My mom told me my first word was ‘dud’ and that I would always say it every time I pointed to a dog. My parents and I got our first dog (a beagle) after my grandparents bloodhound passed of old age because I was so upset over losing him. Since then I was the primary caregiver for our dog: walks, baths, etc. Upon moving out and living with my boyfriend, he blessed me with my first ever dog to call mine and only mine for my 19th birthday. He was 8 weeks old, small, and skittish. He’s a full bred pitbull so I am very focused on training him to be nothing like most peoples perspectives on supposed “aggressive breeds” like mine and so far things are going very well. After 3 weeks of having him he's mastered many basic commands such as sit, lay down, paw, stay, and roll over. He’s also learned more complex commands such as ‘by me’ where he comes and sits in between my feet, which I taught in cases of being around those afraid of pitbulls (for when he is older and much bigger), when cars are near, or when passerby’s are trying to get around. But like I said, learned, not mastered... yet. I’m also training him not to jump on people when they approach him so he doesn’t get used to it for when he’s bigger and much more powerful. Most importantly, after 3 weeks of having him he’s already been potty trained, minus some accidents when he gets excited. I am not a training professional but I’d definitely say it is a special skill of mine.