Hello!

[bellasmom]

I joined the forum today looking for a little help and guidance on raising an 8 month old pitbull/boarder collie mix. She is a very loveable well tempered girl, but was not trained well in her past home. This is a huge learning gap for both of us since I have never had a dog, so my fiance is trying to teach me as much as possible, which is also why i joined.
Our biggest hurdles right now are leash training (i bought one of those easy walk harnesses) and playful bites which we are working very hard to stop since my fiance has a 4 year old daughter (although its in play and doesn't hurt us, she is very dramatic about it).

[Curly_07]

Gotta love spammers!!!^^^

The mods will come thru and remove the above post.

Anyway, welcome! Glad to have you here, and glad you are looking to do some more research and training with your pup. There are some really good threads in Training you can look at for some assistance with your training goals.

Sent from my HTC Inspire using Tapatalk

[spammie]

Hi and welcome. This is a great place to learn about dogs. Have you considered enrolling in a basic obedience class?

[Bellas Mommy]

Welcome from another Bella Mom!! I second the basic obedience training class! Just signed up for one with my 2 year old GSD / GSP rescue boy! They're a great way to bond with your dog and work through some basic training issues!

[bellasmom]

I have been doing some searching on classes in our area since I'm completely clueless on what to do to help train her ... My fiance has had a few pitties in his life so he is a lot of help, but there are many times when I am alone with her and unsure what to do. He said something about enrolling her into classes at Petsmart, but I'm not sure if I trust that being I'm sure they don't hire fully trained people to run the classes. Overall she is a very good dog, just wasn't trained very well and we are having problems getting her to realize that WE are the "alpha dogs". I guess my strong way of saying "no" isn't convincing .

[Bellas Mommy]

Hmm, where are you in PA? I know of some good trainers in the Lehigh Valley & Wilkes Barre areas. I like to check out bios on a website of the trainer I'll be working with, and at least do a phone conversation with the trainer to get their thoughts on training styles and see how they would handle some sample situations before signing up to work with them.

[bellasmom]

I am in South Central Pa, Harrisburg/York area.
I did find a site the other day with trainers and bio information, but can't seem to find it again.

[Bellas Mommy]

You can always google dog trainer york pa and see what pops up. I'd also check with your vet and local animal shelters to see who they recommend. I know our local animal rescue league even has obedience training at the shelter for a discounted rate!

[bellasmom]

I'll take a look into that, thanks!
Any idea when I will have access to post in other threads? I think I may have spotted a few "hot spots" forming and am unsure on how to take care of those.

[spammie]