A new survey released by Bark Busters, a world wide dog training company, found some surprising data: you can indeed teach an old dog new tricks! What matters most isn’t age or breed—it’s the owner. That’s right, it’s all about who’s training. Another interesting conclusion: this survey found that Pit Bulls are actually easier to train than many other breeds! The majority of the participating trainers stated that they see more Labrador Retrievers than any other breed, followed by Pit Bulls. They found that Pit Bulls came in a very close second in terms of easiest to train, meaning they are the “least time- and effort-intensive to train” next to Golden Retrievers. Given the high numbers of Pit Bulls in shelters across the county, and the difficulties we face adopting them out due to unfair stigma, we hope the results of this survey can help when adopters come your way. The 155 trainers from across the nation who are responsible for this data represent collectively 750 years of experience and 200,000 dogs trained. Click here: http://www.barkbusters.com/page.cfm/ID/457 to see the full results of the survey with all the questions and graphs of the answers!
So if you want a well-behaved dog and you’re willing to invest the time and effort to train him, that 3-year-old Pit mix waiting for a forever home at your local shelter might not be a bad idea after all—and you could put the money you didn’t spend on a purebred puppy toward training to start you both out on the right paw. All dogs need positive training, regardless of where they came from, so please choose to adopt and save a life while you’re at it!