My dogs are pretty well behaved. I can take them out in public, and while they might not always maintain my high standards, they usually exceed those of most people. “I can’t believe how well-behaved they are,” people tell me. “My dog would be going nuts.” I can at least count on my dogs to not embarrass me – even Maus. How is it that I have dogs who behave everywhere we go?

It’s simple: I take my dogs everywhere I go.

Too many people, it seems, expect perfection from dogs they don’t do anything with. I’d be pretty hyper and distracted on a trip to the pet store as well, if I spent all my time alone in the backyard.

More than that, I like taking my dogs everywhere. I particularly like socializing new dogs, and Jo is no exception. Each dog gives me a new perspective on things I’ve seen millions of times, common place objects and activities that have lost their magic. Such is the joy of owning a dog, and I feel sorry for people who deny themselves the pleasure.

With a new dog, I start slow. Once Jo got used to the house and all its novelties, it was time to venture off the property. The average suburban neighborhood is boring – that’s why people like living there – but Jo pranced around in wide-eyed wonderment as if she’d been given the keys to a fairy kingdom. On one of our daily walks, Jo discovers an inflatable pumpkin – one of those nylon affairs with the little air motor. She drags me over to it, fascinated as I let her sniff her fill. I even hide a few treats under the motor, much to her delight. It’s nice to have a dog with an open mind, who wants to see new things and meet new people.

A lot of people never make it to the daily walk: “He pulls,” they say. Or, “She’s uncontrollable.” What a shame to limit your dog because you don’t know how to socialize it! Even this early – before we ever leave the house – I’m already teaching Jo how to behave in public. Why do dogs pull? Because it gets them closer to their goal. It’s rewarding for dogs to pull. How do you get a dog to stop pulling? You take away the reward. When Jo pulls me toward the inflatable pumpkin, I stop moving forward. When Jo really starts pulling, I start pulling, too – in the opposite direction. Most dogs figure out pretty quickly that in order to reach their goal, they have to stay in control and walk towards it at my pace. Jo still got to see the pumpkin, but she did it on my terms, not hers.

Jo mastered the walk faster than I could have hoped; further proof of her intelligence and sound temperament. It took Maus about six weeks to be functional on our daily walks. Jo did it in four days.

So what’s next? Now I start bringing her into public places where she’ll interact with other people. My local Chuck&Don’s on weekday mornings is perfect for this. Dogs don’t generalize well; that is to say, they don’t understand that because a certain set of behaviors is expected from them in one place, it will be expected from them in the next place. It’s why you’ll often hear people say, “But he does so well at home!” So on our first trip to a new place, I always relax my standards a bit and assume that I will have to help the dog behave well, almost as if we were starting over from scratch. Because of this philosophy, I’m rarely disappointed or frustrated by the dog, but am often pleasantly surprised. Jo’s first trip to Chuck&Don’s is pretty predictable: she tries to raid the open dog food bins, pulls like a demon, and jumps on top of the register counter. And I don’t mean she puts her paws up on the counter – she jumped, all four feet from a stand still onto the counter. And she looked pretty pleased with herself about it, too.  I shudder to think how miserably this trip would have gone if we hadn’t put all the work into out daily walks. If it’s one thing training dogs has shown me, it’s that a solid foundation to build upon is critical. Given that we had worked on basic behavior before ever entering the store, the trip wasn’t all bad. Jo sat beautifully for every person we saw, and she agreed to leave the bulk treats alone with only a minimal amount of redirection. Our second trip to Chuck&Don’s went predictably better. Jo barely pulled, still loved up on the people, and didn’t feel the need to prove her athleticism by checking out the cash registers. How’d we manage this? By going slowly, keeping reasonable, consistent expectations, putting in firm foundation training, and having lots of treats to ensure proper behavior.

So what’s next for Jo? This week I’m planning a few short, positive trips to Petco to pick out new toys. Petco is similar to Chuck&Don’s, but it’s bigger, with more new smells and new people. By continuing to take her to new places, I decrease the time she needs to generalize her training into new places. Soon, she’ll learn that “sit” means put your butt on the ground no matter where we are or what’s around us. Jo’s a sharp little thing, and I can credit a lot of the speed at which we’re moving to her intelligence. On the other hand,  Piper Ann, who’s dumber than people who don’t use their turn signals, generalizes to new places in no time flat. Why? Because I’ve spent the last four years taking her everywhere with me. It’s a lot of training, particularly in the beginning. But to have a dog who is well socialized, and that I can count on to behave properly in almost every situation? The work is well worth the reward.

Being the people pleasers that they are, pit bulls, when solidly trained, are filled with endless potential.

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