5 Mth Old German Shepherd Problems - Help Needed!

[s.CASEY]

Thank you all for your replies.... Much appriciated!

There's a few posts to respond to...

I know I need to relax and stop getting frustrated with her.. We've got a G'Retreiver & a Lab at my parents place, both got when puppies and were NOTHING like our G'Shep. My mum also had G'Shep's, Staffies & Dobermens growing up and none of them were as crazy as our girl!

The only dog I know that is as crazy as ours is my partners brothers Pug!

She is an outside dog, but is allowed inside when we're home. She has her own corner in the lounge and she knows thats where she is to lay (thats of course when she wants to stay there!)

Food wise, we feed her twice a day (sometimes three) and only dry, she's VERY picky with food (rarely eats "human" food, we've tried mixing mince, rice, veg etc with her food but she eats only the dry food and leaves the rest.

She's got lots of squeaky toys, ropes, bones etc and I do give her a plastic bottle, keeps her entertained for ages..... until she destroys it!

As for jumping up, Ive been turning away (but she continues making me go around in circles to move away and then getting very dizzy!! LOL)

My partner and I have shifts that differ every week, but we do try to spend as much time with her as possible. There isnt much of a routine happening cause of this.

When we take her for walks, she like to 'pull' on the lead, walks all over the place and like to go up to other walking in the street .. We

re trying to get her to walk on the left hand side of us and be calm.

Visitors, if she's inside and she hears the door, she's up straight away, ear stick up and freezes. Listens for a sec then runs to the door and barks. Once people are let in she does jump up on them. We usually have to hold her til she kinda calms down.

I know she's a puppy, I dont expect her to be an angel either. It's just frustrating when she's perfect one day, and the next shes crazy. We will get there eventually!!

Again thank you all for replying and for the helpful hints. MUCH APPRICIATED :D

[persephone]

Hi.. I really think taking a deep breath and putting a hand in your pocket to pay for a trainer would be very helpful to your household

A trainer who would come to your home and work with you & your pup ...who could see/assess exactly what's happening , and give you a plan , then support you, may just be the perfect Christmas present ,and get things on track .

Cosmolo, Erny , Nekhbet , and I think, Kelpie-i are D O L members who are professionals in & around Melbourne , and one of these would be sure to be able to help.

Edited December 11, 2011 by persephone

[Pockets]

Its good that you understand she is a puppy, she sounds like a very happy excitable dog with high drives, although you find it frustrating, it isn't, you can use her enthusiasm to your advantage to the point where she is getting what she wants (time with you) and you are getting what you want (a well behaved pup - apart from some naughty puppy happenings).

With the door scenario, simple solution is to place the dog on lead, take treats with you to the door and reward her to calm behaviour. If she becomes over excited, a firm "NO" and leave the room and only come back in when she is calm and reward with a treat. She doesn't need to do anything special like sit or drop, just reward her calm behaviour. Keep her on lead until she grows up. She will eventually learn that when people come to the door, its a good things and she is rewarded for being a nice calm dog, than a dog who does acts like a looney.

Also you must also explain to people coming in NOT to make a fuss of her and also ignore her.

If she is driving you nuts with jumping up and turning around does not work, you could always implement the use of a spray bottle, when she goes to jump a quick squirt accompanied by a short sharp "NO" will let her know that the behaviour is unacceptable, when she exhibits the behaviour you want you can use the word "Yes" or "Good" and follow with a treat or a nice pat.

When you come home, do not go straight out to her, odds are she is crying or jumping at the door or barking etc, she is excited to see you, go about your stuff around the house wait a while maybe 15 minutes and then when she is off in the yard doing something or laying down calmly, go out and spend time with her.

Routines are good to have in some aspects, but I also think routine in puppies can lead to undesirable behaviours if the routine is not met, so I think its best to change it up as much as possible, so the pup/adult dog does not expect things at certain times, as we all know sometimes things don't always go to plan.

Having a spot that is hers in the loungeroom is great, but remember dogs are "Pack" animals and want to be as close to their family as possible, does she have a bed or mat? is it possible for you to put this mat at the foot of the couch when you are sitting there, so she is close to you? again using a simple command as "Bed" and then giving her something to chew on will encourage her to remain on there. Eventually she will learn that the mat is her "Bed" and then you can move it anywhere in the house. Imagine if you went to someone's house or in your own house for example and someone told you where to sit on the other side of the room, you wouldn't feel very loved or a part of the family now would you

Pulling on the lead

As a puppy everything is exciting to her and outside adventures are the most fun, as it accompanies lots of new sites, smells and interactions. I would not restrict her to walking only by your left side in the "Heel" position, what you want to teach is for her to walk on a loose lead. to teach this, again you will need some of her favourite treats, you start of on your walk, most people make the mistake of correcting only when the dog has made a mistake or is already doing the undesirable behaviour, this is wrong, you want to avoid the dog making the mistake in the first place. When out walking and she is walking nicely again use words like "Good" or "Yes" and reward with a treat, if she is about to reach the end of the lead, a quick "No" and walk backwards, when she follows you back, start to walk forward again and reward her good behaviour when she is again walking on a loose lead. You may not get very far down the road BUT she is still getting exercise and you are giving her mental stimulation at the same time

It is important with any training, that with a pup you keep them short and sweet, always finish on a good note, if you find you are getting frustrated, quickly finish with a positive note and stop the training. The more frustrated you get the more frustrated and confused the puppy becomes and the training goes no where.

Play and interaction is the most important aspect to a puppy, so go outside, get on the ground with her, throw balls and YOU chase them, play a bit of tug of war, mistake people make is they give the puppies lots of toys, but the puppies don't know how to play with them and just destroy them and pull the stuffing out etc and people think that by having the puppy inside with them, that's spending time with them, it is not, you need to interact with the puppy, have fun with them, play some games inside, do some short trick training.

Enjoy your puppy and have fun

[Red Fox]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum, have had a browse through and there is great information out there! But I have a heap of question so I thought it'd be best to start a topic and hopefully have all the answers I need in one place!

My partner and I have a 5 month old German Shepherd pup. We've had her since she was 9wks old.

We havnt taken her to school, since we were able to teach her to SIT, STAY, WAIT..... But over the last 6-8 weeks she has gone backwards and I'm really struggling with her at the moment!!!!!!

I know she is a puppy still BUT she used to listen and be a good dog but now

(and she will be taken to obedience school in January, but we need help now!! Esp with having our family over the christmas break)

She has turned into the biggest sh*t head ever! When we go out the back to see/play with her all she wants to do is jump up on you, she wont listen and is just an absolute TURD!!

We also have a cat, she like to jump up where he sits and bark at him, but as soon as his on the ground with her he chases her and goes to hit her, she thinks his plays but arghhhh we dont know how to get her to leave him alone.. AND it only happens when we are in the yard (we know cause we've watched numerous times from inside and she walks near him then doesnt want anthing to with him)

Crate train your dog, when she's out of the crate keep her on leash. If she has a bit of prey drive she is going to chase the cat. Manage it.

She has LOTS of toys, but still eats her poo, chews her bed up & we cant trust her with the clothes on the line either!

We've just got a pool and i'm afraid she's going to try and attack the filter and chew it to bits when we;re not there!!

Dog run, or fence off a section of the yard. Add her toys / bones / sand-pit / pool, whatever you need to keep her busy.

Puppies chew. Puppies pull washing off the line. It's normal. Again - manage it.

Ok, so basically my problems are

- She's not listening anymore!!!

- She's jumping up on us EVERYTIME WE GO OUTSIDE

- Chewing/Eating EVERYTHING

Puppies listen about as well as toddlers ;) Time and patience

With the jumping you need to teach her a default behaviour. Sitting or all four feet on the ground. Reward the behaviour you want and ignore and/or punish/correct that which you don't want. 'Punishment' can be as simple as withdrawing a treat or attention, it doesn't need to be physical. And be consistant.

When visitors come crate her and ask that they follow you routine. If they can't she stays in her crate.

The chewing is a management issue. Your problem, not the dogs. If you don't want he to chew it don't allow her access to it.

- Wont sit when told (needs to be told numerous times)

- Wont stay on her bed (needs to be told numerous times)

That's your problem right there ;) Command - compliance - reward OR command - non-compliance - correction - compliance - reward. NOT command - command - command - compliance.

A puppy cannot focus for long periods of time and needs to be frequetly rewarded. So you tell her to go to her bed, she goes, you reward. She stays on her bed for 3 seconds, you reward. She gets off, you put her back and reward. You can't send her there and expect her to understand she has to stay there indefinitely at that age.