My GS is 2 yrs. old. She is extremely well behaved, loves other people, other dogs and my two cats. Does not like squirrels, though. We just got a smaller 6 month old Cavachon (a mix Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Bichon Frise). They are fine playing in the house together, but sometimes in the back yard when they are playing the running seems to get a little rough on the part of the GS. The Cavachon plays but will sometimes run to me or the porch to get away. When playing in the house the GS will bite at the little ones feet and body, but it does seem to be a gentle bite. Although just a minute ago, the GS started getting rough and I had to tell her to go lay down. I worry that one day the GS will look at the smaller one while playing outside and turn on her prey drive and hurt her. We have always followed Cesar Milan's training with the GS and she is calm and submissive with us. Even on walks, the GS walks just slightly behind, but beside us, ears back...submissive. Thanks.
2007-01-09 12:52:23 · 5 answers · asked by Laurie 1 in Pets ➔ Dogs
It's not so much a prey drive as a herding instinct. You can bet the farmers wouldn't have raised them with the sheep if they were going to eat the lambs. She may play too rough but she's not going to deliberately hurt your little dog.
2007-01-09 13:00:49 · answer #1 · answered by emily 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
That's great that she's come to you with such a strong foundation. It's also great that she listens to you and knows what "No" means. I would say that the dog needs to be on leash if there's any possibility that she might catch one of those small dogs. It's very important that she does not get to rehearse (and perfect...) her high-drive behavior. Save your nerves and those of the small dog owners, and reward her a ton for doing heeling exercises, tricks (nose touch to hand, spins, other little tricks that are easy to reward and repeat) and do these things around other dogs. Change the association of the presence of smaller dogs from "oh good, I'm gonna chase them now!" to "I get paid to pay attention to the Mama". I think that taking a class is an excellent idea, but go to observe a class before you enroll in one. IME a Petco or Petsmart is not going to have enough room for you and your dog - you may need to work with her far enough away from the other dogs to keep her attention on you, and I don't think this is possible in an in-store kind of class.
2016-05-23 01:24:10 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
She is probably just playing rough. The best way to know if a dog has a high prey drive is to see how their chase instinct is. If she goes nuts after chasing a ball then its probably high. Or try with a small remote control car. If she chases it then yeah its high. Just let your gs know that rough play is not acceptable by sending her to a time out corner for 5 mins whenever she tries to get rough.
2007-01-09 13:08:56 · answer #3 · answered by Big red 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Try spraying your dog with a waterbottle and say NO BAD (wow i feel stupid for saying that now) when the sheperd goes after the little one. Also, it may not be the sheperd wanting to hurt the pup. My dog is a german sheperd mix and he plays like that with smaller dogs too but he also doesnt realize that hes a lot bigger than the friend hes playing with.
2007-01-09 13:02:41 · answer #4 · answered by Katey 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The nipping of feet is due to a herding instict.
Herding dogs nip at the heels of sheep, cattle, anything they're set to herd.
Herding breeds will do the same thing with children and other animals.
2007-01-09 13:07:28 · answer #5 · answered by ljn331 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋