Hello from 1st time Mom to 5mo old GSD

[puppyluv]

I feel like I know some of you just from all of the reading I've done on this forum over the last several months! In Oct my husband bought me a really nice 11 wk old puppy from a breeder I found that happened to live in our same rural town here in NE Indiana. Her dogs seemed to have really nice bloodlines and her husband is a retired German police dog trainer. I felt lucky to find an experienced breeder so close to me! So far it has been an adventure and I've benefited greatly from all of the advice given on this forum - Thanks!!! I have have done lots of reading here and still have lots of questions but the thing I am most curious about is socializing and loose-leash walking. I didn't take him around to meet many dogs (we did do a short puppy class when he was 3 or 4 months old and are currently in a class now) when he was younger because I don't really know many well-behaved dogs and wanted to limit his exposure to negative experiences. Also, I am not confident on how to facilitate a good greeting between the dogs. So now he is very distracted by other dogs around when we are in class. He has been around other people a good bit but I limited that somewhat too because he was so mouthy as a young puppy (MUCH better since he's lost all of his baby teeth - thank goodness) and wanted to chew on everyone. He did/does get out with me a good bit though around town, running errands etc. We even brought him all the way to TX/LA for Christmas so he saw lots of new things... My problem now is that he gets so excited at seeing new people that he goes a little "nutso" when he gets up close to them at times (jumping, ears back, yelping, peeing). It used to only happen when my husband came home from work and then it happened once or twice a couple of months ago with random people we came across. It just seems to be getting worse. How in the world am I supposed to continue to socialize him and introduce him to people when he is having this kind of reaction/behavior? He's getting so big that it's really hard to control him when he acts up. I'll save the loose leash walking question for another time. ;-) I think I know what advice I will get - add better treats and distance to his introductions to new people (See - I've been reading! ). Well, anyway - Hi! to everyone and thanks again for all the good info you all share!!!

[robk]

Welcome to you and your new pup! Show us some pictures as soon as you can!

[lorihd@comcast.net]

hello and welcome, congrats on your new puppy, pictures please.

well my dog is 7mos now and i have her in training. she use to go nuts around other dogs, people etc. my trainer suggested a prong collar, so ive been using that, it really works like a charm, no pulling (no jumping on people) etc. makes my life soooo much easier. should have listened to her a long time ago

[Angelina03]

Hi and welcome.

To previous poster, at what age can you start using a prong collar?

[puppyluv]

Post Pictures - yep... I'd love to but I have no idea how to do that! I tried to include one but it is asking me for an http link. They are on my phone and in my camera...
Interesting that you should mention the prong collar b/c the breeder suggested just that. I did borrow hers for our obedience class and it helped A LOT but have been struggling with it philosophically. I'm trying to figure out what my style of training should be for Strider. My concerns are as follows:
- I am very interested in positive methods. I see this as the "ideal" however I am very inexperienced and am not sure I can be successful with using it exclusively.
- I don't want to become reliant on the prong for his attention. I want him to pay attention to me/obey because he wants to/is trained and conditioned to do so.
- Also have been told that the prong could worsen submissive urination (make him feel more nervous/uncomfortable)
With that said it could still be the best solution for me. I also attend a class that uses strictly positive methods and they advocate using front hook harness which helps a lot with his pulling. So I am open but on the fence. (I am actually taking 2 classes @ once right now to try to help me settle this difference of training philosophy!)

[puppyluv]

Pictures of Strider @ 12 wks old!


With my son

4 months

[chelle]

Originally Posted by puppyluv

I feel like I know some of you just from all of the reading I've done on this forum over the last several months! In Oct my husband bought me a really nice 11 wk old puppy from a breeder I found that happened to live in our same rural town here in NE Indiana. Her dogs seemed to have really nice bloodlines and her husband is a retired German police dog trainer. I felt lucky to find an experienced breeder so close to me! So far it has been an adventure and I've benefited greatly from all of the advice given on this forum - Thanks!!! I have have done lots of reading here and still have lots of questions but the thing I am most curious about is socializing and loose-leash walking. I didn't take him around to meet many dogs (we did do a short puppy class when he was 3 or 4 months old and are currently in a class now) when he was younger because I don't really know many well-behaved dogs and wanted to limit his exposure to negative experiences. Also, I am not confident on how to facilitate a good greeting between the dogs. So now he is very distracted by other dogs around when we are in class. He has been around other people a good bit but I limited that somewhat too because he was so mouthy as a young puppy (MUCH better since he's lost all of his baby teeth - thank goodness) and wanted to chew on everyone. He did/does get out with me a good bit though around town, running errands etc. We even brought him all the way to TX/LA for Christmas so he saw lots of new things... My problem now is that he gets so excited at seeing new people that he goes a little "nutso" when he gets up close to them at times (jumping, ears back, yelping, peeing). It used to only happen when my husband came home from work and then it happened once or twice a couple of months ago with random people we came across. It just seems to be getting worse. How in the world am I supposed to continue to socialize him and introduce him to people when he is having this kind of reaction/behavior? He's getting so big that it's really hard to control him when he acts up. I'll save the loose leash walking question for another time. ;-) I think I know what advice I will get - add better treats and distance to his introductions to new people (See - I've been reading! ). Well, anyway - Hi! to everyone and thanks again for all the good info you all share!!!

My youngest was fearful of people and especially little kids. I blame that on lack of human socialization before he came home.

We spent many an evening / weekend just sitting various places. We'd go do something first to wear him out and then just go... sit! The city park was a favorite. I had to figure out how many feet away from the path to sit to get zero reaction and we slowly moved it in. It really helped A LOT. I was also treating him, playing tug or squeaking a toy or whatever. (A huge part of our issue as we were doing this was his reaction to small kids.) As people, kids, strollers, etc went by, if he reacted at all, I knew I'd gone too close. As reactions lessened, we moved in. I just can't say how good this was for him. Then we threw in visits thru drive-thrus, car washes, etc. Other stores and places. Just hanging out. The dog park helped us a lot with human socialization as well. (Not necessarily recommending that to you; many have very strong opinions of dog parks with good reason, but it helped us oh so tremendously with him and human beings, considering 99.9% of people at dog parks are dog people, after all. )

I can't give you diddly on loose leash walking. We suck at that. We still need a prong to obtain loose-leash.

[puppyluv]

Thanks everyone for the welcome and the advice!

Lori - How long did it take for you to decide to use the prong and what kept you from trying earlier? Do you need to use it all of the time or can you do without it?

Chelle - It is SO nice to hear of a practical example/action plan/success story on this problem. His reactivity took me somewhat by surprise I had thought we were doing OK but I see I've got some work to do! Fun work though!

Thanks again! BTW - My profile pic doesn't show up in my posts. Any idea why...?

[chelle]

Originally Posted by puppyluv

Chelle - It is SO nice to hear of a practical example/action plan/success story on this problem. His reactivity took me somewhat by surprise I had thought we were doing OK but I see I've got some work to do! Fun work though!

Thanks again! BTW - My profile pic doesn't show up in my posts. Any idea why...?

Yes, you can get thru it with lots of time and patience!!!

Is your profile pic too big? I can't remember what the limits are, but you have to resize to that size or smaller...

[GSDisBest]

Congrats! Strider looks really good and big. And welcome to the forum!