The most important thing to realize about the American Staffordshire Bull Terrier or Pit Bull, is that it bases its world on the idea of a pack order. This means that it believes that someone is going to be the leader of its life, whether that distinction is theirs or it is his or her owners, is the result of training. Making sure you train your Pit Bull early to know that you are the leader can be a challenging task for any owner. However, if you are someone that does not like to assert authority, it will be especially tricky, if not impossible to control this sort of breed.

You will need to remind your Pit Bull that they are not the ones in charge and that you are. This will take consistent discipline and commands to help monitor their progress along the way. Many owners find that some assistance in a dog obedience class setting can help them get this training started, but since the dog will be in your care for most of the time, you need to be willing and able to keep up the lessons.

While the Pit Bull does not necessarily need attending to at every moment, this breed likes to interact with its master. This might include tasks in which they can do something that will please you – i.e. fetching and pulling on a chew toy. You want to give this dog a lot of praise when you are training it, so that it knows it is pleasing you. This is the best way to approach training with this particular breed as negative training can often cause the dog to become upset or even defensive. However, you will need to be firm with your Pit Bull to assert your authority and ensure that the action of doing something wrong does not happen again.

Though they have a reputation for being guard dogs, some of their skills will have to come from you. For example, if you want your Pit Bill to bark naturally at the door or at strangers, you may need to teach them to do this.

You will also need to realize that even if you are not overtly trying to tell your Pit Bull something, they can often pick up on subtle cues in your behavior. For example, if you are not firm in your training, they will not be consistent in their resulting behaviors.

A Pit Bull will often bark excessively, become aggressive and overly dominant, as well as have troubles with urinating if not trained early.

House training is of particular concern with this intelligent breed. If their owner is not firm about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, you can create a situation in which the dog is urinating or defecating all over the house. It will help you to be firm with the dog right from the beginning in terms of what you expect for house training. You may also want to take classes in dog obedience training in this area prior to your Pit Bull’s arrival in your home.

Remember that being firm does not mean being harsh. Time, repetition and your affection during dog training is the only way to become the pack leader in your Pit Bull’s life.