I recently adopted a German Shepherd from a family member. She has had excessive training and is incredibly obedient. Because this family member did not have the time a lot of her training was not kep up with and she did not go out to much other than car rides. In taking her out I have found her to be incredibly well-behaved but I am having one consistent problem. At the dog park she chases small dogs and other small animals (When there are no small animals around I have complete control over her) I am thinking she either has a high prey drive or this is a result of her herding instinct. Either way I am wondering if there is any effective way to remedy this because although she had never harmed another dog it scare me and other dog owners. We have a cockatoo at home and she sometimes approaches her however when we say "NO" she immediatly stops the behavior. Any ideas?
2007-01-24 13:05:57 · 11 answers · asked by Amanda H 2 in Pets ➔ Dogs
Your dog needs a prong collar, and it has prey aggression, just like mine. Prey drive has to do with this problem. My Malinois has high prey drive, and it also used to chase cats and other small animals. I fixed the problem from reading good information. Each time your dog goes nuts when it sees a cat or a dog, say "NO" and THEN give a jerk on the leash. Your dog has to be wearing the prong collar at the time of the jerk. Some dogs need a soft jerk, while others need a harder one, depending on the temperament of your dog. You need to experiment and see how hard of jerk your dog needs to get its attention. My dog has a hard temperament, so he needs strong corrections. Now, every time I take him for a walk, he will not go after cats anymore. I have experience with this problem that you're having, so email me at jm_460@yahoo.com and I WILL help you fix that problem.
2007-01-24 19:46:21 · answer #1 · answered by J.M 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
German Shepherd Herding
2016-11-07 09:43:37 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
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.
2007-01-24 13:39:43 · answer #3 · answered by Misa M 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is no effective way to remedy the problem. She has high prey drive and that is going to be a problem around small dogs running and yipping. My suggestion is to put a basket muzzle on her at the dog park. Otherwise you are going to have a lawsuit when she finally catches one of the little guys and injures or possibly kills it. For activities, you could start your dog in agility or herding courses. If she has high prey drive then use it for something that you both enjoy. But don't risk danger to other people's dogs.
2007-01-24 13:28:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
German Shepherds are high energy dogs and yes they do have alot of drive! You need to do some activities at home with the dog such as search and rescue training. I would try to find a local German Shepherd club to get involved with to satisfy this drive. And some more obedience training may not be such a bad idea! You need to go to learn how to handle the dog. Obedience training isn't training the dog, it's training the human how to train the dog!
2007-01-24 13:12:57 · answer #5 · answered by sbj95 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I had an Alsation/Border collie go without herding instinct to talk of, and he grow to be border collie length in no way topping extra suitable than 40 3 pounds, good black with a GSD coat, and Border Collie brains. He grow to be athletic, clever and an all around superb dogs. it actually relies upon on which breed is dominate, you will possibly be able to desire to have an over the remarkable dogs or you will possibly be able to desire to have an athletic, thinking dogs with large temperment and character like I did
2016-09-27 23:04:34 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Prong and pinch collars create aggression. When dog is focused on object or animal and receives pinch correction, dog connects object with pain. When dog is off leash he/she will be far more likely to attack those objects.
We are humans with opposable thumbs and big brains! We can do better than this! And don't buy into that Dog Whisperer hype either. Dominance/submission is not and should not be a major focus of our relationships with our dogs.The focus needs to be on communication, understanding, and motivation. We need to teach them what we want them to do in a clear and consistent manner, and reward them with praise, play and/or food when they get it right. Scolding and punishing are not productive strategies for training your dog. They need to learn that they can always trust us and never have to fear us.
Work this dog on "Watch Me", recall, sit, down, wait , stay and "Leave It". Make sure he gets a ton of exercise in a "prey-free" area.
2014-03-02 18:46:21 · answer #7 · answered by ? 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well if you can't handle a German Shepherd then you shouldn't have one. I have a German Shepherd she is very dominant meaning she will trying and control other animals by teasing them and biting them so you better get a personal trainer especially one that has done security dogs they would know how to handle dogs like yours and they can give you home training. NO PETSMART training it is too much for the dog to handle. Get a pinch collar it might look painful but I really will stop your do by pulling on it and it is meant for a dog like yours.
2007-01-24 13:13:52 · answer #8 · answered by Kenster102.5 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
petco they give obedience classes either in groups or private lessons it might be better to be in a group so that way she can used
to being around other dogs mainly the small ones it may help her.
2007-01-24 13:17:43 · answer #9 · answered by Annoymous 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Watch the Dog Whisperer... it's all about you setting the rules, not the dog. German Shepards are not herding dogs, I think. You have a wonderful dog with a lot of energy and who needs to understand that her behavior is not acceptable TO YOU. Stop this behavior before it gets worse.
good luck
2007-01-24 13:12:23 · answer #10 · answered by Sciencemom 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋