RE: Kraftwerk Kennels - Page 1

I must agree with the previous post re: Kraftwerk Kennels. I bought a Kraftwerk puppy, who is now 16 months old. Though he is a beautiful dog, he has been a nightmare to train. I am experienced with training Shepherds, and my husband was a K9 cop, but our dog remains a behavioral problem. Unfortunately I am very attached to the dog, and cannot consider giving him away, but am too afraid to get another dog for fear he will ruin the behavior of the second dog. I have taken him to a one-on-one trainer, who used to train military dogs, and he said he had never seen such a nervous dog in his life. Any suggestions would be sincerely appreciated to help me calm this dog. My friends tell me he will not mature until he is 3 yrs old, but I don't know if I can take much more.

Please note that I realize I cannot hold Kraftwerk's responsible for every dog's behavior, but at least they could return my phone calls or emails.
Sad in Sarver

His behaviors are growling at me when I triy to take things away from him that he should not have. I have worked on placing my hands in his mouth, rubbing his gums and stroking his tongue, and placing my hands in his food bowl while he was eating since he was a puppy, but he growls and snaps at me if I take things away from him. Of course, I then have to really discipline him and I put him in his kennel after he has done this.

He also jumps up on us continuously, even though we have tried to stop him from doing this. He's too big and hurts us, or even knocks us down when he does this.

Also, when a neighbor approaches us when I have him outside, I cannot maintain my hold on his leash because he pulls with so much might, I feel my hand is being torn off. I have him on a multi-pronged correction collar, but that doesn't always help. I've tried the gentle leader, but he is so smart, he just pulls the gentle leader off of his nose. I used to have a halter type leash, but it did not help, and worse yet, he chewed the buckles off of it.

He is destroying his kennel. He eats the bottom liner, and once when I was not at home, he pulled the front side of the kennel inward and escaped the kennel, and when my husband opened the door to get into the house, Jake plowed my husband down, and ran away. He usually comes back after 10 or 15 minutes of roaming the neighborhood and terrorizing the neighbors, by barking at them until he foams at the mouth. He will only come to me if I drive around the neighborhood and 'invite' him into my car. Fortunately he has not bitten anyone but I'm terrified that he is going to bite someone someday if I can't get him under control.

If have a call into the vet to spay him. My husband did not want to spay him because he thought that Jake was so anxious that spaying might exacerbate the problem. But the last trainer I had Jake too insisted that we spay him. So, finally, my husband conceded the point. 

One additional problem is that my husband had a head injury and has very poor balance, but despite that fact, the dog ought to be listening to our commands by now.
Any ideas you have would be great. Thanks so much,
Sad in Sarver

How old is this dog and how long have you had him?

Please detail the dog's daily exercise routine.

Has he had any formal obedience training?

What are your goals with this dog, is he to be a companion, service dog of some form for your husband, do you want to compete with him in any activity?

What is your specific level of expertise with GSDs, what have you trained in, have you had lower drive dogs in the past? Does your husbands injury preclude him from participating in the actual physical training of the dog?

Incidental, when speaking of altering animals, generally people will use the term "spay" with female dogs and the term "castrated" when referring to male dogs.

All I can say is either trade that dog in on another dog one or have it put to sleep.

He is a very, very big liability and this will only get worse with age.

Sorry for the bad news..........he is super dominate and as he matures he will become much, much worse.

I've had such a dog, it was a living hell. I had to have a broom with me at all times, and watch my back.

I would not blame the kennel, but the training and management of a strong dog.  I've read the Kraftwerk threads and personally would not buy a dog from a breeder who has so many litters at once among other things. 
That said, what type of positive training/exercise are you giving him? 16 months is one of the hardest ages to deal with-hormones and (im)maturity not in synche so the dog is trying to figure out how to deal.  Add high energy on top and you have your hands full.  What are you feeding?  Grains can cause problems, I would be sure to be feeding a highly nutritious diet and supplement w/ oils.
  Get with a good trainer who deals with this type of personality(K9/military police type trainiers do not deal w/this, they usually don't have nervous temperaments in their programs-let them go when they see such a dog)and work on how to handle him, prong collars will ramp up an already reactive dog.
  Is he kenneled for long periods and not getting his brain worked?  There are great books for reactive dogs as well.

 Anti anxiety drugs may help/thyroid check and rule out any medical issues. 

  Instead of blaming the breeder~ focus on how to handle such a dog. 
I have a fear aggressive female, and it is a challenge to manage an anxious, high energy GSD, but I am up for it.  She is almost 3 and doing much better because I haven't given up-I can blame the breeder all day long, but how will this help my dog? 

If everyone would do research on the breeder  and lines of the dog they are purchasing, some of these huge kennels wouldn't be producing so much if they weren't selling pups left and right. Research is the best tool to have and it doesn't cost anything!

Its too bad you don't have the support of your dogs breeder, very sad all the way around...

SadinSarver,
Kraftwerk has had its share of trouble and they should be responding to your calls for help.
Just as importantly, you are the owner of this dog and you need to fix the problems, or, find someone that can, either with you, or, more likely, in a new more capable home.
It sounds more like you may have created some of these problems and the first one is that you bought a dog that is way over your head when it comes to your capabilities. Kraftwerk has produced some very serious, hard, working dogs and it sounds like you may have one of them. These aren't the type of dog that will sit at your feet while you watch tv without any real outlet for its tremendous amount of energy. High drive, dominant working shepherds aren't for everyone.
I would maybe look elsewhere for help with this dog. It sounds like some of the advice you are getting isn't that great also. Your dog has completely taken control of your household.
It sounds like your dog is still relatively young. Most young males do not have the proper mental capabilities to be the alpha. This creates a lot of havoc in the dog's mind. This is probably what the "supposed military dog trainer" is seeing, but, doesn't understand it correctly. As your friend said, they don't fully mature until about three. The problem is that you can't wait that long. If you do the situation will not get better. It will get much worse. If you think that the dog will calm down by then, think again. What you will have is a dog will the same amount of energy, stronger, and a fully developed brain to back it up. Without proper training, and more importantly, capable handling skills this dog will potentially injure or kill someone and will surely end up dead itself. If you really love the dog as you say you do(and I believe you do) find it the proper training along with getting yourself the proper training to handle him, or, love him enough to give him to someone that can provide those things for this dog. If not, your dog, and you will become another statistical black mark on this breed. This is the type of situation that an insurance company uses as a prime example of why they won't insure homeowners with German Shepherds. This is also a prime example for the proponents of mandatory spay/neuter laws. Your problem isn't that your dog needs to be neutered. The problem lies with your lack of control over this dog, which is due to your lack of understanding of the type of dog you own.
I do not mean to be harsh and I am sorry if it comes off that way, but, I have rescued and rehabbed way too many dogs with the same story you have told above.

 ditto OGBS

Its a total Mismatch 

cheers