Doesn't that title sound a little dirty? Haha-let me go into greater detail and clarify the meaning. A few days ago, a new pitbull needing a good home came to live with us. She is a sweet little girl named Izzy that has great potential for being an almost perfect ambassador for the breed, as my beloved Po is. It is critical to understand the nature of these dogs-especially when bringing two strangers together. One thing that I cannot stress enough is the importance of the role of the humans as dominant leaders. Sometimes sweet talking a doggy is not a good idea. Po is already completely submissive and respectful of my supreme authority. Izzy took up with my youngest daughter Caitte right from the start and I noticed that the attachment was not so healthy. To Izzy, Caitte was becoming her possession, her submissive. I had to stop this quick! This means that Caitte must not ask Izzy to obey, but command it, and rather than let Izzy be her shadow, she must order her to go a distance away from her and lay down. This must happen frequently and with absolute consistency for a while until I see the right expression on Izzy's face. When Izzy first arrived, I established with Po that I was Izzy's protector as well and would not allow Po to bully her with overly attentive butt sniffing. If Po pricked her ears up at Izzy, I immediately scolded her and banished her to a safe distance for a brief time. Po is twice Izzy's size and could easily wipe her out if she got riled enough. Po is very easy to control, since I have raised her from a tiny pup. When Izzy learned that she was safe and protected, she took it to her head and began displaying nasty looks at Po, so I had to correct that immediately! This is still in process. At first Izzy was unclear about who she had to submit to-even me after all of the easy going protective love she received on her first day. Now that she is feeling secure, I taught her the roll over submission to me. At first, I had to physically lay her down and tower over her for a few minutes, then give her a treat. Today she is much better at reading my looks and automatically rolls over. This is excellent. When I see her stiffen subtly if Po approaches, I immediately intercede and demand submission. I don't know how long it will take to make sure she is 100% in her proper place, but she is coming along nicely. I do not believe in letting the other members of the pack sort out their roles. I as ultimate leader establish these roles for them and no breach is tolerated. This is especially critical with these types of dogs. Once they get into a fracas, they don't stop. The thing to do is never allow even the beginnings of a power struggle to escalate. A serious note about any lip curling or stiffening towards a human: I absolutely do not tolerate it. If I get the wrong sort of look, the dog has one chance to apologize by going to it's safe place for a time out, and then rolling onto it's back, or lowering it's self and looking down or away in submission after it has had a sufficient shunning period. If it doesn't, it has brain damage. If a dog snaps at me or another human-and makes no moves of submissive repentance, the dog might be incorrigibly dangerous and then has to go. This type of dog delivers an unflinching hard stare directly into your eyes when it knows you are displeased. It is a different look from the look of complete attention that a focused dog gives. A normal dog has a built in nature to please the human, but it is possible for the dog to curl a lip or snap out of fearfulness, if the dominant human comes on too strongly. It is a delicate balance. An abnormal dog will behave with unrepentant dominance and thus be dangerous. I will not bully a dog into a corner and make it fear for it's life-but I will bully a dog into it's sleeping area, then make it stay there for a while if it acts ugly to the pack members. When I say 'bully'-I mean a combination of scolding, tapping and urging (even leading it with the leash if required due to it not understanding the other maneuvers) until I get my desired results. Before doing this though, the safe time out place must be given to the dog. This has worked well for me with all sorts of dogs. If it wants to balk, I shove it with my legs-not too harshly, but persistently herding it to it's designated place, or lead it here via leash. Then when the dog has reached it's safe place, I let it be there. Kind of like a little doggy time out. It takes patience, but eventually, the dog really learns what 'Go to your room!' means and then does this better than most children. Also, the dog gets the message about being shunned and excluded from pack participation for a while, and that it has a safe place to retreat to when it has earned displeasure. A normal dog loves it's pack and wants to be with it always. It wants it's approval and place there. I don't know if this is really the thing to do, I just know that it has worked really well with the dogs that I have owned. There are subtleties to this exercise that I have not included here, and they vary from dog to dog. One must be flexible, patient, and able to read the nuances of each individual dog for this to work well. I will not say that these techniques work for every person and every dog.
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