Hello everyone, I am new here so please bear with me. I am NOT going to sugar coat my situation so I came here to get some expert opinions. I got a puppy recently, from a BYB mostly for my family protection as we live in a....gentrifying neighborhood. Crime still occurs, pretty much daily around here. Shootings, killings, muggings, rapes.....its one of the worst neighborhoods in NYC. I do not really feel safe for my family to be walking around alone, but we cannot move, at least not for the next few years. So I thought to get a GSD puppy to grow into a family protector. I had a chow growing up.
Now, my gsd pup is good MOST of the time. She is adorable, really, Ive had hundreds of people throughout the city, even ran into a few breeders who say that she is among the most beautiful GSD pups they ever seen. Had some military personnel who went to war with dogs say she is very sweet. With strangers she is VERY sweet, but there was some shady characters hanging outside my house and she stood tall like a statue and did the low toned "roof" followed by persistent barking, which really impressed me for a 12 week old puppy.
Now here is my problem, today I had to take the dog with me for a car ride. She threw up on the car 4 times, and crapped in the car. NOT the first time this happened. The kids got to me this morning too and I some unforeseen bills came my way so I was pissed off. I yelled at the pup, I felt completely bad for her. Then I HAD to leave the dog in the crate for a couple hours. This by the way never happens, since DAY ONE, I have been to every vet visit, played with her for hours, a day, Ive read puppy books, these forums, advice boards, articles. I took owning a puppy VERY serious, sorry to say it more serious than having my first child (though he turned out great . So I went with the puppy for a walk, she was heavily pulling on the leash, this turned into her lunging at me viscously, and my pant legs, then my legs. Really vicious biting and growling, she's normally never like this, but something in her "snapped", her face changed. She honestly looked like a different dog, she looked like a possessed demon. Like a rabid dog. It scared me, so I got out the tug and thought that a good game of tug will get out some of her excess energy. After 30 mins of tugging and fetching, she still wasnt done. I was. I put away the tug and sat down on the couch. The kids had homework, I work very hard to put food on the table and wanted to rest for a few minutes. The puppy then jumped on the couch and started viciously attacking my arms and hands, followed by many "no's". I got up and walked away, and sat on another chair in another room, she went after me, this time even harder than before. I reacted very badly, I smacked her. It wasn't planned, it was more of a reflex because she got my by surprise on my shoulder and then my chin. As soon as my hand touched the first hair on her body I immediately felt HORRIBLE. I felt sick to my stomach, I felt like crying, the pup yelped like a child. I grabbed her and started carressing her and kissing her and petting her and saying sorry. I even asked god for forgiveness. I am sorry to the community here as Im sure some of you are cringing just reading this. The biting has been an up and down roller coaster, she seems to get overly aggressive when on the same level as me, like when Im on the floor or when she jumps on the couch.
I just don't know what to do now, I'm afraid the dog is just a bad tempered dog. I got her from a shady character. She shows signs of being a great dog, but then can immediately snap, very moody. Please any help would be greatly appreciated, again I'm very sorry for smacking the dog. I have never in my life hit an animal and am really sick to my stomach.
Now, my gsd pup is good MOST of the time. She is adorable, really, Ive had hundreds of people throughout the city, even ran into a few breeders who say that she is among the most beautiful GSD pups they ever seen. Had some military personnel who went to war with dogs say she is very sweet. With strangers she is VERY sweet, but there was some shady characters hanging outside my house and she stood tall like a statue and did the low toned "roof" followed by persistent barking, which really impressed me for a 12 week old puppy.
Now here is my problem, today I had to take the dog with me for a car ride. She threw up on the car 4 times, and crapped in the car. NOT the first time this happened. The kids got to me this morning too and I some unforeseen bills came my way so I was pissed off. I yelled at the pup, I felt completely bad for her. Then I HAD to leave the dog in the crate for a couple hours. This by the way never happens, since DAY ONE, I have been to every vet visit, played with her for hours, a day, Ive read puppy books, these forums, advice boards, articles. I took owning a puppy VERY serious, sorry to say it more serious than having my first child (though he turned out great . So I went with the puppy for a walk, she was heavily pulling on the leash, this turned into her lunging at me viscously, and my pant legs, then my legs. Really vicious biting and growling, she's normally never like this, but something in her "snapped", her face changed. She honestly looked like a different dog, she looked like a possessed demon. Like a rabid dog. It scared me, so I got out the tug and thought that a good game of tug will get out some of her excess energy. After 30 mins of tugging and fetching, she still wasnt done. I was. I put away the tug and sat down on the couch. The kids had homework, I work very hard to put food on the table and wanted to rest for a few minutes. The puppy then jumped on the couch and started viciously attacking my arms and hands, followed by many "no's". I got up and walked away, and sat on another chair in another room, she went after me, this time even harder than before. I reacted very badly, I smacked her. It wasn't planned, it was more of a reflex because she got my by surprise on my shoulder and then my chin. As soon as my hand touched the first hair on her body I immediately felt HORRIBLE. I felt sick to my stomach, I felt like crying, the pup yelped like a child. I grabbed her and started carressing her and kissing her and petting her and saying sorry. I even asked god for forgiveness. I am sorry to the community here as Im sure some of you are cringing just reading this. The biting has been an up and down roller coaster, she seems to get overly aggressive when on the same level as me, like when Im on the floor or when she jumps on the couch.
I just don't know what to do now, I'm afraid the dog is just a bad tempered dog. I got her from a shady character. She shows signs of being a great dog, but then can immediately snap, very moody. Please any help would be greatly appreciated, again I'm very sorry for smacking the dog. I have never in my life hit an animal and am really sick to my stomach.