Dog advice needed

[Gary_C]

I disagree! Every dogs different just like people are

Sorry - I trust German Shepherds.

I know everyone likes their own dogs but all I am saying is that specific dog breeds were created by breeding for certain traits over many years and generations and you can never ignore their built in DNA code. Well trained dogs are certainly man's best friend and can do some amazing things at times but you cannot ever erase their built in genetic traits, especially when children are involved.

Pack mentality is a whole different subject. As my father-in-law used to say, a rich man has one dog and a poor man has two. Plus one dog will generally stay home but more than one will run all over the neighborhood.

[doc henderson]

Humans are the same, and are animals.  we have basic urges and instinct.  many of these we have trained out of our kids.  some instincts are good like fear of strangers.  some humans kill, rape, or steal from others.  Most of us have the desire to protect out family and this is an instinct all animals have and in nature this helps children survive to reproduce.  When we talk about civilization, we are talking about training that society has imposed so we do not all kill each other and can survive.  We all learn to depend on each other, and more survive.  Some humans suffer from bullying at a critical time and do not feel like part of the pack, and lash out.  some have drug and alcohol problems.  some have mental illness.  some have PTSD.  So Don, the reason this dog is behaving the way he does is poss. both nature and nurture.  We will never know!  We love our Shepards, as we did our labs.  We had a Blue healer, and they are definitely highly bread for a purpose.  If you scolded him, he would always whip his mouth like he was going to bite, but never did.  He would heard tumble weeds in the yard. Our lab would chase after blue roc, and come back with mouth of orange clay as a puppy that had never hunted..  so there is something to that.  But GSs that are trained as attach dogs, and well trained, can be turned on and off to a degree.  We are all animals that have been "mostly" well trained.  

[WV Sawmiller]

   My wife used to do Shtzhund training with several of her shepherds - basic police work with tracking, obedience and bite work. The bite work was the fun thing for the dog as it was a basic extension of tug of war. They started puppies on a burlap bag then when older on a puppy tug (a canvas tube filled with rags), then a soft sleeve and finally a hard sleeve on the trainers arm. The dog was taught to only attack the obvious sleeve. Once trained the trainer would put on a hidden sleeve under a heavy coat, force that arm into the the dogs mouth then resist. The dog was trained to hold on as long as there was resistance then release and bark and hold at bay when the "bad guy" stopped struggling. After a session or two the dog learned to bite a bare arm. At the end of a training session and doing bite work the trainer would release the sleeve and the dog would carry the sleeve back with him. When a bunch of them were training and a particular dog was under performing they would tie the dog to a post in a line and work each in turn. This excited them all waiting for their turn. The poor performer got to watch all the others do the bite work then when it came his turn they'd walk him over and put him in his crate. It was a very humbling experience and in every case on the next session the dog performed better. Kind of like a bunch of kids all getting treats but one.

    I don't know if something like that will work with this dog or not. You might let him observe other dogs getting rewarded for good behavior and him not getting and him not getting a reward for poor behavior and see if that helped.

[Don P]

I think we are doing some better this morning, turkey and treats are hard to resist . Some friends have a dog that is all over me when we get together, she likes to meet and greet and get pets from everyone. That might be a good angle to try whenever we can get together again.

Early on I realized I was too big for her to be comfortable around so I do try to give her lots of opportunities with me low, laying on the floor, sitting on the step below the porch so she can approach from behind and sniff, etc, quiet works better than any tones, even higher and lighter ones but I am trying to get her used to me talking. A fair number of dogs have passed through here, drop offs or just lost. Some we've kept, some we've found their home or homes for. We had been without one for a couple of years. She is the first that we went and got from the shelter and she is pretty unique to my experience. Hopefully she'll come around.

[Southside]

Sounds like progress, just let her be the one to push the progress as long as it's going in the right direction, her pace. Dogs are creatures of habit, the more regular and routine things are the more comfortable they become with it, (truth be told it's the same with humans for better or worse) which is why you can train a dog to sit there in a firefight and not shut down before it is their time to go to work.  

[YellowHammer]

Thats good news, whenever I go to work, or walk, or anything pretty much, I will take at least one with me.  Leashed up, so they can’t wander, in a nice quiet place so they can watch me and get interested and then bored by it.  We always work basic commands, the primary one is sit, whenever we go anywhere.  Dogs are companions, and the more time they spend with a person the better the relationship will be.







 

[farmfromkansas]

My dog is getting old now, she is a border collie looking mix of cowdog breeds.  Had great hope that she might help me work cows, but she is scared of cows. But she kills rats, so earns her keep.  She loves my youngest granddaughter, 1 1/2 years old.  The little girl is not scared of her, so the dog licks her face. 

[Don P]

One of our dogs was an "end of the road dog". A black and tan with good manners, I think he would have stayed right there till he starved "why did they drop you off?" He settled in and regained his strength, some time passed and it was time to sight in the rifle, and I found out why they dropped him off. Funny thing was he was fine around nail guns, saws, all the commotion of a jobsite but you couldn't even go near him with the scent of burnt powder on you and fireworks were a no go, we lost him in WI till July 5th morning when he turned up under the motorhome. I kept the old Dodge going for a half million miles, way past its due, because it was his truck.

As he got older storms started scaring him and like often happens it gets worse. I got home one evening after a storm and he was gone. I knew it was probably blind flight and he was lost. I started double driving the roads in the dark, up and back. Sure enough on the backtrip on a road about 5 miles from the house he was sitting by the road, I had to help him in he must have gone flat out, but he had heard his truck go by.

[Walnut Beast]

One of our dogs was an "end of the road dog". A black and tan with good manners, I think he would have stayed right there till he starved "why did they drop you off?" He settled in and regained his strength, some time passed and it was time to sight in the rifle, and I found out why they dropped him off. Funny thing was he was fine around nail guns, saws, all the commotion of a jobsite but you couldn't even go near him with the scent of burnt powder on you and fireworks were a no go, we lost him in WI till July 5th morning when he turned up under the motorhome. I kept the old Dodge going for a half million miles, way past its due, because it was his truck.

As he got older storms started scaring him and like often happens it gets worse. I got home one evening after a storm and he was gone. I knew it was probably blind flight and he was lost. I started double driving the roads in the dark, up and back. Sure enough on the backtrip on a road about 5 miles from the house he was sitting by the road, I had to help him in he must have gone flat out, but he had heard his truck go by.

Awesome little story👍