Dog Health Questions: Los angeles dog trainers?

Does anyone know of any dog trainers in Los Angeles that specialize in pit bulls? My friend has a very over-excited dog that needs obedience training as well as possible guard dog training.

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Recommended Answer:
Here are some tips for training a pit bull that may help in the meantime:

http://www.pitbullsontheweb.com/petbull/…
http://www.pbrc.net/training.html

http://stores.petsmart.com/petsmart/ ... find a trainer in your area
http://www.canine.org/ ... American Dog trainers network

Review - Secrets to Dog Training is Unparalleled Canine Training Resource

• I have a female pit whom is very energetic. Some things your friend can do is take the dog on long walks and get like a doggy backpack and fill it with items to make him or her work harder. When you return home the dog should be some what tired if they walked long enough if not do more energetic activities to go with the dog. Like running, fetch or swimmming. When the dog is tired but not dead tired is the best time to try a little bit of training. Just remember one word for each thing you want him or her to learn. Pits are very intelligent dogs and very hard working, with a lot of energy proper training and working out is needed. If you cannot spare the time for the dog then maybe that is not the dog for you.


• A trainer can train your friend's dog, but when the dog is with your friend, he will not have the respect for his owner that he does for his trainer, and your friend may not be able to enforce his commands to his own dog. Your friend needs to learn how to work the dog himself, even if he uses a trainer. Training does not equal automatic respect and obedience. He has to earn respect with his dog just like he does with everyone else. The going rates for dog trainers are $600-$1000 a month in the areas which I have personal experience-- I have hired dog trainers. To train a dog from zero to guard dog is going to cost your friend in the neighborhood of $3000 to $5000 at least. Plus his dog will have to go live with the trainer at his kennel facilities. Choosing a good trainer can be very difficult, and he may find himself $3500 poorer, with a dog who is badly trained.
  
  He should join a local Schutzhund club. Schutzhund is a sport that combines tracking, obedience, and protection work. Other possibilities might be PSA or Ring Sport, if available in his area, which put more emphasis on the personal protection portion in the context of competition. You can find a club in your area on the Schutzhund USA website which I have listed as a source below. For PSA or Ring Sport, you should do an Internet search.
  
  If your friend trains in Schutzhund, or other sport involving protection work as well as obedience, then he is working with a group of people who can support him and his goals. Everyone has a different training approach, and that can be very useful in applying techniques to see which method works with his dog best. He will gain the respect, obedience and attention of his own dog, and spend much much less than what he would to hire a dog trainer. Training the dog himself will increase the dog's focus, control and discipline and it should help with his excitability issues as well.
  
  Exercise is also another avenue to control excitability in dogs. Lack of exercise often causes behavorial problems in high energy dogs.


• Sure, Cesar Millan... The Dog Whisperer! He runs a dog psychology center in LA that works with a lot of pits. Probably kind of expensive though!