How To Train a Pitbull [Dog Trainer Explains]

Do you have a Pitbull at home? These loving and active dogs are popular pets and great companions. Like any dog, and especially because of their size and activity level, this is a breed that needs training. Training can help you to build a great relationship with your dog. Training with your Pitbull should start as soon as they come home. Foundation skills like basic obedience and crate training can help you bond with your Pitbull, and prevent behavioral issues from developing.

Key Takeaways

• Training should be fun and playful for Pitbulls
• Pitbulls should always be trained utilizing positive reinforcement methods
• Pitbulls don’t need a “firm hand” or assertive training approaches
• Dogs learn best from short, playful training sessions

Getting Started Training Your Pibull

Regardless of if you’re teaching your Pitbull basic obedience, or are working on advanced skills, you should always use positive reinforcement training approaches. The American Veterinary Medical Association and other animal welfare experts agree that aversive training techniques which include corrections and tools that cause discomfort, like prong collars, shouldn’t be used with dogs.

Training approaches that use punishment, coercion, or discomfort to “correct” dogs harm the relationship between dogs and their owners. Corrections are also confusing for dogs because they don’t teach dogs what we want them to do. Instead, we want to reward our dogs for doing behaviors that we ask them, or behaviors that we like. When behavior is rewarded, it is more likely to be repeated. As such, rewarding behavior is the fastest way to positively shift our dog’s behavior, and see more of the behaviors that we like.

Understanding Your Pitbull

The American Pitbull Terrier is a breed of dog recognized by the UKC. Pitbulls as a breed can be traced back to the nineteenth century when the breed was developed by breeding terriers with bulldogs to combine hunting drive and musculature to create the strong active dogs we know today.

Although Pitbulls are a distinct breed, the term is also broadly used to refer to dogs who aren't actually American Pitbull Terriers, but who have a blocky head, short coat, medium size, and muscular build. As such, when people say Pitbull they might be referring to the actual breed, or a dog with some similar physical characteristics. Pitbulls are large active dogs. To keep them happy and healthy, these dogs need regular physical and mental exercise outlets.

Essential Supplies for Training a Pitbull

• 6- foot light training leash
• Long-line training leash (15 or 20 feet) for practicing recalls in an unfenced area
• Properly fitted harness
• Clicker if you’re going to be clicker training
• Toys your dog likes that you can use to tug or toss as a reward
• Appropriately sized crate for your dog which provides enough room to comfortably sit, lay down, stand, and turn around.
• Treats your dog likes such as Bully Max training treats you can use to reward your dog while training.

Basic Training Cues

The key to teaching your Pitbull any skill is to make the training session fun and to be consistent with your training. All dogs including Pitbulls learn best with short and fun training sessions. Spend a couple of minutes a few times a day practicing behaviors your dog knows, or teaching new skills to your dog. These short training sessions keep dogs focused and engaged.

Short training sessions also help prevent your dog from getting bored, stressed, or shut down when training. We want to make training something our dogs always look forward to. Never train your dog if you are feeling frustrated or angry. Being in a patient and positive headspace travels down the leash to your dog and will help keep them engaged with the training.

Teaching Sit

To teach your Pitbull to sit we are going to use a technique known as luring. This means using treats and/or toys to communicate to your dog what direction you want them to move their body.

1. Use a treat your dog is excited about and get their attention.
2. With the treat close to your dog’s nose, pull the treat gently up and back over their back. Your dog’s nose will follow the treat and their body will move into a sit position.
3. When your dog’s bottom touches the ground, click (if you’re using a clicker) or use a verbal marker word like “good” or “yes.”
4. After a few repetitions add a verbal cue like “sit” right as your dog starts to move into the sit position.

After a few practice sessions, you can fade out the treat lure and just reward your dog after they sit.

Teaching Down

To teach your Pitbull to lie down position we are going to also use luring like we did with it to help your dog understand how you want them to move their body.

1. Use a treat your dog is excited about and use that treat to get their attention.
2. With the treat close to your dog’s nose, move the treat down toward the ground and slightly back between your dog’s front legs. Your dog’s nose will follow the treat, and their body will drop into a down position.
3. When your dog goes down and their elbows touch the ground, click (if you are clicker training) or use a verbal marker like “yes” and treat your dog.
4. When your dog is consistently following the lure into a down position, you can add in a verbal cue like “down” as your dog begins to move into the down position.

After a few practice sessions where your Pitbull is successfully going into a down, you can fade out the treat lure and just reward your dog for lying down.

Teaching Stay

Go slowly when teaching your dog how to stay to avoid either of you getting frustrated and to help your Pitbull to be successful.

1. Cue your dog to sit or down.
2. When your dog is in the position, praise and treat your dog.
3. Hold your hand out to your dog like a stop sign, and say “stay” or “wait.”
4. Wait a second, and then praise and treat your dog before they move out of position.
5. As you practice “stay” with your Pitbull, slowly build up the amount of time, or duration you are asking your dog to stay in position. You can also start to introduce the added challenge of you moving away from your dog as they hold the stay position. Going slowly with adding time and distance will help your Pitbull to learn the skill without getting frustrated.

If your Pitbull gets up when you have asked them to stay, just lure them back into position, ask for the sit or down, and stay again. Then, after a shorter period than the last training session, praise/treat and release your dog from the position so that they can be successful.

Recall Training

Recall training, or teaching your dog to come when called is one of the most important skills you can teach any dog. To start teaching your Pitbull to come, start in a quiet area without a lot of distractions.

1. When you are near your dog say “come”, “here”” or any other verbal cue you would like to use, and give your dog a treat as they move towards you.
2. As you continue to practice, move a couple of steps away from your dog. Then use your verbal cue again and praise your dog and give them a treat.
3. The more you practice you can start to increase the distance you are from your dog.

The better your dog gets with coming when called, you can start to practice in areas with more distractions like in your yard, or eventually in a park. Use a long-line leash when practicing recall anywhere unfenced. With recall training, we always want to reward our dogs with treats for coming to reinforce the value in this important behavior.

Loose Leash Walking

Pitbulls are big and powerful dogs so we don’t want them pulling on leashes while walking. The easiest way to do this is to teach your dog to look up or check-in with you while walking.

1. Start in an area with low distractions like a quiet street. When your dog glances in your direction, praise and give your dog a treat to reinforce checking in.
2. If your dog is distracted and pulling on the leash you can also get your dog’s attention with the treat and then praise and reward your dog for turning their attention towards you.
3. Keep practicing in areas without a lot of distraction, and then the better your dog gets you can start to move to areas with more distractions.

As your dog gets better at this exercise and begins offering check-ins, add in a verbal marker like “watch” or “eyes” as your dog looks up at you. This will continue to reinforce your dog giving you attention while walking.

Crate Training Your Pitbull

Crate training is a skill we want our dogs to have. Even if you don’t regularly utilize a crate in your home, making sure your Pitbull is comfortable being crated is important. Crates can keep your dog safe when they are riding in the car and prevent injuries if you need to stop suddenly, or get into an accident. Crate training can also help your Pitbull stay safe while you are away from home and can prevent them from eating something that could be harmful to them or toxic.

Being familiar with being in a crate is also important to ensure dogs aren’t stressed if they ever need to stay at a vet clinic or be boarded in an emergency.

Additional Crate Training Tips:

Leave your dog’s crate open in the house so that they can choose to spend time in their crate.

When you want to leave your dog in their crate at bedtime, stuff a KONG or similar strong and hollow toy with peanut butter or other soft and spreadable treat. For an added challenge you can freeze the toy before giving it to your dog in their crate. This makes it take longer for your dog to get the treats out. The food-toy helps create positive associations for your dog while being in their crate.

Introduce your Pitbull to their crate as soon as you bring them home. To help your dog have a positive association with the crate, you can feed your dog some or all their meals in the crate. You can also give your dog special treats, toys, or chews while they are in their crate. Keep crate time short, just a few minutes at first. Then, you can slowly increase the amount of time your dog is in their crate as they get more comfortable.

Advanced Training

With dogs, training is never “done” instead we always want to continue fun training for the life of our dog. Pitbulls are very responsive to training, but here are some tips for working on more advanced training and common behavioral issues.

Overcoming Behavioral Challenges

When dogs are acting in ways we find challenging it can be easy for people to default trying to punish the behavior to make it stop. However, this doesn’t teach our dogs to do something different, or make clear to them what behavior we don’t like. There is always a reason that a dog expresses a behavior, and it’s never just to annoy us. Common behavioral issues like jumping up, barking, digging, and chewing are frequently a result of boredom, lack of enrichment, stress, or anxiety.

Positive reinforcement training isn't just useful for teaching new skills. It is also the most effective approach for working through behavioral issues. Instead of scolding your Pitbull for doing something you don't like, use treats or toys to get your dog's attention and redirect them to a different and more appropriate activity. By rewarding the behavior we do want, we will decrease the behaviors we don't want.

Socialization and External Environments

Socialization is important for all breeds of dogs and is essential for Pitbulls. This is partially because of the negative stereotypes that exist about the breed.

Socialization is a training process where puppies are gently and intentionally exposed to new places, people, and other animals. Behaviorally, the socialization window takes place before puppies are twelve weeks old. During this important window of a young puppy’s life, they are learning about the world around them, and the skills gained at this age can impact their temperament for the rest of their lives.

While socializing your Pitbull it’s important to be slow and thoughtful to allow puppies to learn about the world at a pace they feel confident with. Pushing a puppy to do something they are worried about can backfire, and lead to behavior problems in the future.

FAQ About Training Pitbulls

Do I Need to Be Alpha?

No. One of the biggest misconceptions that exists is that you need to be an alpha or dominant over your dog. In reality, science has shown that ideas about alpha theory and dominance are not part of dog behavior. Dogs are not trying to take charge of their interactions with us, nor do they need firm leadership. Dogs benefit from consistency with training, but you shouldn’t do anything to try to be dominant over your dog.

How Can I Train My Pitbull To Be Friendly?

All dogs are individuals with their own personalities when it comes to how much they enjoy socializing with other dogs and people. Dogs of all breeds, especially Pitbulls tend to become more selective with other dogs the older they get. That said, early and intentional socialization is the key to increasing the likelihood that your Pitbull will be friendly as an adult dog.

What Age Should I Train My Pitbull?

Training for puppies of any breed including Pitbulls should begin as soon as your puppy comes home. Basic obedience skills, socialization, potty training, and crate training can all be started with Pitbull puppies as soon as they join your family. Keep those training sessions short and consistent to help your Pitbull build skills and adjust to life with you.

Conclusion

Pitbulls are fun and popular dogs, but like any breed of dog, they require regular and significant training. Training for your Pitbull should start when your puppy comes home, to help them grow into a polite and well-trained dog. Contrary to the stereotype, Pitbulls aren’t naturally dangerous, unfriendly, or aggressive dogs. Like any other dog, they benefit from daily, consistent, short, and fun training sessions.

Do you have a Pitbull at home? What skills are you teaching your dog? Do you have any training questions?