|
HI. Every one has written some excellent posts. I too agree, you no longer have a puppy but a teenager out of control. Obedience class, with you being the handler is a must! He must learn to respect you and your leadership. When he runs thru the house out of control have a leash on him. Make him sit, stay, or down stay. But he must be taught manners and what he is doing is NOT. Especially with him snapping and trying to bite, the next thing he will do is bite. German Shepherds as pups are great dogs. They are smart sweet and very responsive to us as their owners. We can do no wrong! BUT at around 8 months, sometimes earlier some times later, they turn in to out of control teens. They are testing the leadership in your pack or household. If it is not there or if its lacking they will try and take over. This is very normal behavior as they want to become as high up on the pack order so to speak. So they start testing the leadership for any weakness. That is their job to constantly strive for higher ranking and it does not stop ever. Now it may slow down when you have let it be known your the boss, but they, due to their nature, want to be as high up the pack order as possible. When I was in school for Vet tech, I learned a very, very sad fact. Did you know that of all the people that get their sweet and loving puppy that they are so excited about, these people that love their puppy to death and take them to the Vet for their puppy vaccinations and health check ups. Did you know that in a one year's time 80% to 90% of these owners that thought they knew what they were doing, will have that pup either put in the back yard to be forgotten, re-homed, taken to the pound, they will dump them or have them put to sleep!! This is all due to lack of knowledge of what your pup will grow up to be like, especially in the teen years. So what to do? What to do? Well, the most important thing to me is to know how dogs think and relate to each other and to your family. How do dogs understand their world? How do they develop and mature? Once you understand this you have most of the help you need. Dogs being dogs do not relate to each other in human terms like we think they do. But instead they relate to each other as dogs. And dogs live and breath the pack order. They know the pack is run by a Alpha who does all their planning of every day life. They plan the hunt, they decided where to go on a daily basis, and they protect the pack. They also decided all behavior that the other members of the pack behave like. If they do not like a certain dogs behavior they correct them and thru watching learn the proper behavior. So by understanding that your the boss, and not the dog. The next step is to set out a plan of how you want your dog to behave, and what not to behave like. So get some books to read. The Monks of New Skete's Books of "HOW TO RAISE A PUPPY" Is great so is HOW TO BE YOUR DOGS BEST FRIEND". I also like "THE DOG LISTENER" BY JAN FENNEL. I find these three books the foundation of any dog ownership! And require them for all my puppy buyers. Have a list of what he can do, and a list of what he can not do. And also make a list of what I will do to make sure he replaces that behavior. If your dog is doing something you do not like, replace it with what you do like or want. Such as he is jumping on people and you make his sit and stay to greet people or on a down stay. Next to help you is obedience school with your now rebellious teen. This will help you to get the control and the advice you need. It also helps you with the support system and to see your not alone. Its also very good for socialization that your dog so desperately needs. But do remember not all trainers are good or good for you and your dog. You must watch, listen and learn to what is truly needed to help train your dog. But when you see some one with a well behaved dog. Just remember it did not come as is, but with lots and lots of hard work that the owner and dog went threw to get what your seeing as the end results. Here is something else that may help you too to better under stand dogs and how they think.
|