pit bulls are brilliant!

After just a few days, Fozzie has made HUGE progress.

Any new-ish trainer who needs assurance that positive methods work, and work fast, should work with a pit bull. Even more importantly, any trainer, shelter worker, evaluator, anyone who believes that evaluations are an accurate or fair determinant of who lives and who dies, should spend one day--no, 15 minutes!--with a pit bull and some treats. I am so amazed at the intelligence of this dog, the power of positive training, and the transformation I am beginning to see.

The other day was really stressful--I thought I'd made a big mistake and taken on more than I could handle and this was going to end in tragedy and disaster. After just a few days of working on Sit, Touch, Watch Me, rewarding calmness, training Wait and Stay, I am now confident that I did the right thing and that this is a brilliant dog who will make a stellar companion to someone someday.

He still gets overaroused quickly, and does the leash grab thing sometimes--but other times I see him get that look in his eye like he wants that leash so bad, then I interrupt him with Leave It! and he looks at me and gets a treat instead. I cannot describe the relief and reward of seeing that this is going to work out. Fozzie is a gift to this trainer.