wyvernblade

Well I am experimenting with that question right now with my new puppy. The last, say 4 dogs we've had I've done all the 'right' things with them. We went to puppy classes at the local vets, we started obedience at the local club with the puppies after puppy class where they had 'off leash' play sessions and I took them to off lead parks to 'play'. EVERY single dog turned out dog aggressive!! This new puppy is not going to see another dog until over 6 months of age, and will never be playing off lead with any dog, not even my own. As far as I am concerned now and it makes perfect sense, as in a natural situation it is NOT NORMAL for dogs to be 'best friends' with every other dog they meet, The dog has to learn FIRST and FOREMOST that I am their world, their leader, their protector AND their playmate. I want my dog to see other dogs as complete non entities, not play things, not scary, and not targets!! I'll let you know if it works this time!

Oh I KNOW my timing is off! Half the time the blighters grab it when I don't mean them too, so I'm trying to work on being quicker, the GSD is also slowly getting over that whole 'circle of control' thing but is definetly not as hesitant about snapping near me as he used to be (And I have the scars to prove it!) And yes the pup is 9 weeks old, so I'm concentrating on just getting him happy chasing his toy. Any tips would be greatly appreciated tho as I am new at this!

Oh and yessss, there is lots of dizziness, after a few spins, I have headspins and have to stop for a second! Not so bad with the GSD as I am stadning up, worse with the pup as you have to lean over to be at his height!!

Well with the GSD I am holding my arm out as far as possible from my body, but he will only lunge a few times before sitting and waiting so I take the ball closer to him to encourage him to keep chasing it, which is when he jumps or snaps at me in passing! With the puppy, he seems to tire of chasing the toy no matter how many 'captures' I let him have and decides that my hands or my legs or my shoes are the better option!

Yep, seems we are all suffering from this new training method then!! The GSD gets so excited now that if he doesn't get his ball quick enough he twists in midair leap for the ball and 'accidentally' nips me on the way past! I'm pleased I am making him so frustrated, and yet the pain..........! And methinks the Dobe is going to be even worse when he's older.............. There should be warning labels attached, i'e " Do not try to train in Drive if pregnant, unfit, drunk,or you have a special fondness for your skin on most parts of your body' ;)

I feel like I have been put through a wringer, dragged around 100kms of bush by my hair, and pumelled and battered. I look like I'm a WWII survivor who gallantly threw herself onto every barbed wire fence we came across and allowed her comrades to climb her to safety. I have bruises where no person would ever normally get one, and my family now thinks my husband is bashing me. Putting on clothes at the moment is painful, however I have been warned that if I turn up at work naked, I shall be in big trouble, not to mention being arrested on sight for causing malicious self harm. And the reason? One large male 12 month old German Shepherd, and one small cute and deceivingly innocent looking 9 week old Dobermann puppy. Apparently every time I bring out a ball (or in the case of the puppy, a sock with a ball in it, which he has decided are the best things ever!) it is an instant excuse to start bashing the human to death in order to get to them! I have scrapes down my side from a German Shepherds paws (Who knew they could jump THAT high!) I have bruises all down my legs from a German Shepherd and a Dobermann puppy using me as a human spring board to get closer to their toy, and I have massive, oddly enough, teeth shaped bruises up and down my leg as the Shepherd noticed that if he grabbed my leg, I yelped and lost the ball! Unfortunately for me I know have to work through the ' Yes I have a large 12 month old male German Shepherd attached to my leg, but I'm not reacting so he can learn that's not how he gets the ball!' I actually bled today from bite marks, but man has that dog got drive in him! And boy are his sits and drops getting quicker and quicker. The innocuosly innocent looking Dobermann puppy who is actually a razor blade covered in fur, thinks that his teeth should ALWAYS meet in the middle, no matter what he's biting. I'm surprised I can even still type as he will sneak in the odd "oops I THOUGHT that was my sock and ball, but gosh, it acually appears to be your hand, but seeing as I already have it, I'll just try and wrench in backwards with me so I can chew it somemore!" *sigh* At times I find myself thinking longingly about good old food training, who cares if they only came back to you once out of every three times? At least I still had fingers back then! Who cares that they sat when you told them to drop and then wandered off halfway through a test with you waving a piece of dried liver intincingly at them while they raped the dog doing the perfect down stay next to them?! At least I could still feel my legs! So at the end of all this suffering and pain and bleeding I'll have the perfect dog partner? Well let me explain this way, they now don't care about any of the rest of the family, they get so excited when they see me coming that I actually feel awe, they are like little furry globs of super glue that gaze at me adoringly as if I actually invented, manufactured AND distributed those amazing ball things, and last but not least, yes I'ma a masochist, but I'm actually having fun! Thanks K9 Force!!

I think she'd need to understand the reason behind the agression first,. If the dog is fear aggressive and makes an outburst at another dog out of fright, then what she's doing would only make the situation worse. Also when dogs are in that 'mode' they are in high drive and nothing we say or do gets through to them. I have a fear aggressive GSD and if he has a go at another dog while out, I walk him off somewhere until he calms down and I try and work him at a distance he's happy with and can focus on me. I don't care if my dogs don't get along with other dogs, I didn't get dogs because I wanted them to be everybody's best friend, I wanted them to be mine! LOL And if they are scared it's like me being scared of spiders, and someone putting me in a room full of them and then hitting me every time I reacted. Wouldn't fix my problem....................

Are they inside or out when this is happening? If they are outside I would go inside and ignore them until they calm down, and then when you do 'speak' to them, don't make a big fuss. Alot of people come home and are excited about seeing their dogs. high pitched voice, lots of pats etc, and so the dogs go psycho cuz they know what's coming! We have 4 dogs and when I come home , I go straight inside and ignore them for 5 minutes or so, until they all quiet, then I go outisde and ask them to sit before they get a pat. Easier for me tho, as they are all in seperate runs! And I don't make a big fuss of them when I come home, I make a big fuss of them when I'm training them. Hope that makes sense?! LOL Good luck with them!

Ok that has just made me think of another question!! How does the puppy know that it's not being 'punished' by being put in it's crate or out in the yard? He acts like his throats been cut when you put him in either and I don't want him thinking he's being punished for something?!

Thanks!!

Ok I'll come along for a look then! Does it cost anything? Do you have to be a member of something?!

Ok, just so I can get this right in my head................ If you're not playing with puppy, or out somewhere with puppy, it's either in the crate or in it's yard?

Ok I have a few more questions Firtsly during your puppies 'bonding' time when he's getting to know you, and you are the best thing on earth to him etc etc, do you leave the tv or a radio on for him at home? I'm asking as I have observed that if the tv is on in the home, pup is quite happy to stay by the fire and sleep, but if it's not on, he has to be with you no matter what room you are in. So I have decided to leave tv off. Is this what you would do? Also do you tie a pup up to start building drive, or do you just play with them in yard or in home? and if you don't tie them up do you still have a long lead on them when you are playing with them? The lead I am using on the shepherd is a lunge line for horses, but think it may be a bit too big and bulky to put on a little puppy? Ok question time over...............for now!

Yep doing that!! As long as that's ok, then that's no problem. Now I am having a problem with all the people that keep saying "Ohhhhh look at the gorgeous little Dachshund............"

I'm starting with our shepherd trying to get his drive higher. I know he has it but he's got that whole 'circle of control' thing happening so will have to overcome that, but will be happy to let everyone know how we go! As for the new kid on the block, my new Doberman puppy is showing great drive (I have teeth marks all over the back of both hands!!) and he has sorted out the TOT almost straight away, so I'm very happy with him. He's already responding to my voice only and ignoring everyone else, not bad for an 8 week old pup that didn't know me from a bar of soap (What is with these bizarre sayings??) And has only been home for a few days!! Wanted to ask K9, I have been taking pup with me everywhere, he's been in at work with me every day, to the local primary school everyday, down to the shops etc, I have been carrying him as I didn't want him to get overwhelmed, especially at the primary school (Those kids scare ME) :D But you know how you said that the pup should view YOU as the most exciting thing that happens in his day, how does that work in when he's obviously excited about being in all these different places and you only want me to play with the ball with him at home? I know these little guys are like sponges at this age so want to be taking him everywhere and getting him used to stuff?

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly IS Lure Coursing????!!! And what do the dogs have to do? :D

My Condolences Lablover, I am very sorry to hear about your mum *Big hugs* ;)

I don't know how you guys have had the energy to post on here each night over the last 3 days!! I've been coming home exhausted and this is the first time I've checked in! LOL I was the one there on Friday with the 'fluffy' shepherd. I was there for the last two days as well, and have to say how incredibly impressed I was with Lablovers dogs, and the SAR dogs and with STEVE!!! What a fantastic 3 day worskhop, I am going to wake up feeling dissapointed tomorrow that I'm not travelling back there again. We should have introduced ourselves at the start with our AKA Doler names ;) Nice to meet you all, and Scope I too would love a copy of the tape from Friday just let us know when you have it and I'll send you an address. *wanders outside to start %$^##ing off dog with ropey ball toy*

Would you start this program with a puppy? And would you expect a puppy to stay sitting? Or would you just start with being happy if the puppy looked at you and then let it eat?

Fantastic! Thanks!

Wasn't sure if you were allowed to bring dogs or not!! He actually has a toy Panda that he obssess over so will bring him and the panda. :D

Don't think it was my dog you were thinking about...........our GSD is my hubby's dog and is the one that has had a fear aggression problem with other dogs. We have started working him in basic drive tho and he's brilliant! If his toy or ball is present he doesn't know anything else exists, he will chase his ball all day if you wanted to have dead arms! But we're still having problems with him jumping all the time and also he grabs your hands, i.e we make him sit and then he gets rewarded, either patted, or we throw the ball, but before he takes off he snatches at your hand, he has drawn blood on me from doing it! Have no idea what that's all about! So am looking forward to learning more about training in drive and also asking 5 million questions! :D

That's brilliant! Well done! I can't wait for Steve's workshop here in Vic at the end of the month. Hope I can get results like that out of our hyper GSD!!

When I was looking for a breeder, I only looked at dogs that were shutzhund titled at least to level II. I would love to do it with my pup when he's old enough, as far as I'm aware it's basically the highest level of obedience you can do. I'm in Melbourne and would be interested to know if anyone knows of any Melbourne sportsdog clubs?

And thanks Erny! I'll stay in touch don't you worry!