___________________________Personality___________________________Rowdy is a very loyal dog, but likes to make his own decisions if he is allowed too. He is rather clever, but will get into trouble if you don't look out for him. Rowdy is best at tracking things, and although he is gentle as a butterfly most of the time he will chase small animals if you let him, which is understandable since he is a dog.
Rowdy is extremely food motivated which makes training difficult because he will pay too much attention to the treat and not to you. This isn't horrible though because he already knows plenty of basic commands and I have figured out how to motivate him through toys and praise until he understands the trick, then a treat is a good reward after he has learned it.
I try to avoid a treat for every trick though, since Rowdy is my every day companion he would be overweight and unhealthy because of the many tasks he must perform to get along smoothly. Fortunately, though, because of our semi-constant interaction we are very close and my praise seems to be worth it for Rowdy, as long as I give him a treat now and then for harder stuff.
Rowdy is very friendly and has never bitten anyone besides maybe a couple of accidental nips when he was playing as a puppy, but besides that he has still never broken anyone's skin or even gave someone a little nip on purpose.
Even though he is very gentle, he doesn't always get along well with strangers, he can be a bit pushy at first, which can be overwhelming especially for those who are shy around Pit Bulls, he'll stop when I call him off it though, he just doesn't respond when I try to prevent it.
Since I have so many animals that Rowdy has grown up with he is very good with them, if anything they are the ones that cause problems, running away either by instinct or a fear they won't get over, though it is understandable some of them don't want a big wet kiss either, but Rowdy doesn't chase after them.
As a puppy Rowdy enjoyed playing with other dogs but strangely he never played roughly, even though some other dogs, including Pit Bulls would love to have a energetic little playfight if the other dog was willing. Now Rowdy will play a bit of tug-a-war with other dogs (which he usually loses because he doesn't like "stealing things") or race some dogs to get the toy first in fetch, but hasn't wrestled any dog in years, he prefers to play the games I mentioned above or snuggle with them.
Rowdy is curious, and likes to investigate holes and plants, though he very rarely picks anything up unless you hand it to him.
The main way Rowdy likes to misbehave on walks is to chase a squirrel or splash through puddles. On hot summer days I let him play in a wading pool with some waterproof dog toys such as a rubber ball, which he will splash after.
Even though Rowdy loves water he has always refused to go in deep pools or tried to swim. When he was a puppy he mistook an in-ground pool for a large puddle or wading pool before he had ever seen a deep body of water before and jumped in, luckily instinct kicked in and he was able to swim, but not for long the scare brought him quickly back to the edge where we were ready to pull him out.
Rowdy also seems to have a few strange fears that no one can figure out why is is afraid of, for example he shy's away from hula-hoops, which he first saw when I bought one hoping I could teach him to hop through it, he wouldn't even walk through when it was on the ground for a big bowl of food.
