Im Afraid to use my hose! Help

[FlowersGSD]

Ben is a maniac for hose water. he gets this glazed look and shoots over to the end where the water comes out--if my hand is on the nozzle--or between him and the nozzle--watch out. He has really hurt me.
I can't use it to water my garden or fill up the birdbath if he is out. any ideas on how to get him to treat it as a normal thing?

[sagelfn]

This sounds like Sage. If I have something to do I just take the easy way and put him inside. If I don't mind him getting wet I put him in a stay and do what I needed to do. We have not done this very long so sometimes he breaks his stay and I stop spraying put him back in a stay and repeat as needed. Then when I'm done let him him play with the hose. By then he has calmed down a bit and bites at the water but is not jumping over my head and biting the spray nozzle. If he is getting too close to me I stop spraying water and tell him to back off. Slowly he is improving but he is still insane right when the water comes on.

[paulag1955]

Shasta is the same way...she goes mad for the water and my husband doesn't help AT ALL because he likes to play with the hose with her. When I'm trying to water my garden, I usually tell Shasta to sit and leave it. She will eventually get bored and wander away. But I always call her over when I'm watering the hanging baskets so she can bite at the water that drips out...it's like a reward for being good about the hose. It's taken quite a bit of work to get her to this point, though.

[Caledon]

Dakota loves the hose too. I put her in a down stay when I don't want her to get wet

When she was younger she was the same way with the vacuum, and the rake and the snow shovel.

It was work to get her contol herself around these items but I showed me that I needed to, and could work on her impulse control.

The hose and the snow shovel are the hardest because we do play with her with these items.

[Wolfiesmom]

Wolfie loves it too, and I have to put him in the house while I water.

[GSDAlphaMom]

Three of my five are nutso over the hose. I use to enjoy watering my flowers, landscaping but not with them around. They make is sooo stressful. I now put them up and they whine and carry on watching me out the back window but it sure takes teh stress off of me!

[doggiedad]

put him in the house when you're
usuing the hose. my dog loves the
hose also. my GF an i often go to the yard
for him to play with the hose. my neighbors
daughter comes over and squirts him a lot.
if i don't want my dog in the spray i say
"leave it", "no more", "that's it" and he leaves
the hose alone. i could also tell him to "stay"
but i don't need to use that command.

take sometime out for your dog and let him
play in the water. why didn't you think
of putting him the house when you're usuing the hose???

[Doubleyolk]

Our last GSD,also named Ben did the same thing! It was a real problem and I would only use the hose when he wasn't around.

[Snickelfritz]

I had a half black lab and a half german shepherd that used to attack the broom, rake, vacuum anything that moved in my hands. He didn't care about the hose, but he was a maniac when it came to those things. Some guy came to stay at the Hotel I worked at and he had a black lab hat on. I was talking to him about this problem, because he was a trainer/breeder. He suggested when I got home to take the broom or rake, start to use it and when Ralph, my dog started to go after it, to slam it on the ground start yelling at it, telling it it was a bad rake, hit it, scream at it anything to make as much trauma as you can to the object.

The goal was to make the dog feel sorry for getting the rake in trouble And it worked. I don't know if it's because lab's have different feelings, or what. But you might give it a try. It couldn't hurt, you'd just look like a fool the way I did when I was beating this poor rake up, and the neighbors thought I was the lunatic.

[doggiedad]

for me it's easier to say "leave it",
"no", place him in a "stay". if my dog
wasn't trained i would put him in the
house and crate him if necessary.

ummm, does a dog feel sorry because you're abusing
a rake in front of him??

Originally Posted by Snickelfritz

I was talking to him about this problem, because he was a trainer/breeder. He suggested when I got home to take the broom or rake, start to use it and when Ralph, my dog started to go after it, to slam it on the ground start yelling at it, telling it it was a bad rake, hit it, scream at it anything to make as much trauma as you can to the object.

The goal was to make the dog feel sorry for getting the rake in trouble And it worked.