five Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting a Pit Bull Puppy
What’s up y’all? It’s Dr. Megan from The Pit Bull Doctor.
Today’s blog post comes from some important lessons I learned on my journey as a pit bull owner: Things every new pit bull puppy owner should know before getting their pit bull puppy. However, these tips are not like others you’ll find on the internet. They are based on my personal experiences and intend to help you fully understand what it means to be a pit bull parent before you do it so you don’t end up like the many people who either have to surrender their dogs or find themselves with a bad behaved pit bull that can place their well-being and safety in jeopardy.
Contrary to what the media will have you believe, it’s possible to have a great life with your pit bull and I believe the tips below will help you.
If you’re on the fence or maybe even recently got a pit bull puppy and want to know what to expect and how to be the best possible owner you can be, this post is for you!
Preparing for Your Puppy’s Adult Life
One of the top mistakes new pit bull puppy owners make is allowing their dog to develop habits that may be undesirable when they get older. Some examples of these behaviors include demand barking, whining, or jumping on guests. While it may be cute when your puppy is tiny, in just a few months, you’ll have a full-size medium or large dog and these behaviors could cause injuries. For that reason I always recommend that new pit bull puppy owners start encouraging only behaviors they want their dog to display as a full adult and discourage behaviors that would not be desired once your dog is full size. This means not allowing your dog to jump on people, demand bark, or whine excessively. Another key component of encouraging desired behaviors and routines include crate training your dog. For more information about crate training, click here.
2. Public Percepton
First, it’s important to understand yourself and your lifestyle before you consider getting a pit bull.
Most people go out and get a pit bull puppy before they really think about what they’re doing and that can have devastating outcomes for even the most well-meaning pit bull owners.
Pit bulls are not much different than any other dog. The main difference is that they tend to grow to become physically stronger than many other dog breeds so if they are aggressive or have behavior issues they can cause more damage. Secondly, I would add that pit bulls are often misunderstood in society which leads to many unwanted and frankly, unkind and unfair encounters with the public. As such, it’s important that new pit bull puppy owners think about how they would show up as a pit bull parent and develop a plan for your dog early on. The best time is before you get your dog.
Public perception is a big part of owning a pit bull. Having a dog is a social experience and the perception of your dog in public depicts your experience. The truth is people either love or hate pit bulls. Regardless of whether they love or they hate them, depending on where you live, people can be very expressive about their views towards pit bull type dogs and subsequently you and your dog. Yes, without knowing anything about you!
Having a pit bull is not an easy social experience by any stretch that’s why it’s important to be aware of the reality and to plan ahead. It’s common to experience people who are completely enamored by your dog. Unfortunately, it’s also equally as common to encounter people who believe every extreme pit bull attack headline they see and think it applies to every single dog, even your sweet puppy. You can’t control other people but you can control yourself and it’s important to consider public perception and how you might handle the often overwhelming part of pit bull ownership which is dealing with the public.
The good thing is I’ve been through this for years and I’m here to support you through it. Click the subscribe button for more on this topic.
3. How to Train Your Pit Bull Puppy
Training your pit bull puppy is going to be they key to living a perfect life with your pit bull. It’s particularly important that you start training your puppy early on to teach the behaviors that you want your puppy to display as an adult.
I think of training as teaching your dog how you will communicate to them and the expectations and boundaries of their behavior. Otherwise dogs are dogs and they’re going to do whatever they want which isn’t helpful to anyone. This is especially the case for strong-willed breeds like pit bull type dogs.
I offer many resources to help new pit bull puppy owners create a strategy for training their dog, including through my blog, social media pages, and free office hours where you can ask questions about your puppy’s behavior for free.
There are four phases to pit bull training: teaching commands, proofing commands, behavior modification, and advanced training.
4. Socializing Your Pit Bull Puppy CORRECTLY
Many new pit bull puppy owners’ main fear deals with their dog developing aggression later in life. The majority of my puppy clients come to me with concerns about their dog showing early aggressive behaviors and how to stop the behaviors early on. The absolute best way to avoid your dog developing aggression with people or other dogs later in life is to expose your puppy to everything you can early in life. The more positive experiences your puppy is exposed to, the less likely your puppy is to develop fears towards those things as she matures.
Don’t misunderstand socialization. Many people think socialization means letting your dog meet each and every dog they encounter, but that isn’t effective or safe socialization. In fact, allowing your dog to meet other dogs on leash or under the wrong conditions could have the opposite effect. Focus on exposing your new puppy to a wide variety of positive experiences with an emphasis on teaching your puppy to focus on you in progressively exciting behaviors.
5. Breed Specific Legislation
BSL can make it difficult to navigate society at times. Most often, it can impact your access to housing. But in some places, your dog could be taken from you on sight simply because of being perceived as a pit bull.
Most commonly, you’ll experience breed restrictions that impact whether you can be accepted to apartments and rental homes. In most metro cities, like Houston and Atlanta, pit bulls are at the top of the banned list for basically all apartments and rental homes.
Similarly, pit bulls are banned from most home owner’s insurance companies. This can make it difficult to secure housing and it’s important to consider before getting a pit bull.
Don’t fear, there are ways to get around this which I cover in other posts. For right now, I want you to be sure to do the research before getting a pit bull puppy and plan ahead how you will ensure you and your pit bull remain housed against policies against pit bulls.
Conclusion
By following these tips you’re on your way to raising the perfect pit bull puppy. If you have more questions about your new pit bull puppy or would like more information, sign up for our free office hours where you receive a free 15 minute consultation to have your pit bull behavior questions answered.
