Hello all,
I've been lurking on these forums for wisdom before I adopted my girl at the end of July. Thanks in arears and in advance for all the knowledge here.
I built a custom home in 2014 which I jokingly knicknamed the doghouse. I grew up with dogs (and livestock etc.) but never could have them as a renter. Once things finally stabilized with my house this summer, I started searching for adult rescue dogs (at the time I worked full time and was gone over 50 hrs/week, making a puppy a bad idea).
I had been in contact with northern California GSD rescues, since in my rural, low population area I only saw pit bull mixes at the shelters. But one day when I was ready, Donna (not her original name) popped up on Craigslist on a Sunday. Her mommy had just divorced, had a sketchy living situation that didn't really allow dogs, so Donna was going to the shelter on Monday if nobody adopted her. I couldn't let that happen, though mom did divulge some issues (see below).
Donna will be 3 yrs on Oct 13. She is 75 lbs at last vet visit.
She is doing well with obedience. She's very smart and learns quickly. Within about a month I was confident enough to let her off leash on our walks. I have her doing sit, down, come very well. I'm pretty much using NILIF right now, which does wonders for all the little things as we know.
She didn't play at all at first, which was very weird for me. Now I understand that she was settling in. Some Kong squeek oversized tennis balls finally got her out of her funk, and she loves fetch now. My property is 3/4 acre, so she can do a lot right at the house. But I'm also at the foot of multiple trails where we get tons of stimulating exercise, and then there's the beach 15 mins down the hill.
She does have some very clear, typical issues though. First, aggression towards dogs she doesn't know. She is fine once some time is spent walking etc. with other dogs on a regular basis. But unknown dogs instigate a serious reaction. I've learned a lot from the forums here already on this, as well as a friend who does ringsport with Belgian Malinois. I will be working with a trainer referred by said Belgian Mal friend on this once she recovers from her spay.
She has a super high prey drive for anything furry and small. Poultry is not an issue (my mother and neighbors keep poultry and she's curious but doesn't lunge etc.). Smaller dogs, cats, rabbits-- she wants to get it big time. I'll see what the trainer says about this.
She had an OK life before me, but I think it was pretty unstructured and definitely not ideally built for a GSD. I think her dog aggression came out of this. Little serious training beyond an "Out" command that's pretty handy actually.
She was finally spayed about a week ago. This has been the most recent challenge. I got her a soft cone, which helped both of us a lot. But her life is so different from what she enjoyed before. Lots of restlessness at night-- I am a little sleep deprived. I know we'll get through it, but I really hope she's not affect permanently. Many of the basic obedience issues seem to have flown out the window with the spay and e collar. I'm hoping for the best.
On walks I can tell she's super scent-motivated, so the 'job' I want to give her is going to be tracking/nosework. We'll start after things settle down from the spay.
I know in these online forums there's so much knowledge so again I want to thank everybody for contributing. I just want to give Donna a good, stimulating, fun life. I think I live in a great area and have a great lifestyle for a GSD (super active, exploratory, into training/brainwork etc., will be working from home in a couple weeks). So the challenges will subside with some smart and focused work with her.
I've been lurking on these forums for wisdom before I adopted my girl at the end of July. Thanks in arears and in advance for all the knowledge here.
I built a custom home in 2014 which I jokingly knicknamed the doghouse. I grew up with dogs (and livestock etc.) but never could have them as a renter. Once things finally stabilized with my house this summer, I started searching for adult rescue dogs (at the time I worked full time and was gone over 50 hrs/week, making a puppy a bad idea).
I had been in contact with northern California GSD rescues, since in my rural, low population area I only saw pit bull mixes at the shelters. But one day when I was ready, Donna (not her original name) popped up on Craigslist on a Sunday. Her mommy had just divorced, had a sketchy living situation that didn't really allow dogs, so Donna was going to the shelter on Monday if nobody adopted her. I couldn't let that happen, though mom did divulge some issues (see below).
Donna will be 3 yrs on Oct 13. She is 75 lbs at last vet visit.
She is doing well with obedience. She's very smart and learns quickly. Within about a month I was confident enough to let her off leash on our walks. I have her doing sit, down, come very well. I'm pretty much using NILIF right now, which does wonders for all the little things as we know.
She didn't play at all at first, which was very weird for me. Now I understand that she was settling in. Some Kong squeek oversized tennis balls finally got her out of her funk, and she loves fetch now. My property is 3/4 acre, so she can do a lot right at the house. But I'm also at the foot of multiple trails where we get tons of stimulating exercise, and then there's the beach 15 mins down the hill.
She does have some very clear, typical issues though. First, aggression towards dogs she doesn't know. She is fine once some time is spent walking etc. with other dogs on a regular basis. But unknown dogs instigate a serious reaction. I've learned a lot from the forums here already on this, as well as a friend who does ringsport with Belgian Malinois. I will be working with a trainer referred by said Belgian Mal friend on this once she recovers from her spay.
She has a super high prey drive for anything furry and small. Poultry is not an issue (my mother and neighbors keep poultry and she's curious but doesn't lunge etc.). Smaller dogs, cats, rabbits-- she wants to get it big time. I'll see what the trainer says about this.
She had an OK life before me, but I think it was pretty unstructured and definitely not ideally built for a GSD. I think her dog aggression came out of this. Little serious training beyond an "Out" command that's pretty handy actually.
She was finally spayed about a week ago. This has been the most recent challenge. I got her a soft cone, which helped both of us a lot. But her life is so different from what she enjoyed before. Lots of restlessness at night-- I am a little sleep deprived. I know we'll get through it, but I really hope she's not affect permanently. Many of the basic obedience issues seem to have flown out the window with the spay and e collar. I'm hoping for the best.
On walks I can tell she's super scent-motivated, so the 'job' I want to give her is going to be tracking/nosework. We'll start after things settle down from the spay.
I know in these online forums there's so much knowledge so again I want to thank everybody for contributing. I just want to give Donna a good, stimulating, fun life. I think I live in a great area and have a great lifestyle for a GSD (super active, exploratory, into training/brainwork etc., will be working from home in a couple weeks). So the challenges will subside with some smart and focused work with her.