Caution-the perfect need not enter-In what area have you failed your dog?

[Germanshepherdlova]

Or the question can also be, in what area can you improve upon as an owner? Answering the positive is always easy. Stating how our dogs can improve is difficult for some, but not as difficult as admitting to your own faults.

Nobody is perfect but if you believe yourself to be-please don't respond to this thread-it is for the brutally honest only!

I will go first. I was putting away laundry this morning and this question came to me. What have I done wrong-and how can I do better? Dogs only have a short life span, my boys are young but I want to do right by them. I walk my dogs but I am sure they would enjoy more vigorous exercise. Yes, I have a decent sized fenced in yard for them to romp around in but they would probably love to run along side of me instead of walk, but I am sure not a runner. This is an area that I can improve upon-my personal fitness and my dogs would benefit from it.

Then it comes to my failure with them. I (this is very hard to admit) but I have failed to socialize my dogs with other dogs. I can put the blame on the people around me who don't want their dogs near mine, but then again that is probably my fault because my dogs act like they will bite the other dogs head of (and they well may) but this isn't the worst of it.

What makes me feel even worse is that a few months ago I was invited to come to a GSD club and to bring my dog with me. There was going to be sheepherding, which my GSD would have LOVED. I considered taking him, really, really, really, wanted to take him-but didn't. I was afraid of how he would behave with the other dogs. Afraid of his dominant behavior-afraid because his recall isn't good. I am going to be honest with myself now, I know what I am really afraid of is that I haven't trained him to behave well enough to go.

[evybear15]

Baxter needs more training. I'm working to correct that now, but the fact of the matter is that I wasn't being proactive about it, and now there are some issues that must be fixed.

I also am guilty of needing to provide more exercise for him. I just need to be a little less selfish when I get home from work and put him and the cats first. It's tough having Sam gone all the time, so I'm essentially a "single parent" for the pets, but I need to just suck it up and make their lives fun and enjoyable.

We all have areas of improvement - but I do think it's important to acknowledge those so that you can work to fix them.

[TimberGSD2]

Kya would have been a wonderful agility dog. She had speed, drive, heart and could wrap herself around a tree after a squirrel. The dog could jump, run and has an amazing ability to know just what I want. During her "good" years for agility I was a 20 something single girl who wanted to go out with her friends and party. My dogs were always taken care of but I didn't want to take the time to commit to something like agility. Kya is a perfectly happy "dog" and probably doesn't care that we didn't do that . I did make sure that my dogs were kept well exercised and mentally stimulated but I didn't have that drive to go further with it. I guess I feel like I never took her to her full potential.

[PaddyD]

There are so many things I want get for my dog, do for my dog, and add to her training but I just don't want to (or wife won't allow me to) spend the money for it.

[GSDolch]

Buddy is my terrier mix.

He is a barker, barks at everything. Now, no, he isn't one of those dogs that barks non stop out of being bored, and I know he doesn't do it when we are not here, because my neighbor (we are in a duplex) said she never hears him.

But, he will bark at thunder, he will bark if I knock on my daughters door, he will bark at people knocking on the neighbors door, he will bark/howl if my kids start crying, he will bark when people come in the door, he will park at people standing outside on our porch/by our porch.

This is an issue we have in home, when I take him out he doesn't do this and he does fine with other dogs, people, etc. Some things freak him out like the automatic doors, but only briefly.

I've failed him in that since it is in home, it takes a back seat to everything else. If you come into my home you get *barkbarkbarkbarkgrowlbark* and its all bluff. I meet you at a park or something and hes just fine and calm.

[kiya]

There is too many things for me to list for improvement.
I do the best I can for my dogs, I continually try to learn better ways to train them. I did want to do agility with Lakota, unfortunately she has selective obedience. I have done more with her than the others because I've learned more. I get my dogs out on a daily basis for a good walk/bike ride. I can walk all 3 of them together by barking dogs & loose dogs now because I've learned how to. A few years ago I avoided a few houses intentionally because of my dogs reactivity. Granted they most likely wont run up to a loose dog and want to play, but they behave much better than they used to. Lakota got way more socialization than Apache & Kiya, but it's still not enough. I wish I did more with them after work. Work takes up entirely too much of my time.
We are a work in progress. Perfection would be boring anyway. My dogs give me plenty of challenges to deal with.

[Daisy&Lucky's Mom]

Two major things I failed at with Daisy that are related. 1) her wieght and 2)her lack of ability to be out and about. Daisy at 12 is 87 Lbs.26 in withers. She weighed 97 lbs. need to get her to 80 to 82 lbs for her joints. Daisy needs more exercise but her behavior particularly around children in public is not good. she has become calmer as she ages but her lack of training has denied her the ability to do fun things that would aid in losing and maintainh her wight.
Lucky I needed to work on his dog reactivity. Major fail there. Perhaps I am not the right person for a GSD.

[Josie/Zeus]

We need to get serious in OB training, we soooo fail at that.

[wyoung2153]

I need to train Titan better when we greet people. He gets so excited when someone comes into the house, or we are outside and someone comes up to us. He's not aggressive, just SUPER excited!! Inside he will charge right up to the person and scare them half to death.. on a lead he will be fine walking next to me but **** if he wants to meet that person across the street. It was my fault for not training him properly when I first got him. And now I realize that it needs to be corrected, but I don't know how. It's going to take a bit of research on my part and dedication once I start retraining him.

He is also a picky eater and has literally gone 5 days without eating.. I am not sure but I do believe a lot started with me when he was little and the fact I was depolyed 3 times in his first year (2 months at a time) so when the people watching him would notice him not eating, they would put other things in his food. When I got him back every time, he would not eat so I would give in and give him wet food or something to make him eat. Now it's hard getting him to eat new things. I started him on a raw diet and plan to keep him on it. Not sure how I'm going to train the picky out of him, I guess I will just have to be strong willed and not give in to him "wanting something else."

One more failure on my part, exercise since I moved from Germany. When I lived overseas, he was exercised at least 3 times a day, Morning romp, Afternoon dog walker for about 2-3 hours, and a run or long walk by me when I got home, ending in a long session of fetch mixed in with training techniques. Since I moved to Florida, I have failed miserably on exercising. No more dog walker in the day time, just a large yard with squirrels. No more morning romp. But still and afternoon walk after work. I really need to get back to how I used to be with him. I just need to stop being lazy

Now that it's been recognized... the only way to fix it is to just do it..

[WendyDsMom]

I am working on it - but I keep comparing Wendy to Kayla.

Kayla has passed away, and no dog will ever be her. She had her special "features" like never doing "tricks" like Paw, or roll over, but to protect the family she was spot on.

Wendy is going everywhere with me and everyone I know is happy to meet her and when they ask about Wendy and where I want to go with Wendy in her training - they all compare her to Kayla.... I need to stop this. Yes, everyone was amazed by Kaylas Tri-lingual skill (German, English and Spanish) and her amazing training.

I have to make my first reaction "Wendy will do what Wendy will do." Wendy will not be forced to become Kayla.

It nags at me when I work with Wendy, Sit is solid, and lay down is getting good. But the walking and the biting of the siblings training is not so hot. She isn't picking things up as rapidly as Kayla and I have to accept it, not think Wendy is not as bright.

My dumb dog is Bailey - 2nd is Trigger (Don't get me started at his lack of training reinforcement by his Dad!) and I have to remember - Wendy is YOUNG and wants to romp and stomp. Farm to new home is so remarkably different, and she wants to get to know everything (especially those cats!).

I need to shelve the Kayla and focus on the Wendy. Oh, and correct her more quickly. Hubbie busted me this morning smiling at W when she snuck into the bathroom and took BOTH my slippers. I did get them and redirect her - but I am guilty of loving that evil genius look.