Lacey the pit

[my_altered_life]

We're having serious problems with Lacey, our 5 month old pit bull. We're at a loss at this point on what to do. She's destroyed into the quadruple digits of our belongings, and we are lower-middle class to begin with. We've given her everything she needs, she has toys, a bed (well, up until tonight), vet care (recently 130 dollars) and goes to the

Comments

[my_altered_life]

This is something I can see as being a problem, like you said. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY we can exercise her as much as she gets it at the dog park. We have no fence, we live in townhomes and there's no where to take her to play thats off leash, which means that walking/running isn't enough, and no one in our house is going to do that with her anyway. I couldn't run for 5 minutes, let alone an hour, and walking for an hour is no where near the stimulation she gets from the dog park.

[wirenth]

get a longline. will she play ball? frisbee? does she tug? how about a flirtpole? how much training do you do with her and what kind? mental exercise is often as tiring or even more tiring than straight physical exercise. after an hour at obedience class, my puppy is ready for a nap, but he'd play fetch for hours on end without tiring if he could con me into throwing the ball that long.

i would not become too dependent on the dog park. while she's a baby it's ok, but once she starts to become socially mature, the chances that she'll lose her tolerance for other dogs is significant and dogparks are not a good idea for an adult pit bull.

[my_altered_life]

I believe that is totally myth. There are many many pits that get along just fine as adults in the dog park. Many of the tiffs that are there aren't even between pits, they're between mutts and boxers (there's a lot of boxers). There's dozens of pits (they're popular here) at the dog park every single day, and I haven't seen a fight yet that involved one

[wirenth]

yes, of course you do. and you'll do what you're going to do regardless of what i or anybody else tells you. i understand that. but i couldn't let it go unsaid because it's something i think is important to address. pit bulls are by breed less tolerant of other dogs. it is unfair to your dog and unfair to the dogs around your dog to put them at risk. i don't mean to be starting yet another argument about this topic on yet another discussion group, but it's an issue that is close to my heart

[embermwe]

That is exactly what a flirtpole is.
Here is an example:
http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=915&ParentCat=74&CFID=3181230&CFTOKEN=90881229
Or they can be home-made.

[red_girl_42]

walking for an hour is no where near the stimulation she gets from the dog park.

Is it possible that your dog is getting OVERstimulated? I've been reading some stuff lately about how some owners are actually riling their dogs up with too much exercise in an attempt to tire them out, and this makes them very stressed. Here's one article:

http://www.4pawsu.com/fetch.htm

We used to take my puppy (GSD/husky mix--both energetic and smart breeds) for like two or three walks every day, on top of training exercises, in the hopes that we could wear her out. But we never did. Now we are down to one walk per day (usually around 20 minutes) and about 10 minutes of training, and she's fine with it. (She also has a fenced yard to play in, so she does get more exercise on her own than dogs who are crated all day, but much of that time she is just sleeping or lying around chewing on toys.)

Just a thought.

[scarlet_tanager]

i immediately thought of overstimulation too. my dog gets overstimulated after rousing play or exercising, so after we do those activities, i will let him burn off a little extra steam and then follow up with a relaxing doggy massage.

ttouch is another method that my local humane society advocates for calming overstimulated dogs, but i haven't tried it myself.

[iansgeisha]

Actually, yes it is. It is a different stimulation tho. She is smelling, and getting her focused on the task of walking is also stimulation in and of itself. I can take my boy to the dog park for hours, and come 9 oclock at nite, he is pacing from the door to his leash to me and back again because that is the time I walk him.

I hate to sound rude, but why did you get a pit bull pup when no one in your home is willing to walk it? Did you know that pitbulls have really high energy levels?

[my_altered_life]

See, I know thats not the problem. If anything, she's TOO bonded to us. She doesn't like to be away from us for a single second. She gets depressed when she sees us about to leave the house. She knows the signs: shoes, purse, coat, she gets nervous and runs to the door, when when we shoo her away after reassuring her that we're coming back, she goes and sulks.

[my_altered_life]

I'll see if its available at the library.

[beatlemania78]

It' just a little booklet that you can buy online for under $10. It has a WONDERFUL training schedule to help with SA or even just a dog with boredom at home (which is what yours sounds like more so than true SA).