advice needed re: rescue pup - Page 1

Hi, I am new to this forum. I have admired your abilities w/gsd. I have been a pet gsd owner for 25yrs. I currently own a soon to be 12yo black mostly american gsd.  Her dad was an active sherriff's dog.  She has high drive, she would still do a back flip if I let her to catch a ball!  She is incontinent but we rarely have an accident as I am home /her and I am in tuned to her needs.  She will still go balistic if she sees a prong thinking she is going to classes!  My husband and I lost her daughter to torsion a month ago.  He woke me up saying something is wrong w/Vida, I took one look at her and ran to the phone, w/in the hr she was in surgery but because of the location of the twist nothing could be done.  Although we were both devasted my husband who does not cry, cried like a baby.  He was not the same, Vida had always been his dog.  She was always up his ass, if he went out for the evening she would sit in the window and wait for him, if I gave her a command she would crate herself.  Now comes the problem.  I happened to be one the local shelter's website and discover a 7 month sable female available for adoption!  I called the trainer at the shelter (this woman is no dummy, she used to do ring sport w/her malonois and trained in Europe) she tells me this is your kind of dog!  (she knows me because I owned a boarding kennel and used to take care of her dogs) She is sweet, abit unsure of herself, she does not like men, she did awful at the vet's and jumped a 4ft wall to get away.  She was surrendered because her owner died and the husband did not want to deal w/her.   We went to see her,  she is only 40lbs, you could see every rib, very petite, definetly a girl. Due to confedentialy we were not able to see her reg. papers but she is more german built than american, except for her petite bones. She was very nervous but also friendly.  Well she velcroed herself to my husband!  We took her home!  Within hrs she settled right in.  If I get up in the middle of the night she charges, hackles up. I blow her off.  A few days ago I was outside w/her in my fenced yard and my carpenter had a question, he approached the fence and she went hackles up barking and growling.  I put her on a leash and we went out to meet him!  She did great and was able to relax and interact w/him.  Yesterday the pool man and his helper came over, I put her on a leash to go out and meet them.  When I came out the garage side door she went hackles up and charged the helper!  I have no doubt she would have bitten him if I had not quickly reacted.  I really want to nip this in the bud!  We have now restarted doggy boot camp, nothing is free and must be earned!  She has a higher ball drive than food drive!  Because my husband is a softy he is enrolled in basic ob starting 7/22.  What else should I be doing?  Sorry for the long prelude but I wanted to give you as much info as needed.  Thank you guys I just want harmony in my house again, I really want this dog to be stable and happy, she has already been thru alot in her short life!  Oh yeah, she did great at my vet's, although underweight he really like the way she was built.  He thought slightly dominant but fine temperent.  She even played w/him!  Why does she turn it on and off like that?

First congratulations on the new addition.  It sounds like you took on a livewire but you have some experience handling dogs so that's a good thing.

I think you're doing the best thing possible in letting your husband take her to OB classes.  How is she with other dogs? 

The OB classes will help build her confidence and it sounds like she is lacking confidence in herself.  It will also help her bond with your husband and it sounds like she needs to build up some trust in men.  Her having such high ball drive will help.  Take her out often and play ball and give her tons of praise and make it a GOOD time. 

She's also at a very weird stage of development.  It seems like I'm always going around and around with females from age 8-12 months of age.  They can be as big a pain in the butt as the males.  But at least she's young and still very trainable.

I wouldn't push men on her at this point.  Slowly introduce her to strange men but have them sit down in a chair in the yard or house first.  Let her approach them at her own speed and if she doesn't want to, don't push it.  Have people just ignore her and eventually her curiosity will get the best of her. 

Good luck and I'm sure you'll get tons of good advice from some other folks.

Many dogs who act as your pup is acting actually lack confidence and experience in the world. They show this type of behavior because they are uncomfortable. I do GSD rescue and training with many dogs. I see many dogs like this as well. The BEST way to fix this is to:

1) get enrolled, privately if you can, with an excellent trainer who will teach YOU to train your dog in obedience. For the moment, it should all be positive and fun training.

2) Try hard, for now, NOT to put the dog in situations where you must correct her. So what I mean is be prepared and when you know she is going to do something wrong, go the other way. If you have a good trainer, in a short time you will be working to minimize her reactions to things, but if not done correctly now, it can make things worse. I am NOT suggesting that you allow her to dictate what you do, but initially sometimes it is a little better to desensitize rather than confront, especially if you have no good bond as yet. Bonds are damaged when people try to do too much with discipline when they just get a dog or pup.

3) If she does behave badly around people, then do let her know with a stern voice that this is NOT allowed and take her elsewhere to her crate, room or outside or where ever you put her. In other words, do not let her be in charge, but try to minimize the conflicts for now until you get some help.

Dogs need confidence and structured environments. She needs obedience training that is positive and rewarding initially and that much, much later, when she knows a command, is corrective if she disobeys. She needs lots of socialization. So taking her with you when she is really hungry and walking her and giving a treat when she is quiet and non-reactive can also help teach her the world is not so scary a place. Finally, she needs lots and lots of exercise. I am not a fan of Ceasar Milan, but he is right about one thing :

Dogs need:

1) EXERCISE - and not just a walk around the block

2) OBEDIENCE and

3) LOVE.

Note the order of the items above....he is absolutely correct on this score. If you need more help feel free to email me. Just remember, it is important that you get some competent assistance because despite all our good wishes and advice, we are not seeing the dog or you or the interactions between you.  For now,  set the limits, and make situations tolerable so she gains confidence and I bet she will do fine.

Do watch her around your old dog. I would not have suggested you bring a young dog into a house with an older dog as you have now and that can prove to be an issue as well. The old dog deserves to live out its life without a lot of stress being caused by a young dog seeking to dominate.....

hodie you took the words out of my mouth about Milan.  I don't agree with much of what he says or does but I do like the way he works with rescued dogs that have been traumatized.