I can’t forget the occasion my pitbull and I were in the park as usual playing ball. There was no one at all around and my attention had wandered. I hadn’t realized that the gate of the filed had opened by some means. As and I turned back I saw the horrifying picture of my pitbull dashing out of the gate and in the path of an oncoming car. As I just yelled ‘Rusty – Come!’ the dog instantly obeyed me. If she hadn’t been trained to obey, I would certainly have lost her on that day.

I learnt a couple of valuable lessons from this incident:

1. When your pitbull is off leash you must under no circumstances let your eyes wander off him.
2. the most important training you could possibly give your dog is to teach him to come when he is called.

Not only did I spend weeks kicking myself for my stupidity, and disappointed in myself for my neglect of my dog, but my friends were disappointed at me too.

Points to Consider When Commencing Training

Choose an undisturbed area
Select a special word
Prepare a reward with high value
Do not call the dog and then punish him
Use the key of repetition to teach this lesson

Choose an undisturbed area
Training in new behaviours is best done in a place with no distraction like your home, so your dog’s attention is not lost. Some people blame their lack of success in training on the method or even the dog, when actually it is distractions that do the damage.

Select a special word
A special word must be chosen and consistently used to avoid confusing the dog. Stick to one word only. When I used a second word while training Angel, she started responding to the added word and not the special word.

Prepare a reward with high value
The dog must feel its worthwhile coming when called. It’s an interesting fact that motivators differ in dogs. My dog Honey likes tug of war and Angel likes playing ball. Showing each their favourite motivator I found it so easy to teach them the unique word. You should find something that your dog really loves to have as a prize.

Do not call the dog and then punish
Once the dog learns to associate coming in response to your call with a punishment you will have damaged the teaching process and will find you have to start all over again. If the trust is broken it is difficult to repair and you may have to start afresh with a new word.

Repeat Key
Consistent repetition with reward is the key and teaching has to be continued life long with your dog. If they are not asked to do something again they will forget.

Conclusion
As a lover of  American Pit Bull Terriers I request you to consider the training of your dog in the lesson of obedience to come when he is called, the most crucial and important lesson of all. Please afford it the attention it deserves.