The sad deficiency in patience and knowledge is in short, the reason for bad pitbull Training. These two qualities are the sum of what is required for training. Acquiring knowledge and developing patience is a simple answer, but not so easy to implement.

Knowing and Applying knowledge correctly are Two Different Things

By using leash correction and training collar often the training process is ruined, which is why I used to teach and advocate positive pitbull training methods.

A hypothetical story:
Using a prong collar for Spark, John his owner uses a leash correction when he fails to obey the first time. The correction is too hard and the dog hesitates. So John corrects him hard again. The dog hesitates again. John who is angry by now uses serious correction causing Rocko to cower.

Here is a scenario where the dog was over corrected. The owner had been taught to force train or correct until the dog sits. The dog does not sit because he has been upset by the corrections and he hasn’t had enough time to obey.

Unfortunately this kind of scene is quite common.

Another story:
Bill is a user of positive marker training which is using a word or AKA clicker to mark behaviour. He also withholds stuff from the dog to correct. Bill commands Rocket to sit and the dog hesitates. Bill issues verbal warning and the dog still doesn’t obey. Bill then starts walking with Rocket and gives the order again. This time round the dog sits. Bill pats him and goes on with their walk.

Bills correction was that he didn’t reward Spark for his late response. You may wonder if it is adequate to withhold reward. It is because Rocket learns that if he wants to earn a reward he should comply with Bill’s requirements.

If you yourself don’t know what you want of your dog, how will you teach him?
People see Bill and would like to have their dog do the same, but Rocket has been taught by a professional trainer that knows to communicate his requirement, for five years.

You get the picture but you don’t actually know how to work it out. So you act demanding, then overbearing, get frustrated and also frustrate the dog.

Everything boils down to knowledge. You can get your pitbull doing whatever you want if you know how. Then training becomes simple and you can smile when people think you have spent years to teach a dog something that only took days.

Acquiring Knowledge:
Read material on the web and anywhere else you can find it. I recommend you learn to use clicker or a word in place of a clicker for training.

Summary
Even if you are a user of the traditional correction training methods, it would be beneficial to learn about clicker training, which is a sound positive training method. Teaching you pitbull in a distraction –less area and implementing the latest techniques you can become an effective trainer.