Caring for a Dog
If you ever owned or currently own a dog, you know how hard it may sometimes be. You always have to look after someone, feed them, wash them, clean after them, like a mother. But we do this, because dogs are out best friends, it’s someone who will never betray us. The more we do this – the stronger this bond.
And if you care for an American pitbull terrier – he will surely return you help ten times bigger. It just comes to one point: how do you do it correctly and show your love to the pet?
Essential
First thing you’ve got to know – every dog and dog breed is different. Not only by the looks and age, but by temperament and nature. You don’t quite see it when you first get a puppy, but there’s a unique personality inside. And your only way to understand it is to spend as much time as possible with your pet. Without that you can just slightly guess what personality a pitbull (or any other dog has).
There are some lines for every dog breed, for example, pitbulls are loyal, loving, have high intelligence and etc. You should use them only if you don’t understand your pet yet.
In other words – treat your dog as a person.
Age
Next important thing to know is the age. The personality of a dog changes with it – and so should your way of caring. For puppies, be kind and gentle to them. They are still too young to understand most of the things you ask them, they may even not get it when you blame them for something. At that point, you need patience and socialization. Let the puppy know you.
As it gets older though, you can get a bit more strict, especially with pitbulls. They are dogs with a strong personality, they can and should handle that. Otherwise, they may end up being just too kind to serve you.
Again, for pitbulls – being too rude or too strict may develop anger in them. And pitbulls are known for easily getting angry. It all depends on how you treat the dog.
What Should You Do?
Caring for a dog is actually simple, that is, of course, if you ignore the information above. There’s a simple algorithm that you should follow:
- Feed your pitbull regularly with the best quality food you can find. For puppies – 3-4 small portions every day, for older dogs – 2-3. Experiment with the size and frequency a little to see what’s best. Free feeding is a variant as well, but it’s not advised. Pitbulls have a tendency to get overweight, and leaving food for free use can lead to this.
- Play with the dog in a kind manner, know what it likes and what it doesn’t, just have a good time with it. For that, you should buy some dog toys, and see which are favored the most.
- Pitbulls are large dogs – and that also means that they need large enough space around them. So give it to them! Also, some comfortable environment for them to sleep/play/eat in wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Training
Training is probably one of the most important things about dog care. It starts at an early puppy age, and can continue even for the whole dog’s life:
- Briefly, training your puppy should start from simple things. Potty training, the “Sit”, “Stop” commands and such.
- Don’t overload a pitbull, especially a puppy with commands. Even though they are smart, they are not as intelligent as humans. Afterall, try performing when you have a hundred tasks flying into you each second. It won’t work.
- Treats are very important. They should be healthy, yet very delicious. And a dog should know, that to get them – it has to do something great. Don’t give them too often, only when the command had been performed perfectly.
- Use intonation to emphasize what you want from a dog. Pitbulls are very intelligent – they will take this information in and use it. Also great if you are not training your dog, but just playing with it.
