looking for advice about my pit bull

At 8 months, she probably IS showing some rebellion…dogs have several periods in their young lives when they test their leaders. Instead of your son grabbing her collar, have him snap a leash on her and take her out, and then take her off the leash. Have him make her sit, then use a word like “come” so she will start going outside with a command rather than a “demand”…

The tail between the legs, and spontanious urination is a submissive posture…she IS shy…and a dog bite from a fearful dog is just as hurtful as one from an aggresive dog. Ask people to NOT make a deal out of meeting her…no eye contact, no words…let them talk to YOU, and ingore the dog until her comfort zone is appeased. (I’ve had to do this with a couple of my GSD’s)…it allows time for them to make up with a stranger.

I can’t tell you if she’s actually being aggressive when playing…I’d have to be there to see…Dogs play fight…and that can include a show of teeth and LOTS of noise…one way to tell is to watch the other dog (dogs are very keen on what’s happening in the middle of a play fight, they are masters at doggie body language…if the other dog shows signs of fear, then you MUST step in to get the excitment level lower…dogs go from low excitment to high level in a fraction of a second…For a while I’d watch so I could get a feel for what she’s up to…

There’s a type of training called NILIF (Cesar uses it, but doesn’t call it a name)…what it stands for is “Nothing in Life is Free”…that means when you feed her, she has to do something…sit, speak, whatever you choose…if she wants outside, she has do something…WHATEVER she is wanting, she must perform some action…living under NILIF will also lift your kids to a leadship role in her eyes, rather than just “fellow puppies”…

phrannie