German Shepherd dog

I am wondering if anyone has any insights for me on this one?

Our three dogs all sleep in our bedroom on their own beds.  Two neutered (male, female) and an intact pup (11 months).   During the last few nights when there was human adult activity going on in the bed, the pup has expressed too much interest, so I crated him (still in the bedroom).  Once crated, this last time, he growled and kept it up until, distracted and annoyed, I opened the crate door and reprimanded him verbally.  He growled again, this time (I assume) at me.  I shoved him back in the crate forcefully (I am a strong male well over 200 lbs, but naked in the dark was no time to fight it out with him), closed it, scolded him, and he quieted down.

The last time he was kenneled, the kennel woman (experienced with shepherds) claimed he tried quite forcefully to mate her.  My wife (a very new marriage, by the way) has found him far too interested in her recently, as well.

What was going on?  Should I be worried?  Should I do anything about this?

I would hate to banish him from the bedroom at night, but he has been acting up as a pattern.

He is a very good dog and I am planning to compete with him, but I will neuter him and give all that up if this is the sign of something dangerous ahead, especially for my small and overly gentle wife.

I have had intact males live to the age of 13 in my home under these conditions but never had a dog with such a clear interest in sexual activity before.  Then again, my ex-wife could have beaten them up with one hand tied behind her back (but that is truly another story).

The dog would leave the bedroom,  at least till ya'lls done. 

Step up on his obed.  or start some obed.  if you haven't already.  his behavior is unacceptable in my book,  you are alpha   he needs to remember it

I guess I have been naive about this.  I will have to move his bed and crate elsewhere at night.    I was just lucky with two intact males in my past who each lived to be nearly 13 and neither ever showed anything like this kind of interest.

not with a ten foot pole...............lol

Maybe he thinks someone is getting hurt?!

Oh, my. I'm not going to lie, this one made me giggle a bit.

Boot the crate out of your bedroom and get that boy some obedience training before he decides he's the dominant male in your home.

Let me try to sum up this expert advice, and correct me if I am misreading it:

1) Don't panic and neuter him;

2) Try to figure out if he thinks my noisy wife is being hurt by me;

3) Move his crate out of the bedroom for at least awhile;

4) Do more OB or at least make sure he knows I'm alpha.

Do I have this right?  Thanks so much for all the help!

lmao John...

Yes MVF, you got it right!

Okay, this is no laughing matter. I clearly recall a similar situation I read about in a book on dog training. In this case, it was a small dog, but he, too, was clearly taking too much interest in the sexual activity between his owners.

The trainer told the owner that the dog was sexually interested in his wife, and jealous of him, the husband, and if he didn't follow the trianer's advice, the dog was liable to attack him one day.

He told the man to boot the dog out of the bedroom, and for both the husband and wife to take charge of the dog's obedience training so the dog would clearly know that they were both alpha members of the pack.

The owner thought the trainer was being ridiculous, and blew him off.

A short while later, the dog DID attack him, and did some serious damage to his face and hands, in spite of being a little powder-puff bichon frise or similar breed. The owner had him euthanized.

Like I said, no laughing matter. Get that horny youngster out of the bedroom NOW!!

Blitz leaves the room and comes back later. My other GSD did the same thing, Both were neutered.

I decided to find my source here, as this is the only book I've ever read that deals with this oddball topic: Lew Burke's Dog Training. The author recounts the above incident, which was with a Lhasa Apso, and also a second, much more serious incident with a GSD.  (Incidentally, I had my facts wrong. The Lhasa Apso was successfully rehabilitated, even though he'd  bitten both his owners badly enough that they needed stiches. He was also neutered to reduce his interest in sex.)

Lew says it is not unusual for dogs to take a sexual interest in their humans, as they are, after all, part of our 'pack'.  In the case of the GSD, Lew told the owner the dog had a homosexual interest in her husband, and, one day, he was going to try mounting the husband. When pushed away, he would attack.

The woman told Lew she thought he was a screwball, and went to another trainer, who agreed with her.  Seven months later, Lew got a call from the woman. The dog had done exactly as predicted, and when his advances were rebuffed, he attacked and ripped her husband up for 140 stitches!  (I assume they had him euthanized after this, but Lew doesn't say.)

Lew also says the Lhasa Apso got sexual pleasure from biting people, and when reprimanded by being hit with a switch or a slingshot, would actually fly into an unstoppable rage, and continue to bite. Lew solved the problem by holding a metal bite block, and getting the dog to bite on the metal. At first it would do this until its mouth was actually bleeding. Eventually, it realized that biting wasn't pleasurable any more, and stopped.

Sounds like one screwball dog! And I'm leery of Lew's conclusions about dogs getting sexual pleasure from biting. Anybody ever heard this before?

Why the need to have any Dogs in the Bedroom at all, That is a private place in my way of thinking, Canines excluded

there is limits, and the Bedroom is an Off one for me

Steve

Bad, bad Captain!

You owe me a new monitor now...

IMO this has to do with dominance. He's at the age where he's trying to find his position in the pack and consideres the new wife an item of interest. He's not thinking you're hurting her, dogs don't think in that direction. He's fighting you for ownership of her. My guess is that she has not yet become involved in making him respect her, i.e., in doing any sort of obedience training with him. That's where I would start.

Simple obedience work such as PLATZ while doing the dishes, for no reason other than that she can give the command and he is expected to obey. She must then also be willing to correct him if he breaks, and she must be the one to offer the release word and the reward. Another good one is recall training on a long line. HIER - and if he doesn't come, yank his line. And, if he gets unruly while you two are getting it on, she should be the one putting him out of the room for the duration.

IOW, your wife needs to let the pup know that she's bigger, better, and more important in the family than he will ever be. The pup has to learn that she is to be obeyed and, especially, respected.

Define "sexual interest in a human".

Dogs sniff crotches, that's just a fact of life. And some dogs hump legs or any other body part they can grab. That isn't sexual interes. That's dominance.

And even if it were sexual interest, why neuter the dog for that reason? Teach him that it's not acceptable behaviour. Neutering isn't very likely to stop it, anyway. We've all seen neutered dogs hump all manner of things. It's sex if he does it with a bitch. It's mostly dominance if he does it with (to?) another male or a human. In both cases he'll likely get, or should get, a very strong correction but IMO neutering is TOO strong a correction.

And no, I'm not opposed to s/n. My dogs are neutered - and the 14 year old still tries to snag me every now and then. Definitely not sexual.

Your Wife must get involved in the training of this dog!

Yeah, what he said, which is what I said. Have her work the little hoodlum. Put a prong collar on him and have her walk him. If he doesn't comply, pop him. This won't take long and it won't be very hard. But really, JUST DO IT. Because when he's 2 years old and a big boy and she didn't bother to control him when she still could, he'll be on his way to beyond redemption. He'll cause grief in your mariage and may wind up at the pound. Work it now while all of you have the opportunity to teach this little dog some manners.

How do you respond to this thread with a straight face??? lol  But I can see this being funny to the rest of us but not to poor Bucko.  IMO the simple solution is to put em in the crate BUT this isn't gonna fix the underlying reason he's doing this so yes it's important the dog gets the obedience and yes it's VERY important your wife puts him in his place so they have a mutual respect and understanding that he lives in HER house and SHE is the boss calling the shots.

I have 2 males and 1 female, all live in the house.  NONE climb up on my furniture, none sleep in my bed, never have never will.  I love them all dearly, would give a kidney for them BUT they are dogs and should have their "space" as we humans do.  My older male will come lay in the bedroom at night, on the floor, next to the bed or near the door.  Curiosity has made him lift his head or come to check out what's going on but the moment I give him his command to go back to his place and lay down he knows there's nothing going on that he should concern himself with.

It's pretty much like anything else you train a dog to understand the rules of the house.  If something is unacceptable to you like begging for food at the table, jumping on guests, climbing on furniture ect. you must let him know by implementing the obedience. 

If you don't want to crate him at night and prefer to give him run of the house, why not teach him that his place at night is to sleep outside your bedroom door or another location you prefer?  My younger male prefers to sleep on the hardwood floor right by the front door and he knows at night when I start up the stairs it's time for bed and he goes to his spot.  Try working on the obedience and I think you'll see a difference not to mention be much more comfortable in the bedroom.