I have a few concerns about my German Shepherd, Please Help?

Question

Hi There

I have a 7 month Female German Shepherd Dog who is a great Joy. In the House she is fantastic, she's house trained, only eats when I give her the go ahead, comes in from the garden when I call her, Happily sleeps in her crate during the night and doesn't chew or jump on the sofa. However I do have a few problems as follows and would be very grateful for your advice.

1 Even though she listens to me in the house, outside she gets so excited she doesn't really look at me until I call her name several times and even then she only looks at me for a split second.

2 She pulls like crazy (Yes I have taken her to classes but nothing seems to work) Therefore I have recently started using a Halti leader, which is helping but as soon as I slack the lead she still insists on walking ahead. If I keep a short lead on her as recommended at dog training classes she either tries to pull off the Halti Leader or starts to head but by leg (Even though the lead is short it is not overly short whereby her head should bang into my knee)

3 She has recently lost interest in fetching a toys, When I throw toys she might chase them and the n she will either sniff it and leave it where it is or she will pick it up and run off with it and then drop it somewhere else.

4 When I let her off lead in the local park, her recall is not as great as it used to be, she now has to be called several times and may go through a phase of coming up to me and then running off. (HOWEVER she does always keep an eye on me, so if I walk or run to another part of the park she will follow me, albeit sometimes from a few feet away.

5 The most worrying problem is that she over loves people and runs up to them and starts to lick and nibble there cloths. (She used to do this when people came over, but has stopped this as every time she did this we would remove her from the room for a few minutes, however she does still get excited when people come over and wants to run and sniff them, but calms down quickly)

She doesn't show any signs of aggression, but I want to curb some of these behaviours before she grows any bigger as she is already quite large.

I have taken her to classes but all the trainers keep giving me contradictory advice and this just made things were worse. (She also screams and throws a hissy fit at classes as she wants to play with the other dogs at the class as all she wanted to do was run up and play with the other dogs instead of following instructions) Even though she isn't aggressive the trainers say it may worth considering muzzling her, I would rather put in the time and train her not to get over excited, but the classes are not doing any good for her and I feel that I have made more progress by reading books, watching the dog whisperer and socialising her my self with friends, other dogs and going on walks with the local dog owners.

However, her behaviours as mentioned above are still a concern, so any advice you can give would really be appreciated.

Answer 1

There are a lot of questions in your post. There was a question a few days ago which I answered, as my answer covered some of your question I will paste this before I go on to the other aspects of your question.

Is it possible that you are not consistent with your commands? I have heard people shout "Rover Come" "Will you come here" "Please come" and lots of other commands, they change the command when Rover does not come perhaps you are not guilty of this You should call her immediately when she takes off, calling her from a distance is often a waste of time.



If you have been consistent with your recall command, she has learnt to ignore this. Consequently you should change your recall command to a word which she is not familiar with and you should practise using this in the garden (if it's fenced), or you could use a whistle. Have a pocket full of wonderful treats and make your recall command or blow the whistle and give her a treat (she will come if she know that you have chicken or cheese) At this stage the idea is for her to associate the new command with a wonderful treat, regardless of the fact that you are not recalling her from a distance. When she has cottoned on to this, don't give her a treat every time. If you keep her guessing about the availability of a treat it will make her keener to obey you when you are in the Country Park.



If she still runs off when you are in the Country Park, you should run in the opposite direction and hide behind a bush if possible and remain quiet until she comes to find you. Although I hate flexi leads when people use them when they are walking their dogs on the pavement, you could use this in the Country Park. Have it fully extended and when she tries to take off, use your recall command or blow the whistle and as you do so, tug the lead and go mad with praise and excitement when she obeys.



As for pulling on the lead, try a head collar however you must not attach this to a flexi lead and you should take it off when she is running free. "End of paste".



I note that you are using a Halti head collar and I know that a dog can pull this type of head collar off and that they slide up over their eyes. The Gentle leader head collar is better; you should also investigate head collars on the Internet. There is a collar on Cesar Milan’s site called the "Illusion Collar" I don't know of anyone who has used this, however it looks impressive. Just Google Cesar Milan for info.



Before you admit any visitors, put your dog into another room, she can't help loving them or getting exited. Leave her in the other room until your visitors settle and she calms down. When you open the door to let her into the living room, give her something to chew, I would recommend a carrot or a Raw meaty bone. (You will need to put a sheet down to stop her from making a mess).



There are classes in the UK that have several trainers and they take it in turn to instruct. Unfortunately they all have different ideas and they do give conflicting advice. Thankfully there are classes which are run by individual trainers. Vets usually have details of these trainers on their notice boards. You MUST continue to take her to training classes for socialisation and you must ignore the idiot who suggested a muzzle. Look for a class with an individual trainer.



You are obviously keen on training the most wonderful breed in the world. Take this a step further and investigate the ultimate training method, IT'S CALLED CLICKER TRAINING. I have info in my archives on this and you can email me for info...



Good luck from someone who adores GSD's.

Answer 2

Research a proper trainer that can give you private lessons- petsmart and such type training is a no-go! use a pinch collar on her. Used properly, these are a great tool and are not abusive or harmful in any way. Another good reason to find a trainer (not group classes, a trainer)- so they can show you how to properly use a collar. Look for someone with certifications and recommendations. She needs to be corrected for the pulling (a quick "pop" on the collar. NOT a pull on a pinch collar, but a pop) accompanied with the word "No" She is taking advantage of you and knows you can't control her. This needs to stop asap. She needs to know you are the boss. Do not take her off leash and practice the recall when you cannot reinforce it. Use a thin long line for this.



It does not sound like there is any need to muzzle her at all! Again, find a better, one-on-one trainer. Keep her on leash when she is greeting new people and give a correction with the leash (pop on the collar) when she nibbles or jumps. Have her hold a sit before letting her greet anyone.



Halti collars only mask the problem, if that (as you have already discovered). I would never use one of these again. When she pulls, pop on the pinch collar and a firm no, and even turn and start walking the other direction so she corrects herself. If she lets out a yip the first time it is because she is surprised it is not the normal feel when she hits the end of the leash.



Good luck!

Answer 3

Well, my 9 month old female GSD is extremely loyal and faithful to me. She is nice to the whole family that I live with - but she only listens to me (now.. used to be the boyfriend). Time wise, a LOT. They are very intelligent, and dominant dog - they will constantly (and I mean constantly) need reminding for good behavior until the age of about 1 year (or so I've been told.. not sure yet! :P). Then they will mellow out a bit. But the training differs from dog to dog - like humans. GSD's require a lot of room and exercise - they are working dogs. Apartment / condo life is not a favored environment for a german shepherd. I live on 3 acres, and I'm finding that to be almost too small for my own puppy (this includes 3 walks of 30 mins a day. Plus a 15 minute jog, along with 30 minute training session, and herding classes). She STILL gets bored on this land(classes held off property), even with everything that is mentally and physically challanging her. For walking.. I'm sorry, I can't answer that! =( I'm still working on my own.. heh! Good luck :)

Answer 4

Try to find a trainer from this list



http://www.apdt.co.uk/local_dog_trainers.asp



They should all be qualified



When a recall suddenly starts to be unreliable and this happens around the age of your dog it is time to swap the walks to unfamiliar areas for off lead exercise, as she will have less confidence in new areas, take some high value treats with you for rewarding good behaviour, hide behind trees etc, or run in the opposite direction, this is a phase and if you manage to get through this maintaining her recall it will pass



When people come to your home, tell them not to give the dog any attention at all, explain they must not look at her, speak to her, touch her, even negative attention is attention, if she jumps up they should fold their arms and turn their back to her, she gets no attention until she is calm, if you move her to another room she has received attention, if it all gets too much put her lead on and put her into a down, put a foot on the lead she will go down and then keep your foot there and she will stay there, she may put up a fight but you ignore this, you do NOT tug her down or anything you just put a little tension on the lead and she should go down, say nothing just keep your foot there, but only use this if you really cannot ignore her otherwise



The trainers may not be qualified anybody can run a class, look on the link above to see if you can find a trainer with qualifications, a trainer should be able to introduce a 'leave it' command to prevent her from going crazy around other dogs



finally socialisation is really important the more she experiences situations the less crazy she will act when she finds herself in this situation, she behaves well in the house because she has become familiar with it, you have to train her in every situation you want her to behave well in for example you have to train in the park, the streets, around shopping areas, around busy places, quiet places etc, it is good if you can take her to one of these areas daily to carry out some training if you only train at home and in classes you will have a dog who only responds to your commands at home and in classes



I hope you do find a good trainer as all of the problems you mentioned are common and very easy to solve



As Dorothy has already told you clicker training works really well and you may want to think about introducing whistle training for solid recalls too

Answer 5

I would practice training with her in areas that are going to offer distractions, such as parks. She is still a puppy, but if you can start training her with distractions now, things should get better in that area.



Go and buy a prong collar and have someone show you how to use it properly. I have read that this is the most effective way to leash train a dog, when used correctly. Halti's are pretty bad and have been known to cause injury.



Also, I hope you're aware that you can not just train a dog and be done with it. You have to work with them, all the time, for the rest of their lives. She's a puppy, so things are going to go a bit slower because she's obviously distracted all the time but it looks like you're doing a decent job of it yourself.

Answer 6

Ok, the short attention span and high energy is partly due to her age, you seem to be focused on correctly training your dog so if you are consistant with what you are asking of her these things will largely fade away over time.

to help retain her attention while you are out, you need to up your 'interesting' status. dont follow the same routes or walk in the same area every day. dont get stuck in the follower role, at the point where she glances at you, walk suddenly in a new direction calling 'come' once. dont hesitate and if she is slow to follow then pick up the pace into a jog for a few steps, when she rejoins you dont stop moving to praise her instead run with her while giving very excited verbal praise. practice this when she is not faced with major distractions so that she comes used to the idea that she cannot guarantee which direction you will be taking, but has to rely on you for the information. this will feed into better impulse control when she is then faced with more tempting distractions.

toys become boring if you throw them away all the time, use one 'special' toy and act like to you it is the most fantastic thing you have ever seen which will increase its status to her. play with it in front of her and run around with it, i know this sounds a little mental but ive been training for years and have worked with a LOT of GSDs! carry the toy in your pocket, letting her see it but only let her have it as reward for an obedience command. you wont need to do this for long and watch that you dont allow interest to turn into obsession, if she begins guarding it (growling or aggressive behaviour then 'lose interest' in the toy and begin playing with another. use in conjunction with teaching/reenforcing the 'leave' command so that you always retain control over anything she may pick up or investigate.

for pulling, haltis are pretty good ( although i use a slip lead myself) but i would recommend the first exercise of unexpected changes in direction this time using the 'heel' command and walking/jogging different speeds. it encourages her need to wait for your instructions

overenthusiastic greeting of visitors has to be handled a little carefully as mature GSDs can be a wary of strangers and so you want to teach a calm but friendly response to new people. Ask visitors to fold their arms and turn their backs on her if she gets a bit too pushy, turning back when she has backed off. allow her to figure out the only way she will get attention is by calmness. obviously if you have small children coming it might be best to put her on her lead so you retain greater physical control over her.

when she throws a hissy fit i would put my foot on the lead about a foot and a half from her neck, pulling her into a down position. this is never done harshly or angrily but must be calm and matter-of-fact. it is not a punishment, you are just limiting her choices. dont shout or verbally correct her, just be patient and wait for her to realise that no one is paying her any attention. when she fully settles remove your foot from the lead. i really want to emphasise that this should NEVER be done harshly or angrily.

Yay for you for working hard at this, your dog will continue to reward you for your efforts for years to come. Good luck and best wishes. GSDs rule :)

Answer 7

You know how you stopped the nibble behaviour by removing her from the room just for a minute.Use a similar thing when out walking.If she drags a quick sharp no, stop dead in your tracks and turn to face towards home.When she stops yapping and pulling and just sits, turn back around and start walking again.Do it every time she pulls or screams.When she realises the thing she wants most only happens if shes calm, she will start to behave.If she is pulling and screaming and then you start pulling her too and shouting above her voice to stop, especially if using her name.Its like encouraging her you are copying the thing shes doing so by joining in so she keeps it up thinking you are proud of her.



With the fetching make it a good game, tease her with the item first, get her in the mood to play with it, use phrases like get it go get it to excite her. Don't use her name because that's like calling her and wanting her so then she'll be torn between the two and get confused and confused isn't fun,its boring.Once she gets it then say good girl and use her name and ask her to come.When she does reward her, praise her, stroke her or a small biscuit.So she knows she did good.

When she knows the sharp no,to stop bad behaviour and knows from her walk to the park it means you turn towards home if shes naughty. When she decides to jump at people and nibble them simply shout the sharp no,(she knows the result of no it means party over home we go)then call her name and ask her to come.If its still all too exciting for her, with no talking because that's like her excitement yap put her on her lead make her sit facing the way home.if she still doesn't stop walk towards home.

They understand and react to short quick commands and consequences to unwanted behaviour.The don't react to shouting or talking constant as that's threatening or encouragement.They don't react to punishment as a scared dog can't think straight and it can't be naughty behaviour if they are not aware it is. It is an unwanted behaviour so correct it don't punnish it.They react to having fun and to a halt being put on fun and then their main consern is what they have to do to put the fun back.

Answer 8

She is 7 months old, and going through the rebellious 'teenager' stage, several of my Shepherds went through a period similar to this (although maybe not a severe). With time and patience, she will grow out of it. The most important things you can do right now is stick with the obedience classes and socialization.



Take her to a pet store, and every time she starts to freak out when she sees another dog, do not give in and go say hi. Immediately turn around and walk away. Repeat this several times, approach a dog, if she screams and freaks, turn around and walk away. Eventually she will catch on and be able to approach calmly.



If the Halti is not working out for you, try the Premier Easy Walk Harness http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/behavior/easywalk/productdescription

If the harness doesn't work, you may need to use a prong collar for a few months. As long as it is used correctly, the prong does not hurt and will not cause injury. My oldest Shepherd is very headstrong, and he wears a prong when we walk.

Answer 9

I too have a young femal german shepherd. I would reccomend getting some of Cesar Milan's dvd's and following them in order to remedy some of the behaviors. I have had a horrible time trying to get my dog to not pull while walking. I recently purchased a shock absorbing leash by EZ Dog. It's wonderful. You do not feel the dog pulling and it actually helps to stop the dog from pulling. There is a lot of great information online about these leashes. You are doing a good thing trying to socialize her while she is young. Before she goes to parks or in areas with other dogs, consider giving her a good long walk or some sort of exercise. This will wear her out and she will be less excited. Also, you could take a long a bag of training treats and try to redirect her focus by treat training when she seems to be most excited.

Answer 10

a different collar would help you control your dog better, make sure that the dog is calm before leaving the house or car. Do not let her off the lead until she is calm.

Answer 11

In any given situation, focus on what you do want your dog to do instead of on whatever he’s doing wrong. Learn how to train your dog https://tr.im/eh4rl



For example, suppose that on many evenings, your young dog gets busy looking for trouble just as you’re digesting your dinner. He grabs a boot from the mat by the front door and gallops through the house with it. You yell at him and take it away. He grabs its mate. You yell and take it away. He heads for the kitchen and starts checking out the counters in case something tasty’s been left behind. You chase him away. And on and on, until you’ve lost your temper and torn out clumps of hair you can ill afford to lose.

Answer 12

..find a gsd friendly trainer ,if you cant,. try asking your local polices dog section ,they may know of one.she sounds teenage & bored ,when she is older try agility .You need to exercise her brain as well as long walks.Try teaching her to track things .Try putting out 3 cups upside down with a treat in one then swapping the treat to a different one .I sympathise with the people thing ...my gsd likes to try & lick babies .....