my 5 months old dog question regarding behavior & thinking protection - Page 1

hi all,

    thank you for all your great suggestions.

after taking outside and lots of places and even close to her puppy class my dog looks more confident than before.

she likes to go out and also car ride. she doesn't scare with people or kids or shopping carts. she does fine these days.

she even likes to go to class and looks around there and eats treats fine and does basic commands. but she tries to go forward and licks few times with other dogs in the class and sometimes barks and never played with them until now.

these days if she saws small dog she barks at them and if she saws big she just looks and stares at them.

she will finish her puppy class next week that's the last one left.

what should i do to her inorder to socialize with puppies or dogs. is she going to be fine when she grows or take some more classes?

but in the house she is very very hyper and understands commands that i teach and does really fast.

can she be protective dog or can i train some training to be protective like very basic? if so if anyone can point me the right informations like books or dvds i'll be more than happy to do so.

she looks very very alert at home and in the parks as well. she loves to run in the grass in the park. but i'vn't taken to dog parks close to her yet.

any suggestions for my concerns would really appreciate.

thanks much.

I stay away from dog parks  you main concern now is confidence with you and get her attention on you and get her looking at you and her happy wagging tail   .....

Get her to find you ,,,hide from her in park  , keeping her on a 30 foot long line and play lots of games with her and get her to watch you and come close to your tummy to get her treat   get her every being on you    she should come to you and follow you and everything u do should be high and happy....keep puppy excited and finish the class......\Id go on to the next class and see how progresses    that is good exposure to other animals that are good animals    Park animals could have kennel cought and disease.....dogs in a paid class probably have good owers who care.....

Keep the tugging and chassing a ball on a string    .....keep your commands brief and strong, but dont worry about protection ...you have a long way to go....does she alert on stangers at your gate or out the window at home?/  

Let her eat out of your hands on floor  and outside when she is really hungry......put a cup of dog food  in the grass in a line and let her hunt for it and eat it.....gets her use to using her nose......praise her greatly when finished    and praise her loudly for all good she does...if she doesnt do what you ask  do not threat or praise.....

sounds like her confidence is building....take her to regular parks  walk on merry go rounds,,,,rough surface,,,,take her to yur work on day off and let people talk to her     take her anywhere where cows or goats or birds are    see what she does....dont force her   just walk a little ways away and never at anything  ,,,always to the side.....never face on to any loud noise   just go sideways around and near things till you  see how she reacts...then get closer if it does not scare her....she should be curious about all new things....let her investigate......but dont insist or push   praise her and tell her    Thats good"    and tell her to talk to you    telll her lots  of things   let her see pleasure in your voice,,,,let her know how happy you  are with her every good move....this is communication with your pup and helps her know    shes okay and doing  good   I would just work more on that and the playing with tugs , balls and fun things....and  attention on you.....

Kool,
Sounds like your dog is doing much better. Keep it up. Classes are great for socializing. Yello gives some great tips. I don't like dog parks for a number of reasons but you do need to find situations that you can socialize her at this young age to other dogs. If they are not around other dogs for a long period of time you can find she is a monster when you come across another dog one day.  I let too much time go by with one of mine and now have to painfully deal with it in little steps.

As far as protection goes agree with Yello, it's way way to early for that. I am real old school on that and believe a dog should be fairly mature before protection work starts. The dog needs to take it seriously. Many will disagree with this but this is what I have found to be the ideal way to deal with straight protection. You can continue to build her confidence though and this will go along way in protection work in the future.  Set up many different scenerios to teach her that she can over come them all. She always wins.  Keep your expectations realistic and don't demand more of her then she can give. Love her for who she is, not what you want her to be.  This is a big piece in having a good relationship with her. This is not to say you shouldn't  take her to the highest level she can reach, she will always be happier working and learning, just remember its for her, not you.  I didn't mean to lecture you Kool, just some stuff that might help IMO.

thanks yellow, olskoolgsds for all your great suggestions.

that's fine i'll wait until she is fully mature until next year or so. then i'll see what i can do regarding protection.

these days she follows me in the park and i just let her be in the park and i go different direction then she follows me right away. i usually do in the grass area where there are no dogs close by but there will be some in distant. she does fine.

she barks in the house very often when she hears like chain noise or some close by strangers. but most of the time she doesn't bark.

even if she is sleeping near my front door she wakes up right away if she hears any sound and looks at the door.

also, in the class there were dobie, lab they were very friendly and playful but mine looks watchful comparing to them, i don't mean to say good about her. but mine looks more watchful stays in one spot sometimes and watches very carefully.

i'm training her to focus more & little bit of heeling but not much.

she is doing teething right now......

any other suggestions would be great to hear.

thanks