well just an update when i said my pup was 5 months i was wrong he turns 5 months in a week. i talked to a couple people and i mentioned to them that hes really mouthy and that hes teething like i mentioned above, and they suggested that i work stricktly in prey drive work, what type of drive building excersises would you use and with what equipment and any specific way to do them.
Im planning on buying the Drive Grip and Focus DVD but i wont be able to get it for a little while and i want to make sure im doing the best i can for him so any help is greatly appreciated. thanks

Since your dog is teething, I would tie a ball on a string to a horse whip, or to an old broom handle and just make Drive for you pup. You don't want to play tug with him while he is teething, because you don't want to associate pain with the biting.

I would make Drive for the pup two or three times a day, for only a minute or two.......you want to put the pup away wanting more and not totally tired.

Im not sure what your plans of for your dog - but teething is also a good time to begin tracking. You may find then while hes teething he may not be that interested in chasing balls - no biggie - teething doesnt last to long.
Plenty of time for drive development.

thanks for the input guys, just out of curiosity do you stop bite work when your pups are teething or is it only done in certain cases. thanks

Just take it easy. Your worrying about a short period of time, the teething will be over before you know it. You dont have to stop bite work - like i said just take it easy whilst he's teething. JMO

one more question about teething pups, how many back teeth molars i guess is what they are do they lose my adult dog and him were playng tug of war and she shook hard and he spit one out, he doesnt let me near his mouth to open it up, its pretty hard to hold him hes a power house 40 IBS at 5 months thats a solid pitbull, most are 40-50 fully grown.

 Quote:

Originally posted by Brock Sjoberg:
how many back teeth molars i guess is what they are do they lose my adult dog and him were playng tug of war and she shook hard and he spit one out, he doesnt let me near his mouth to open it up, its pretty hard to hold him hes a power house 40 IBS at 5 months thats a solid pitbull, most are 40-50 fully grown.

At 4-8 weeks of age, a puppy's mouth will get 28 baby teeth. At 4-7 months of age, the baby teeth fall out and are replaced with 42 permanent adult teeth.

As far as not allowing you to get into his mouth. Start to break that. You may need to get in there for whatever reason, like brushing or giving meds, and will make things a whole lot easier.

There are ways like for brushing his teeth to get things more acceptable to the dog.

For example, try to begin when your dog is very young. Don't be too serious - make it fun. Your not too late so start now while you can still mold the dog as its still a pup.

1. Don't use a toothbrush at first. Dip your finger in something good like soup and then rub your finger along his teeth. Rub it against his gums. Only do this for a minute or two. Then stop and praise your dog.

2. Do this every day or two until your pup is comfortable with you touching his mouth and teeth.

3. Later, you can wrap a piece of gauze around your finger to make it feel a little different and rub that against his teeth. After awhile, you will feel comfortable enough to put a toothbrush into your dogs mouth.

As far as your dog being large, alot of it has to do with the bloodlines. Basically who is in the pedigree and what they were breeding for. The ones I have had have been smaller spunky little guys. They averaged about my smallest male being 37lbs up to appx 60lbs or so. Persoanlly I am more of a fan of smaller dogs than larger b/c I can do more with them. Easier to put in the car and transport. Don't have much doo doo to pick up, not as much feed, less "threatening" to the ill-informed public, and so on. Its basically what you prefer as it is your dog and wil be with you for its lifetime. Whatever floats your boat, you know?

If you ever go to an sanctioned ADBA (American Dog Breeders Association) conformation show you will see that any APBT will never make a win or frankly considered if they are generally over 55lbs. Not 1st 2nd or 3rd. That is not the true original standard for the breed. Weight pull competitions that they have is a different story and have different weight classes and dogs that are larger are often entered. If a fun and positive way to get your dog out and busy. Its fun for you and the dog and gives the public a chance to see how well theycan be in the right hands.

My whole thing is, there is never a bad dog, just bad owner. Its the owners that make the dog what it is at that given time. As with many breeds, some are not good "first" time dogs to learn with but with a responsible and mature owner, things almost all the time turn out just fine.