Training is a work in progress

I am tired. Thats the update. Training a pitbull is exhausting and I say this with love but also with dark circles under my eyes.

Were working on a few things right now. 'Leave it' is the big one because Duke wants to put everything in his mouth. Leaves. Rocks. Socks. That weird thing on the sidewalk that I dont even want to identify. He sees something, he wants it. So we've been doing 'leave it' drills with treats and honestly hes getting it... in the house. Put a treat on the floor, say leave it, he looks at me, I say okay, he gets the treat. Great. Perfect. Gold star.

Outside? Different story. Theres too much going on out there. Other dogs, people, cars, and most importantly squirrels. The squirrels are his nemesis. I dont know what a squirrel ever did to him but he loses his entire mind when he sees one. Ears up, body tense, pulling on the leash. 'Leave it' means nothing when a squirrel exists.

Leash walking is the other thing. He pulls. Like really pulls. Hes got that pitbull build, all chest and muscle, and when he decides he wants to go somewhere he just goes. Were doing the stop-and-wait thing where I stop moving every time he pulls and we only walk when the leash is loose. Its slow. Were covering like half a block in twenty minutes. But I read its the right way to do it so.

I watched like ten YouTube videos on loose leash walking. Tried the turn around method where you change direction every time they pull. Duke thought that was a fun game. We just walked in circles for a while. He was having a great time. I was not.

The frustrating part is I know hes smart. He learned 'sit' in like two days. 'Down' took a week. He knows what I want, he just—well, hes stubborn. Pitbulls are stubborn, everyone told me this. I thought I was prepared but no. This is a whole new level of 'I heard you, I just dont care.'

My girlfriend keeps saying I need to be more patient. Shes right probably. But its hard when youre standing in the cold for the fifth time saying 'leave it' to a dog whos fully committed to sniffing a fire hydrant for three straight minutes. Just LEAVE IT Duke we have to go HOME.

We had a moment today though where he was pulling toward something, I said 'leave it' and he actually stopped and looked at me. Just for a second but still. Progress is progress. I gave him like four treats for that. Positive reinforcement or whatever.

Gonna keep at it. I bought more training treats today, the good ones he goes crazy for. The freeze dried liver ones. They smell awful but he loses his mind for them so. Spending more on dog treats than I spend on my own snacks at this point.

We'll get there eventually. Probably. Maybe.

He's asleep on my feet right now. At least thats one thing he's good at. Being cute and heavy.