Omg! Teeth!!!! Strength! Smartness!

[Kaz]

Originally Posted by 1sttimeforgsd

Kaz, a prong that is correctly fitted will be your best friend and that of Manfried also. You would not want your lady out walking him and Manny pull her out in front of traffic, I promise it will not hurt your handsome boy.

Thank you for your post.

Renata makes mistakes, and as some one had posted a long time ago, its not about me training the dog, but the dog training me.

She tried to teach Manfred how to shake hands for about a month, her technique was put her hand in front of Manfred, and say "Paws". Then pick the paw herself and say "Good dog!" Now she has a PhD, more educated than me, and that too in social education, so naturally she resisted every suggestion for an alternate approach.

Finally till one day, I got her to sit down and watch a training video, watch how I trained Manfred to do complex tricks, that she finally settled down and did it right. Took about 30 seconds for Manfred to learn how to shake paws and 10 more seconds to learn how to Hi-Five.

Renata is naturally soft hearted and a bit goofy. I love her for that, she gives Manfred that soft touch which maybe I cant.

Every time we go out for dinner, Renata runs the last block home to see how "Shonny" is doing. Its a pain to convince her to go out for a dinner or a show, or a concert, or anything, because "Shonny will be alone!"

Eg: At the classical music concert at LA county museum of art last week : every 5 minutes, the following remarks :

1) OMG Did I close the bathroom door, what if Shonny gets in and gets trapped in the toilet? (How can a 55 lb dog get "trapped" in a toilet bowl???)

2) What do you think he is doing now?

3) Poor shonny must be bored (accompanied with a very sad face).

4) Should we make it up to him by getting some treats? (we were gone for 2 hours). (Treats = walking 3 blocks to the 3 Dogs Bakery at the Grove)

5) OMG what if he pokes his head out the window and gets trapped in the metal grills in the window? (Manfred has NEVER done this!)

6) What if he needs to go poo poo? (1 hour after Manfred did poo poo)

7) Who do you think he is missing more, mommy or daddy?

8) Do you think his bed is comfortable enough?


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Ad-infinitum!

So yes, if Manfred does act silly while walking with her, I am pretty certain its because of silly mommy rather than because of silly puppy.

Manfred toes a fine line while walking with me. And he does quite well.

[atruepastime]

Thanks Kaz.. the last thing I wanted to do was nag or sound all self righteous so glad my post received the way it was intended, hey kudos to you for your patience and success at teaching a young gsd pup to walk so nicely on a harness.. that would have taken some serious patience and commitment. All dogs are different I guess so what works for one won't for another.. and vice versa, and at the end of the day, we might not know everything about dog ownership, but as a general rule we usually know our individual dogs better than anyone else.. so I think the best approach is to listen with an open mind and apply what works for you and your dog so long as is builds a relationship of trust and respect between the two of you.

Its also hard not to try and give advise lol... I guess a big part of a forum like this is often "question and advise" related discussion so its hard not to slip into that mode, as well intentioned as we all might be.. all the best and happy puppy rearing to you.

[Kaz]

Originally Posted by atruepastime

Its also hard not to try and give advise lol...

Yeah, tell me about it. This forum is kinda like youtube comments. Some times it takes a lot of patience not to lash out.

Especially when it is clearly stated in OP : No advise is sought.

[Kaz]

Originally Posted by ayoitzrimz

Sorry if it's not the most PC reply, but sometimes you just have to speak your mind...

Of course, an antagonistic post, with out knowing facts, and where advise is not sought, is the best way to get through to a stranger.

[Kaz]

xyz

[jocoyn]

I am sorry if you took everyone's concerns the wrong way but the first picture you portrayed is not anything like the later description of your puppy, particularly on walks.

You are right, no advice requested so not sure why you actually posted. It is not facebook where you can delete the comments you don't want. It is a public forum and nobody was actually rude to you but concerned that you seemed to express pride in what appears (from the first post) to be an out of control puppy who has not even begun to enter the rebellious age.

[Anthony8858]

I thought I'd share an incident that I witnessed just yesterday.

I was walking with Kira, there was a woman walking with a very large GSD. Her dog was walking beautifully.
A child passes on a bicycle, and her dog goes nuts. The dog decides to chase the child, and the owner fell flat on her face, and was literally dragged 10 feet or so, before gathering her scruples enough to get up and hold her dog back.

What made this even worse, is when she got up, she laughed, and was petting her dog to "calm him down"


I'm going to give you a "goal" to work towards....

My 7 year old daughter can walk my 7 month old Kira. If there are any distractions, a simple "leave it", and Kira looks the other way. I've tested this over and over, with dogs, bikes, and running children. I've done the exercise numerous times enough to embed the "no lunging" in her brain.

I achieved this with a prong collar. Each correction took a sharp, brief snap, associated with a "leave it" command.
Incorporate the heel command into the walks, and Manfred will walk like a champ.

I would take the lunging and pulling very seriously. A lunging GSD is not something to be taking lightly.