I have my very first pitbull!

hi everybody. I am a proud owner of a 6 month old pit bull we had him since he was three months. His name is Smurf! He is healthy puppy and is great to have around.

I feed him purina puppy chow twice a day. One in the morning after his walk. And another in the evening. He sits and waits until we put his bowl down and waits for our signal to eat. We walk him almost everyday, at times i run late for school and can only let him loose in the yard. We take him outside throughout the day and we always stand out there with him, he is never left alone out there. we take him to the park and run around with him. I also recently started taking him on runs with me but would like to do it more often. He is about 50lbs. We have all his shots and we have a city permit from Chicago. His teeth are in good shape and his body as well according to his vet visit.

He is good around people and other animals. We keep him social as much as we can, but he is a puppy and can get a little hyper at times. Luckily my family always grew up around dogs are whole lives so we all play with him. He wrestles alot with our other dog who is 7 yrs old. but shes good about it. My girlfriends sister just bought a baby chihuahua and to my surprise he was good to her. He was rough at times but gentle more.

Is there anything that i might be doing wrong? He still can have his occasional accident in the house, usually when we are home. But then there are times he sits by the door to let him out. And his biting phase comes and goes. He stops for a bit but then his chewing patterns get out of control, does teething come in phases?

Thanks for all the help.
I am very excited about him. He is full of so much potential.

Orlando-

 

p.s. he is not neutered neither.

 

Teach him the out command
Only let him chew or play with what you give n when you give it and when you say out he drops it. Make teaching it to him fun.

Good job on exercising and socializing him keep it up forever.
I'm sure others will chime in here with better advise.

Thanks for sharing and good luck with your pet.

 

With my house bulldogs I've always used reward systems and consistency. Bulldogs are for the most part lifetime chewers. so keep plenty of toys around. What's his bloodline?

 

not sure where he came from. we got him as a gift from a friend of my sister. he is in h.s. and has a busy work schedule. So he admitted to himself he is not able to give him the attention the dog deserves. He bought it for $650 and gave it to us for free because he wanted to make sure it went to a good home. The dog is An american pit bull terrier and that is all we know. sorry

 

If you are not sure where he came from and have no pedigree stating how he is bred how can you be sure your dog is an APBT? No paper's = Mutt please understand that BSL an all the non-professionals in the field are quick to label anything that remotely resembles a pit bull and APBT when the fact is most of these so called professionals don't even know what a real APBT looks like. Socialization as a pup is great thing but APBT's are not dog friendly dogs and usually will not tolerate other dogs as genetically the were bred to be Dog Aggressive. How you raise them and care for them doesn't override the breeds genetics and you need to be very cautious about allowing your animal to interact with strange dogs off the leash outside of your own property this breed is special and not like other breeds and they don't need companionship from anyone but their owners. And by all means please keep the dog away from a dog park.

 

i bet he's blue.....that's a clever name.

 

haha come on man, cut the blue crap....

all i can say is, keep your dogs separated when no one is at hone

enjoy

 

I would say to stop using the puppy chow and get him on better food. here's a link where you can do a little research. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/purina-puppy-chow/
I know its cheap, but you get what you pay for.

Other then that, good luck and post a pic when you get a chance

 

Yeah you can go to Tractor Supply now days and get good dog food such as Diamond for a decent price.

 

nope he is actually black. my g/f just likes the smurfs alot!

 

thank you. i didn't know all that info. We tried four different brands of food and this purina stuff seemed to be his choice.

 

Alrite! Fam photos on the wall! awww so cute! Nice pup too.

 

Congrats, on that new pup and good luck

 

nice pup good luck man

 

Good luck with your new dog and I hope he makes you a good pet.As far as not knowing his bloodlines,I'm sure if the guy paid $650 for him,he must have a ped somewhere. I would never pay that without knowing more about the dog so maybe you could ask the old owner to see a pedigree. As for what you're doing wrong, first quit feeding the puppy food and start feeding adult food,he's to old for puppychow. I understand you say he's good with animals but that can change any second,he could turn on anytime or may never but your risking other animals and his life too by not being aware of that.But animal agreesion does not mean human aggression so if he turns on don't have him PTS for it.Always consider that today may be the day he fires up.Don't leave him alone with other animals and get a breaking stick and learn how to use it in case an "accident" happens. I would not let him play with a chihuahua,even a play bite could do a baby chihuahua in.He could even kill it by walking on it probably. Anyway,I hope you have him for several years and you and your new dog are happy together but I'd take the necessary precautions and you'll both be better off for it.

 

thanks for the advice. I have been more realistic about the dogs behavior. I dont ever leave him alone with other animals, he is always supervised if thats the case. And if i am gone for long periods at a time I usually have someone at home who i can call to check in on him. I took an even further step and added better locks to the gates in my yard, in case he tries to run away, but i usually stay outside with him. His accidents have slowed down a lot, he is going on 7 days now without one. And as his diet goes I switched over to Diamond Dog Food, no puppy chow.

Thank You for the help.

 

Sounds like you're doing a great job with your pup. Folks pretty much covered mostly everything. Never leave him unattended at home with your other dog. Always have them seperated when you aren't home, that's just the responsible thing to do. Also, just because you don't have registry paperwork in your hands doesn't mean he isn't an APBT either. I guess you'd have to find that out from the kid you got him from who purchased him originally. I have a lil bulldog here that I don't have paperwork for but I can verify who his parents are. That doesn't mean he's not what he is. Anyway....just keep him well exercised, and keep up the good work with his socialization with humans. Just don't forget what breed he is, and that one day, he most likely will display dog aggression at some point, and you need to be prepared to handle that.