darcisulli
Member
Hello fellow dog lovers,
My name is Darci and I am the proud owner of an American Bulldog Mix named Kaia. We are from Jacksonville Beach, FL. Kaia is about a year and half now and I've owned her for almost a year, I adopted her from the Broward County Humane Society in Florida November 23rd 2010. Since then my life has dramatically changed, for the better! My days now revolve around Kaia and I am constantly thinking about her. I'm a very proud mama.
Kaia is an extremely fun loving puppy who thinks that everyone in this world was made to play with her, people and other 4 legged friends alike. She loves to give kisses and tells juicy secrets, she nibbles on your ear lobes.
Everyday is a new adventure for Kaia, her favorite thing to do by far though is go to the beach and go swimming. She would spend all day everyday there if she could. We also go on long long bike rides, which she is so amazing on, staying right next to the bike and never pulling. She does however have a few bad habits in her, even though I call her an angel all day!
1. Her jumping habit when she sees a new person has got to go. She doesn't tend to go for your face or chest when she jumps up at people, but at their hands. And she kind of puts peoples hands in her mouth, though she has never bit down or hurt anyone. I have tried to ignore it and turn away, didn't seem to phase her. I tried to knee her in the chest a few times too, but she is persistent and is still jumping on new people to this day.
2. She is crated whenever we leave the house. She is completely fine with going in her fortress and doesn't bust out once we get home. But I don't want her to be a crate dog forever, that thing is big and taking up half the living room! It's not her going potty in the house were worried about, its that she will chew up things. Not when we are around though. So how do I teach her that chewing things is bad when she never does it around me?
3. I believe she may think she is the Alpha in our "pack" and only sometimes because she does sometimes seem to be a bit aggressive towards other smaller female dogs. I notice it when smaller females approach when Kaia is around me, and she seems to protect me. I have watched a few dog whisperer on TV and he said to push them over some to knock their balance off but she didn't care about that. I take her to the dog park a few times a week and it doesn't happen all the time, just sometimes. I'm not sure if she'd sink her teeth in another dog or not, I have always pulled her off whenever this happens. But she flips them over on their back and stands above them pinning them down with her head and making awful noises that just freak me out. I don't like it and know she isn't a mean dog and need to find a way to make sure that this behavior stops.
I also ride horses and have been almost all my life, I'd love to be able to bring Kaia out there and ride and know that she isn't going to venture off and will stay close by.
Everyday I try and take a few minutes to just do some basic commands with her. She is learning and loves to do anything for treats, though she seems to be a little slow at catching on. We are ready to start really training and get Kaia to a place where she will be forever happy!
Well thanks for taking the time to read this. We'd love to hear from you and cant wait to start learning!
My name is Darci and I am the proud owner of an American Bulldog Mix named Kaia. We are from Jacksonville Beach, FL. Kaia is about a year and half now and I've owned her for almost a year, I adopted her from the Broward County Humane Society in Florida November 23rd 2010. Since then my life has dramatically changed, for the better! My days now revolve around Kaia and I am constantly thinking about her. I'm a very proud mama.
Kaia is an extremely fun loving puppy who thinks that everyone in this world was made to play with her, people and other 4 legged friends alike. She loves to give kisses and tells juicy secrets, she nibbles on your ear lobes.
Everyday is a new adventure for Kaia, her favorite thing to do by far though is go to the beach and go swimming. She would spend all day everyday there if she could. We also go on long long bike rides, which she is so amazing on, staying right next to the bike and never pulling. She does however have a few bad habits in her, even though I call her an angel all day!
1. Her jumping habit when she sees a new person has got to go. She doesn't tend to go for your face or chest when she jumps up at people, but at their hands. And she kind of puts peoples hands in her mouth, though she has never bit down or hurt anyone. I have tried to ignore it and turn away, didn't seem to phase her. I tried to knee her in the chest a few times too, but she is persistent and is still jumping on new people to this day.
2. She is crated whenever we leave the house. She is completely fine with going in her fortress and doesn't bust out once we get home. But I don't want her to be a crate dog forever, that thing is big and taking up half the living room! It's not her going potty in the house were worried about, its that she will chew up things. Not when we are around though. So how do I teach her that chewing things is bad when she never does it around me?
3. I believe she may think she is the Alpha in our "pack" and only sometimes because she does sometimes seem to be a bit aggressive towards other smaller female dogs. I notice it when smaller females approach when Kaia is around me, and she seems to protect me. I have watched a few dog whisperer on TV and he said to push them over some to knock their balance off but she didn't care about that. I take her to the dog park a few times a week and it doesn't happen all the time, just sometimes. I'm not sure if she'd sink her teeth in another dog or not, I have always pulled her off whenever this happens. But she flips them over on their back and stands above them pinning them down with her head and making awful noises that just freak me out. I don't like it and know she isn't a mean dog and need to find a way to make sure that this behavior stops.
I also ride horses and have been almost all my life, I'd love to be able to bring Kaia out there and ride and know that she isn't going to venture off and will stay close by.
Everyday I try and take a few minutes to just do some basic commands with her. She is learning and loves to do anything for treats, though she seems to be a little slow at catching on. We are ready to start really training and get Kaia to a place where she will be forever happy!
Well thanks for taking the time to read this. We'd love to hear from you and cant wait to start learning!
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