Question by Shikale: At almost 8 months.. Can this be corrected?
Hear me out plz. I have a 7 month old pitbull. I've adopted and had him for 3 to 4 days now. My pit is a male and his name is Ottis. I'm starting to learn Ottis' personality since I stay home with him more than my husband does. (I am firm but my husband is not).
Anyway, after the first night that we had him, I started questioning whether or not he was treated good. (yes I did question the previous owner). So then, I e-mailed the previous owner back and she said that she leaves the dog in his crate from 6:30PM til 4:30AM. That is like 10 hours a day!! But I have a feeling she leaves the dog more than 10 hrs every other day. Ottis never got exercised, he never got any sort of socializing with any other dogs.
I'm having concerns with Ottis. Because I've noticed it, but it's become more, but When I pet him near his collar, he'll turn his head towards my hand like he's gonna bite it. I don't even let him touch me and I immediately let him know who's boss here. Then I leave him.
Also I DO NOT hit my dog, but I've learned in the past that you will learn if your dog does get hit from the previous owner, by raising your hand and acting like you're gonna hit him. He cowards down like he is scared and it is SOOO obvious that he's been beaten.
I was skeptical FROM the very beginning about this lady. But my husband said she was sweet. I said "don't judge a book by its cover"
So yeah..
Main question is. Is it TOO LATE to train and make this dog obedient?? Reverse his bad attitude with me petting him and wanting to snipe at my hand???
**Not to mention, he wants me to pet him. He'll pick up my hand and put it on his head. I understand that he needs affection, but don't u think it is that he wants to be alpha?
RE: Goldenly addicted::
well, I know Ottis may be curious if I touch him there, but he actually does open his mouth and does a snipe-like gonna bite action.
I found this COOL website about dog "dominance VS aggressive"
Based on that, I think my dog has more of "dominance"
I'm so glad I ran into this article. Many of you guy's answers are very helpful!!
http://www.lhasahappyhomes.org/userfiles/image/aggression.pdf
RE: Ellen::
THanks for heads up on that.. I was thinking about that, but your advice opened my eyes up more about the "dominance" thing.
Best answer:
Answer by hghschl
i saw this thing on a show with a dog that was abused and when they played with him more he started to stop being grouchy and paranoid.
dont know anything about dogs
hope this helps!
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You touching his neck area & him turning his head around does NOT mean he’s going to bite you. He’s just wondering what you’re trying to do to him. He’s the nervous type I would say. And no, it’s NOT too late to train him & you’ll need to desensitize him by touching that area all the time so that he gets used to it. He needs to know that you’re not going to do anything to harm him. Just keep touching that area gently whilst rewarding him & also praising. If he turns around, lure his head back to the front & reward. This should help.
I don’t think from 6:30 at night to 4:30 in the morning in unreasonable. The dog is most likely sleeping and the crate is his room. Dogs feel safe in their crate. I use a playpen for my chi x and the earliest he goes to bed is 730 -8 at night. He actually became hose trained because of the playpen.
Maybe the woman gave the dog away because she knew that she couldn’t give him a good life…(no exercise/socialization)
anyways my dog will cower down to me when i’m being friendly and i’ve never hit him….it’s because he’s very submissive.
I’m not saying that this lady never treated her dog badly…but I can see where you might be taking this wrong.
Seek a dog behaviourists advice NOW. You could be bitten be this dog.
And just because a dog cowers does not mean he has been hit. He may have, but they have proved by research that some dogs can be timid in certain ways, and cower when you pick up a broom, or raise your hand and they have never been hit in their life, Its down to genetics, and perhaps poor socialisation when the dog was young.
it will take time and patience for this dog to actualy trust you.he most likely was beatin it sounds like hes had a rough life but you can change it for him.do the right,you already have so just give him time.i mean if something 2 your size beated you should you trust the next one right away?just do things you do regulery with dogs.play,pet,pamper,love,take for walks…etc…he will soon love you.and dogs love to learn and its not to late to tech him how to do some common tricks like sit,paw,lay down.give him time.and you and him will be surprised..good luck – trevor
Don’t worry, it’s never too late.
I adopted my 3 year old shepherd X about 18 months ago. She wasn’t crate trained, but she was nervous about being allowed inside. Like Ottis, she was beaten so she shyed away when I raised my hand.
To get her to stop being afraid of my hand, I would raise it like I would if I was going to hit her. But instead, I would have chicken in my hand and I would give it to her almost immediately. Now she gets excited when I raise my hand.
If you think he really is going to bite you, stand up straight away and say ‘NO’. Stop all contact whatsoever until Ottis works out that you will not put up with being bitten.
He hasn’t had any socialization, so you’re going to have to make up for those lonely 7 months. To avoid dog aggression, get him to obedience classes or dog parks so he can play.
Don’t give up, he will be amazing once trained. If I can start with a 3 year old shepherd, an 8 month pitt will be easy peasy.
It may take a few months but it is never hurts to train them now! Good luck! <3
I’m sure it’s possible, but it will probably take a long time. A friend of mine adopted a dog that was beaten. She’s been working with it for 6 years and it’s still pretty wary of strangers. Maybe you should check out Cesar Millan’s stuff – I don’t know if he covers this, but you could always try it.
Temperament is genetic and if he has a poor temperament you can not train him out of it but you can, with lots of work, modify it. Most dogs that are hand shy, nippy and aggressive over food etc just have poor temperaments. Very few dogs are actually abused and the dogs we rescued that were abused and had the paperwork from the cops and AS to prove it settled in and were fine within 24 hours IF their genetic temperament was sound. I have worked with many verified abused dogs and they quickly learned I am firm but fair and never acted shy after the first few hours. All were social and went to new homes w/o any fuss or hand shyness etc. Any person or critter will duck if it looks like you are going to hit it, if someone swings at me I put up my fists but I was not abused. It would be stupid to just stand there and let anyone hit you, right? Biting when a collar is handled is a sign of a dominate dog unless the dog is injured. My g/f had a well bred GSD from a well known kennel who has top honors but breeds unsound dogs for the show ring and the male was taken to classes at a young age but was very shy/sharp at 2 yrs old when I met him. We worked with him for over a year and he finally got his AKC CD degree but it was a lot of work and due to the fact his genetic temperament was unsound he was always spooky but would do a stand/stay for exam if told to. Even after knowing me for about 6 yrs he did not want me to pet him but if I cornered him he would just sigh and follow when I took his collar. We had to muzzle him in class for several months and had everyone and their uncle do a stand for exam with him but he was never comfortable with it. You can not change the genetic temperament but you can modify it to some extent with lots of work and exposure to may distractions. There are many stories on the web about dogs that were horribly tortured and despite never knowing any love from their owners once rescued are happy outgoing dogs.
I think that you need the help of a trainer with behavioral knowledge. This dog sounds very nervous and stressed. He needs gradual desensitization and counterconditioning.
It is never too late to train a dog, and help a dog with issues get more comfortable. You may never change his basic temperament, but you can improve his lot, and his behavior.
Please don’t get so caught up in the “dominance” stuff that you are not seeing the dog. Most of what is out there about dominance is totally false, based on things humans imagine, not dogs’ actual behaviors.
To see some of the history of how this false idea took hold, and to learn more, look here:
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/index.htm#dominance
ETA: You’re welcome!