If you have a plan to train your pitbull, you definitely have to treat them with basic commands. You can start training them as early as 9 weeks old. When training the pitbull, make sure to start with the most basic commands and utilize the positive reinforcement to reward your pup.
If you have a pitbull, you should know that pitbull puppies and other breeds have short attention spans. It normally takes 15 minutes to get bored during training. Ensure that you have most of your time and make sure that you can train your pitbull regardless of what behaviour and command you want you pup to learn.
In case you train your pitbull, make sure to choose basic commands to easily teach your dog. When your puppy gets older, you can teach them more complicated behaviours. Aside from that, his attention span will also get longer.
Starting Out
Using a clicker will lead your training session effectively and efficiently due to it will help you to teach your dog basic commands in a faster way. Clicker here is cheap equipment which produces a clicking sound whenever you press the button. So, if you are looking for professional dog trainers on YouTube, you will see that most are using a clicker.
One of the reasons why many experts love to use this tool is because it's extremely powerful. Well, it will let you mark a certain behaviour the moment it is happening which gives you some time to give the reward to your dog. Otherwise, if you have no a clicker, you are able to earn your own sound in the form of a whistle or a unique word.
The clicker tool will serve as the mature behaviour. The secret is to never to fail in following the sound with a treat your dog loves so much. Pitbull puppies love almost all kinds of food treats.
Make sure to give your puppy small bits of soft treats which are tasty when rewarding them. Alternatively, you can make use of other standard kibble rations during training. Then, giving them interesting stuff like a small amount of cooked chicken is a great idea for you.
Here’s a List of Basic Commands for Pitbull Training!
1. Command to Come
Training the dog to come may not be applied by some dog owners because their dogs will come running all the time. However, other owners really need this trick because it is easier to get the child to obey. Your goal for this training is to ensure your dog comes to you no matter what he's doing at the time.
You should not be surprised if you see your pitbull refuses. However, it may take many sessions on training before success is reached. Moreover, you have to notice that it’s a command which can be used throughout your dog’s life.
On training, your pitbull puppy should have a harness and leash, not collar. That’s because it may put him at high risk when you try to pull him to you. Make sure to get the harness before training your pitbull puppy.
2. Command to Sit
Giving the ‘sit’ command to your pitbull puppy is commonly the very basic command that you should teach to your dog. In fact, some dogs will be smart enough to learn this basic command as fast as a sitting command, while others need more time to perform it. Sure, you will need around 2 – 4 weeks to reach this goal.
To teach your pitbull puppy to sit, you can try either to stand or kneel directly in front of your puppy. Make sure to hold a treat in your hand. Afterwards, you’re able to move the treat slowly back until it’s directly above the dog’s head.
However, it will make his note upward and butt will get down. If his butt does not get down, you can slowly keep moving that delicious treat backwards towards his tail. When his butt is on the ground, you can then drop the treat and tell him ‘good sit!’ in a pleased voice.
3. Command to Stay
The ‘Stay’ command can only be performed once your dog has mastered the commands for ‘stay’ and ‘fetch’. When your pitbull puppy responds to your ‘stay’ command, you should then throw a small toy toward them.
Additionally, you can continue to give him more praise when he successfully performs the ‘stay’ command. In this case, you have to wait a couple of seconds before saying go and then your pitbull puppy will run and pick the toy.
4. Command to Speak
When you see that your pitbull puppy starts barking, you can then say ‘speak’ as soon as possible and give him a treat. We think that your pitbull puppy will then start barking immediately after you say ‘speak’ after a while.
5. Command to Lay Down
It’s important for you to give the ‘lay down’ command to your dog. In the case of teaching them to sit down, it is similar to teaching him the ‘sit’ command. When teaching him to lay down, you just simply wait for your day to lay down and then press the clicker right away.
In this way, make sure to capture his behaviour by granting your dog once the click. However, it will function as his release cue to stand up. After that, please wait for him to lie down again. In this time, you have to wait for a little longer before you reward him.
If you capture that he is instantly lying down from standing up, of course, you are able to start using the word ‘down’ right before your dog lies down. To make it easier, you can also use a lure to teach your dog to lie down from a sitting or standing position.
6. Command to Sing
This last command may be odd in which you have to howl just like a dog until your pitbull puppy starts howling with you. If your dog follows you, you can give him rewards with treats and say ‘sing’. To reach the perfect goal, make sure to keep practicing until your dog understands the ‘sing’ command without you singing along.
