or weigh 10 lbs to much, it’s caused by your love. In order to raise a happy and healthy pitbull they have to have structure and more importantly, discipline. I do not mean hitting, screaming, yelling etc… I mean boundaries.
Another thing I recommend for pitbull owners is to feed a raw diet and to feed HALF the recommended amount on the dog food bags if you’re feeding kibble. Why half? Because people over feed their dogs creating little “potato’s with legs” as I call them.
Finally…
By providing your dog with leadership, rules, exercise and affection you are setting the stage for a longer, happier life with your companion. This is not harsh or cruel. This is exactly how you would raise a human child.
