How do I handle my German Shepherd?

Question

I have a female german shepherd who is 8 months old and every now and then she barks at me and rears her teeth at me while trying to grab my arm to get my attention. Sometimes I think that it is just playing while other times I fear that it might be aggresiveness. Though she does not show any other signs of being aggressive, I do not know how to handle this behavior. Also she gets extremely excited around children, which I plan on having in a few years. I want to get this under control before that.

Answer 1

Go to a dog training school and all will be fine.

Answer 2

My son and daughter in law had a German Shepard. He was excitable and would run full bore through the house at times. Then my two grandchildren came along and they had a hard time transferring their love from that dog to the kiddos. After several close calls and a couple minor injuries they found a home for the doggie. My off hand reaction is you are asking for trouble if you have little ones around with a dog like that.

Not to mention the ocassional doggie accident where the kids played, and the occasional puking. I found dog hairs everywhere on those kiddos when I babysat them even in the kids diapers, meaning they had ingested the dog hair. The dog would eat cat poop out of the litter box and then lick the babies face. The dog even ate a diaper once, poop and all.

God it was scary. I can't understand people who put their dogs on an equivalence with their children.

The next door neighbor had a golden retriever that grabbed my granson's toe and almost pulled him away from his mother. Man that was scary. I don't think people realize how strong dogs are and how dangerous they can be to small children.

My son had a step brother who got knocked down by their German Sheppard and had to be rushed to the hospital as it caused him to stop breathing. The dog wasn't being aggressive just excited.

I just don't get it. My Dad was a Doctor in a small town and stiched up kids faces from dog bites. He said you don't have to do that too many times before you realize a few truths about what dogs are really about. People treat them as if they were human....they are animals, your kids are human.

I hope for your baby's sake you can make a right decision.

Also don't forget that dogs and cats are meat eaters and have worms in their poop always. They can dry out and become airborne and you can breath them in. My granddaughter was always with the coughing, wheezing and red eyes. That all went away when the dog went away.

He was a pretty good dog, just that it doesn't really work trying to mix them with small children. If your kids were 12-14 years old then I would say get him/her a dog. They could do the feeding and bathing and other doggie chores and learn some responsibility.

The way you have it set up, the kids will get attached to the dog and then the dog will die when they are about 8-10 years old. There's a little built in trauma for your children....

Good luck

PS The dog is now living on a farm and has plenty of space to run. His new owner loves him and is taking good care of him. The dog is far more content with his new environment

Answer 3

You and others may think I'm cruel for this... I just slap them on the nose. Not real hard, but it brings tears to their eyes quickly.
Keep in mind that a German Shepherd matures slowly, she's a puppy until two years old(okay, a ninety pound puppy is going to be different).

Answer 4

Watch some Ceaser Millan, take the dog on correct walks (with it next to you or behind you) and get some of the energy out of it, and teach it to respect you. It should never even play bite.

Answer 5

Get her in obedience school NOW. If you want to keep this dog and feel safe with her being around your future children AND YOURSELF, you need to take her to school. SOOO many people underestimate big dogs and they have to be raised a certain way. Your best bet is to get her in obedience school...now.

Answer 6

Show her who's boss. Thats what she's doing.