Muzzle training
So I have decided that in my upcoming spare time in between moving (There will be a month and a 1/2 that I'll have no job and stay at home before the move) I am going to muzzle train Bear. After thinking, I figured this is the best way to socialize him without him causing injury. Reason being, is that I didn't socialize him properly when he was a pup. As a result, I have an American Bulldog/Pit Bull mix that hates other dogs. There is only one instance that I can recall that he didn't fight, and that was when he was introduced to a pack of 5 friendly dogs. The pack of dogs, he knew, were more than he could handle, so he actually did a good job being around them. He showed some aggressiveness, but nothing too alarming. So there is hope.
I started the training tonight. In the past, when a muzzle was put on him, he would fight it until he got it slipped off. Well, tonight, I tightened it up a bit and made him sit, gave him a small peice of meat as a treat and got his full attention. Once I had his attention, I fed him another peice of meat through the muzzle hole, so that what he was doing was putting his own face into the muzzle to reach the meat. Once he did it, I fastened it on, and gave him another little peice of meat as a reward. I actually got him to sit, stay and come on command while wearing the muzzle. Being our first practice he got an A++.
A couple times he started to fight the muzzle by pawing at it. When he did that I quickly got his attention and gave him another small peice of meat (which was really deer burger crumbs from a pot of chili I made). It worked great.
I only worked him maybe 5-6 minutes because I didn't want to overload his pea brain on the first try. I'm very pleased with his success tonight and gave him lots and lots of praise and hugs.
Are there any dog training tips out there to share???? I'm way open for advice!!
I started the training tonight. In the past, when a muzzle was put on him, he would fight it until he got it slipped off. Well, tonight, I tightened it up a bit and made him sit, gave him a small peice of meat as a treat and got his full attention. Once I had his attention, I fed him another peice of meat through the muzzle hole, so that what he was doing was putting his own face into the muzzle to reach the meat. Once he did it, I fastened it on, and gave him another little peice of meat as a reward. I actually got him to sit, stay and come on command while wearing the muzzle. Being our first practice he got an A++.
A couple times he started to fight the muzzle by pawing at it. When he did that I quickly got his attention and gave him another small peice of meat (which was really deer burger crumbs from a pot of chili I made). It worked great.
I only worked him maybe 5-6 minutes because I didn't want to overload his pea brain on the first try. I'm very pleased with his success tonight and gave him lots and lots of praise and hugs.
Are there any dog training tips out there to share???? I'm way open for advice!!