GSDs and Vet visits - please help - Page 2

So your advice to this guy is to get rid of his dogs?  According to his post he's had 6 GSD & only 2 out of the 6 had an issue.  So based on the 2 out of 6, the advice is to get different dogs and he doesn't know what he's doing?  The question was how do you deal with THIS dog.  Now when anyway asks for help with an issue, is the answer going to be, nope, don't fix it, get a different dog?
 

 

 

I guess the main messages I am hearing are these:

1- Don't be ashamed to muzzle the dog at the vet, as some gsd's are just this forward/dominant;
2- Increase the level of socialization with men handling him -- feet, ears, etc.;
3- Figure out if anyone has been secretly pushing him around (he is rarely out of my sight, but he WAS in a kennel for two weeks this summer due to a family emergeny -- something might have happened there, perhaps?)
4- the working lines heritage alone does not imply he will be shake off male vets trying to examine him, so that's not the problem.

The ear infection WAS very bad -- came home for the kennel that way -- so I guess I have to hope that this will be a passing or exceptional thing.  When my old vet finally gets back from vacation, he may just go back to being fine as he was before (he does not like his two subs!).

Thanks for the help!

ONE MORE QUESTION: he is well trained in OB at this point, and pretty far along in TR, but I have done no protection.  Do you with experience in all three phases think I should postpone C training until I have this issue under control?  (My vet did ask -- from six feet away -- if he had been doing "police training."  Had I said yes, I think he would have turned tail right then.)

This is not the behaviour of working line german shepherds...plain and simply  stated  period...If I had ever had one act like that  .........well,,,,,,,   never  Acceptible nor Usual at all.......

If you do not believe me      email  Larry Filo......ask him.......he is number one working man in my books..Dog that acts like that is off my list...Ask Gene England.....he is very quick to tell you..
Would not waste my time.
Neither would Gene. 
If he has such great obedience ,,what would he do it a Judge tried to examine him for a title, or if a police captain was interviewing you for an appointment with his department for K9 prospect.????  Or what would this dog do if he was being examined for a theraphy dog,,or a Seeing Eye dog??????? can't touch his head......not how he should act. 

[deleted - double post]

"ONE MORE QUESTION: he is well trained in OB at this point, and pretty far along in TR, but I have done no protection. Do you with experience in all three phases think I should postpone C training until I have this issue under control? (My vet did ask -- from six feet away -- if he had been doing "police training." Had I said yes, I think he would have turned tail right then.)"

IMHO I do not think you should postpone C training.  C training is all about control.  Amazing how many people forget this.  I understand that people not in the sport don't get it and it may frighten them, but quality training in Phases A, B, and C only ADDS to the stability and reliability of the dog.  Note I said "quality" training.

If you are doing Schutzhund, you could honestly have answered "No" to the question about police training, because police training is very different from Schutzhund.

It bears repeating: quality Schutzhund training in all 3 phases ADDS to the stability and reliability of your dog in all situations.

 I have three dogs, two wear muzzles at the vet for exams about the head.  They are dogs, not people, and I will not take a chance of hurting a person.  My old girl allowed my former vet to handle her with no problem, but after he retired, we never found anyone who she trusted well enough.  My younger male GSD is a doll, and allows all exams, and then kisses the vet.  I think it is breeding, inherent temperament, more then anything else.

Find a female vet, it took awhile for me to learn but after 3 male vets and a couple of techs, my girl made it clear she was not going to allow a male in the small room, never was sure if it was protecting me or herself but she would pin them to the door in a second ,let a female in and she was alert but fine. So I found a female who love gsd, she handles the show club here, and is not afraid of them. I believe they since fear and small rooms are not the right way to handle a gsd, my  vet comes to get her from my car and she goes like a champ. I do have to admit that I found it amusing , that is what an intruder would walk into in my home.I would tell you what I always say trust your dog, a nicely trained dog will still not let someone touch them  they dont trust for what ever reason,muzzles are fine when in a situation that all are unsure of,but should not be necessary for you regular vet or find a new one.

Minor problem. 

Don't feed the morning of the next vet visit.  Bring 3-4 oz. of steak (or something you KNOW he loves) to the vet and have a tech pass the steak to the vet before he comes into the examining room.  When the vet comes in with the steak, act excited.  Have the vet hold his hand out with the delicious treat.  The dog will probably eat the steak and like the vet.

Make sure it's enough meat so your dog can't just gulp it down.  You want him chewing for a few seconds while the vet is petting him.  The vet should include head and ear petting at the end of this little routine.

Your bigger problem will then be that whenever he goes to the vet he will act pushy about getting his meat.

 

Thanks. This is very helpful.

I do suspect, however, that if something untoward were to happen at the vet's (or elsewhere) my legal liabiliity would be INCREASED if I were to do Schutzhund training right now. But I do not deny that I might actually gain some control.

He is a HIT OB dog, and he has absolutely no problem with dog judges. What he doesn't like is a male vet in a tiny examining room reaching for his head (he allowed his temperature taking rectally). He also doesn't like men (especially with fishing poles) in the woods or at the lake -- men who take him by surprise. He is actually a very sound dog in most ways. Just this morning he licked and played gently with a 9 yo boy he never met before.

Even with the two male vets, I did not myself actually see much aggression (I am not myself easily pushed around so I am not sensitive to it) -- but as both vets insisted he was challenging them, I wanted to take it seriously. Some apparently reactive folks on the pdb seem to think I was describing a wild session of barking and teeth baring, but it was nothing like that.  Sorry for not being clear.

I agree with some folks who say you would do better with a female vet.