New to You:)

[heatherlee]

Hello all! my name is heatherlee, I have recently acquired a 3 month old puppy, it was a christmas gift that i couldn't refuse. His name is Porthos and he is 3/4 american bulldog and 1/4 canecorsa (mother was purebred all white AB-father was 1/2 ab 1/2cc) and he is absolutely beautiful.

I am looking to train him... I need to know what is best for this dog, what the best suited tricks are, and how i go about doing it... looking for any kind of online/free resources in this matter...

Otherwise, he is absolutely adorable... he is all white minus one giant brendalled patch over his right eye, and he is slightly wrinkled thanks to his father... But Hello! and nice to meet you all

[PitBullie09]

Welcome! I want to see pictures of your puppy! He sounds adorable I am about to adopt a Staffie soon!

[heatherlee]

I'm not sure how to post pictures, but i made my avatar Porthos's picture... I can't wait to see what he matures into

[oc_spirit]

This mix is a popular one used by a lot of gangs for drug guarding, protection, and of course dog fighting. It's possible that if you did a search on google.com you come up with various photos of dogs of this mix.

You're puppy looks adorable BTW can't wait to see more pics!!!

Cheers!

[heatherlee]

drug guarding...dog fighting... these poor dogs I just want a good companion... i'm a stay at home mom of a (almost) 2 year old and have plenty of extra time to devote to dog training-- so other than drug guarding and dog fighting, what are they capable of? I've heard that bulldogs aren't the most intellegent of beings... is it just a matter of keeping them interested? This will be the first dog I have ever raised... i don't want to screw it up!

[oc_spirit]

Don't worry i'm not accusing you of wanting to use this dog for that at all I'm just stating that this type of mix breed is commonly used for that. Any dog can learn to do any type of trick so long as the handler finds something that motivates them and has the time and patience to work with the dog. Many times stubborn breeds are deamed "dumb" or "stupid" but this is hardly the case. Why don't you suggest things you'd like to get this dog involved in and we can help you achieve that.

BTW one thing I saw a Great Dane taught to do that maybe if you're interested you could do too is that the owner had a problem with her toddler constantly going to the fence gate while outside playing and opening it and wandering the streets (the mother wasn't irresponsible, she was outside with the kid but the kid was quite sneaky and would wait till her mum was distracted). So the mum trained the dog to get in between the toddler and the gate if the toddler started walking towards it. If the toddler persisted in getting to the gate the dog would bark twice then grab the pants of the little girl and gently tug her away from the gate. The barking and pulling back the dog learned on it's own however my neighbour's lab was trained to pull back on "her" children's clothes if they got close to the perimeter of their property. Both mothers said it put them at ease when they were outside with the girls because they knew they could count on the dogs to keep the kids safe.

Cheers!

[gaddylovesdogs]

Welcome to the boards!! You've got a very cute puppy there. OC is right...people mix breeds a lot, but just for money (well, at least the ones I've seen). The dogs are not tested for any health problems, they are not show-quality/breeding-quality.....it's very sad. I'm sure you didn't know that and of course you're not going to treat your puppy boy badly . Again, welcome to GP!

[heatherlee]

WOW! that would be awesome If Porthos ended up being that responsible I still haven't been able to find any pics of bulldog cane corsa mix's ... do they have a particular name? He is only 1/4 cane corsa i don't know if that would have a big influence on how he matures or not, i'm not real familiar with that breed, or their size... My husband has made a guestimation of 3feet by 3 feet... we'll see......
I would like to see him possibly run after a frisbee, although he may be to short(we have however, started feeding him FROM the frisbee...we're told this will start the love for the frisbee) , taking a bow would be nice, Protecting my child would be an awesome feat, seeing him do ANYTHING unique would be absolutely awesome, and i have the time to invest...

Now, i would like to get something straight, my mother is under the impression that an american bulldog is a pit bull... she is wrong correct? Not that it would be a bad thing, i have known many a wonderful pit, but is she wrong or have i been misled?

[oc_spirit]

She is deffinately wrong, they are two very different breeds thoughto the uneducated eye, they do appear to be similar.

This is a Pit Bull


This is an Am Bull


The biggest difference that I point out to anybody who asks is in the muzzle. The Am Bull's jowels are a lot looser than the Pit's.

As for the frisbee, never heard of that method motivating a dog to go after a frisbee but I can see the logic behind it. Another great way is to throw it and when the puppy brings it back give it a yummy treat. If the puppy doesn't bring it back, no attention at all and calmly go out, pick up the frisbee and try again. Don't even look at the dog when he comes back and you go out to get the frisbee. I wouldn't start this until the pupy is 6months old though, then he will be more coordinated and can catch on to the fetching thing better with the awkward frisbee. Although there's no harm in teaching fetch now using a soft plushy ball.

I'm going to have to continue this in a different post, I had to edit this one so I can't see what else you wrote >_<

[heatherlee]

on top of i just didn't know what these dogs were bred like this for, he was given to me as a christmas present, 2 days ago, by a friend that was moving out of town. He owned the mother (purebred AmB) and just couldn't take the puppy with, so he figured out of everyone he knew, our family would be best suited to take loving care of the precious little puppy

He is a charm, and he listens well. He is almost trained to go outside, he does get up in the middle of the night and make the long walk to the back of the house where his paper is, and i am quite thankful for that. He responds to no, stop,sit, and his new name after only 2 days of having him...He was born on October 7th and has the funkiest paws i have ever seen.

We are planning on getting him neutered, I don't want to risk him marking my house because he feels the need

We have already introduced him to my sisters Dobberman's(7th generation line=bred by family) and they are getting along famously(another reason to get him neutered, don't want to risk that male/male battling as often as we are at my ssiter's house)

anything else i should know about these dogs? my sister said kidney stones? dogs get kidney stones? how do i avoid this? what about their breathing problems? what should i look for? can you rub menthaladum on a doggies chest? how about dry dry flaky skin? he has a bit of dandruff and his skin is pink, i think he is maybe chapped? his previous owner walked a LOT so i think he could be wind burnt... baby oil? lotion? we weren't expecting him and its still over a week till payday so any kind of home remidies for dogs would be great too... we only get paid once a month and are sometimes stuck at the end of the month waiting on cash, i'd hate to encounter a doggie health problem and not be able to get to it immediately...

Any help would be great, we've never been dog people until now...

[heatherlee]

does he look like a bulldog puppy? can you see any traits that are specific to the cane corsa? my untrained eye only sees a cute puppy....

[oc_spirit]

Taking a bow is especially easy to teach if your dog lays down by putting his front end down first followed by the rear end because all you have to do is give him the command "bow" and put you hand to the floor like you would the down command but before his butt starts going down and after the front end is down you give him the treat and reward like crazy. If he knows a command like "freeze" (that means hold the position you are in) then that's perfect as he would stay in a bow position for you.

Here's a cute site with various tricks and how to teach them to your dog that a friend gave to me a while ago. Maybe you could try some of them:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/P.../indexorg.html

As for protecting, that will come natural. Any dog will protect his family. A lot of times the only time the dog won't protect a family member is if the harmer is another member of the family. The dog may try to "brea up the fight" but pack members don';t really stand up for other pack members, scuffles within the pack are resolved by the members involved only. If you want to however a good sport to get him into would be Shutzhund. It's German Police dog work and a portion of it is protection work. You can build a very strong bond with your dog and learn lots of neat things and gain lots of cool experiences.

Like I said before, I'm not saying just because you have this dog with this mix you're a gang member or his breeder was a gang member, I'm simply stating that usually this is what this mix is used for, especially in places where Pit Bulls are banned.

He sound like quite n intelligent little boy! This a wonderful thing, it is good to start obedience training immediately (if you haven't already) so he learns that learning commands is fun and a part of life. You shouldn't do more than 15mins at a time however and no more than 2-3 a day at this point so that he doesn;t get bored since a puppys attention span is very short.

It's good to hear he gets along with your sister's Dobe. It's good to continue socializing him with as many different dogs and more importntly, humans, as you can. A great way to do this is to take him to pet stores, parks, even the vets. At the vets you could have him weighed and give him a treat when he sits quietly on the scale so then he associates the vets with possibilities of simply getting treats, and not always needles. Some people make the mistake of thinking a socialized dog is too friendly and won't protect them if the need arises but that isn't true. Even the friendliest dog in the world will protect his family if someone threatens them. And an aggressive dog could pose a danger to your little girl. All puppies need to be socialized and experience new situations.

I don't know much about Kidney Stones except that a way to avoid them is to make sure your dog is always properly hydrated.

As for breathing problems just make sure that on hot days he is either kept inside with plenty of water, or if he must be outside make sure he has lots of shade provided and lots of cool fresh water and even better would be a kiddie pool filled with water for him to cool off in. If it's smoggy or humid deffinately keep him inside. During these times walks should be late at night or early in the morning only when it is somewhat cool.

A great home-remedy for dry skin is a table spoon of either fish oil, flack seed oil, vegetable oil, or olive oil on their kibble every day. Since he's a puppy still I would say just 1/2 a tablespoon at most but this will increase as he grows up. Also make sure he is on a good quality food. Sometimes dryskin is a sign of low quality food. Wellness and Chicken Soup for the Doglover's Soul are two excellent brands that are relatively cheap. Innova is another good one. I doubt it's wind burn, his fur would protect him against that.

A tip for money issues:
Put a small portion of your income into a savings account at a bank and never touch it. Each month put what you can afford. Over time it will grow and the if you ever come into a crisis either a health issue with the dog or something else you have that money to fall back on to. That's what I do with my dog as I find Dog Insurance to be not only ridiculously expensive, but a watse of money especially for a person like me who doesn't make much to begin with.

Cheers!

[Barrett]

Hiccups are very normal. My pup is sitting in my lap as I type..hiccupping away. LOL I think it's cute.

[oc_spirit]

It's really hard to tell what the breed is when their puppies. To me he looks like a happy helthy puppy who wants to play with the camera that's pointing at him LOL

Cheers!

[heatherlee]

Shutzhund-- thats where you teach the dog to grab at the padded arm thing like crazy right... i definately don't want to teach him anything like that... we want him to be a family dog.. i don't want to teach him to use his teeth anymore than normal... there are small children and animals at stake here