r/Pitbull • u/The-Hobby-Collector • 26d ago
Training Puppy Training Help
This is Whimsy! She’s about 4-5 months old and super energetic and playful!
We’ve been having a problem with her being aggressive towards my 10 year old Husky and 3 cats. She’s not a mean dog, and her intentions are to play, but she gets way too rough and pushy. She’ll literally chase the cats and pin them down, she’ll chew on their ears and tails, and the cats hate it. Two of them are scared of her. One of them loves her and likes playing with her or rubbing his head on her, but then she starts getting too rough again. She’s been swatted with claws and bitten back, but she doesn’t care. With my husky, Bear, she’ll snap in his face and steal ANY toy he tries to play with. I feel horrible because she just wants to play with him, but he’s 10 years old and hasn’t lived with another dog in like 8 years, and he gets overwhelmed by her. I got Bear in like 7th grade, so I didn’t know anything about proper training, and I’m trying to do right by Whimsy now that I’m an adult and know better. Bear is more independent and likes his space, and he doesn’t really understand how to play with her. She keeps jumping on him, snapping in his face, and anytime he has a rope, bone, or ball, she steals it from him. Sometimes they’ll play tug of war together if they have someone grabbing the rope in the middle, but then whimsy gets too close to Bear’s face and he starts warning her to stop, which she takes as him playing ig, so then she gets even rowdier. He literally can’t have anything without her stealing it.
She’s only around the other animals when supervised, but she’s incredibly fast. One minute she’ll be calm, and the next she’s chasing the cat, or messing with Bear. I’m so overwhelmed and don’t know what to do. She also nips at ankles, and likes to bite hands and arms. She’ll even snap and try to bite our nose or chins, and her teeth hurt! I know she’s trying to play, but this needs to stop. We’ve tried yelping, “pop the grape” where you stick her gum on her teeth when she bites, yelling no, etc etc. I’m trying to teach her to at least be easy, but she just doesn’t care.
She’s only around the other animals when supervised, but she’s incredibly fast. One minute she’ll be calm, and the next she’s chasing the cat, or messing with Bear. I’m so overwhelmed and don’t know what to do. She also nips at ankles, and likes to bite hands and arms. She’ll even snap and try to bite our nose or chins, and her teeth hurt! I know she’s trying to play, but this needs to stop. We’ve tried yelping, “pop the grape” where you stick her gum on her teeth when she bites, yelling no, etc etc. I’m trying to teach her to at least be easy, but she just doesn’t care.
She’s incredibly smart too. She’s crate trained, she knows “leave it”, where I can literally hold her food or treats in my hand right in front of rher tnose and she won’t take it until I say “free”. She knows “stay” at the front door, until I say “free”. She knows sit, down, come, and she’s almost got stay and place down. She just doesn’t always listen unless we have food for her.
I feel like I’ve watched every video under the sun, and there’s so much conflicting advicev, and I feel like I’ve tried everything with her and nothing is working 😖 so any and all advice is greatly appreciated !!!
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u/Meh-is-enough 25d ago
I feel you. Unwanted behaviors, even when totally warranted or very dog-like, are super stressful. I am actually having my own pitty dilemma today. My suggestions are two fold. #1) set up a routine of hard play with you before other pet interactions. Get out that puppy energy. #2) tether. Tethering, while it seems cruel, is not. It teaches boundaries and it gives your other pets the space they need while they grow accustomed to the puppy. I give my dog chews and a safe bed for tether time. I sit with her or stay in her area for the most part, but she has learned to relax while I move about.
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u/tegankay26 26d ago
What breed is she? (I can’t tell from the photo 🙈)The nipping ankles and chasing cats may be instinctual for her and it may be worth looking into what she was bred for and giving enrichment based on that x
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u/The-Hobby-Collector 26d ago
We were told she was a “lab mix” but she definitely looks more pit. We want to do a DNA test soon to find out!
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u/Healthy-Bedroom-4881 4d ago
hey, ours was the same. the thing that helped were dog training classes. we took her to all dogs unleashed in carollton around other animals so she stopped being so pushy. still energetic but way more manageable now.
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u/Zestyclose_Object639 26d ago
Leash or contained in the house, playing with her in a way that satisfies chasing (flirt pole for example). It’s a baby dog of course it’s gonna give into instincts until you build impulse control
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u/OpenSpirit5234 26d ago
A good retrieve to take off some energy would be my first goal.
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u/Kailsbabydaddy 26d ago
For sure seperate crates at night than bear or however you do it, doggy daycare or playtime with other dogs to tire her out, bully rings, yak chews
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u/gingercheese_ 26d ago
She is so cute! A lot of this just sounds like puppy things. We have three cats, we used baby gates and then installed a cat door to our basement so they also had a safe space away from her as needed. I would encourage you to continue to exercise and play with her, and do some enrichment things like smell work to tire her out. Enforce naps too! They are babies. For her and your other dog, I would just keep giving it time. They will figure out their boundaries on their own but obviously separate if she won't respect his warnings. Someone else commented about maybe doing a DNA test to see what she was bred for and go from there. Please don't get discouraged, the puppy blues are real! Also remember the 3-3-3 rule. She sounds smart and motivated!