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Trials and tribulations of a 7 month old pup!

2K views 6 replies 7 participants last post by  cdwoodcox 
#1 ·
Hi all! :) Have been a long time lurker, finally made an account to hopefully get involved in the community a bit more!

I'm looking for some help. Let me start by saying, my puppy is my entire world. I would never, ever give him up - I'm just looking for some help with training. He's 7 months old and despite my efforts to increase the amount of training and socialization he gets, he just seems to be getting more and more badly behaved. This being said, he's very good with the basics. His last accident was 4 days after we brought him home which leads me to believe that he is a very bright puppy so the potential is there! He does a lovely sit, down, roll over (sometimes!) and has recently learned 'leave it' and 'stay' - just not when he's wound up and excited :( I intend to have him neutered shortly after Christmas.
I am used to handling adult rescue dogs, he is my first puppy, so I'm not 100% on what is 'the norm' and what needs to be addressed the most...

He's extremely mouthy. At first, it was just puppy nips but since his adult teeth have come in he has started to clamp down and it reaaaallly hurts! I'm trying so hard to teach him bite inhibition and sometimes he takes notice but other times he gets that crazy look in his eye and there's no snapping him out of it. I have toys in every room to enable me to try to get him to focus on those instead, but he seems to prefer my arm! :| I try leaving the room for 10 seconds at a time and he will bite my legs as I walk away and then he just jumps at the door and whines. When I go back in he bites again. And repeat. I've been doing this consistently but nothing seems to be changing. I assumed this was down to teething so have given him frozen banana and carrot and occasionally that works. When there are more than two people downstairs, he gets so hyper and bitey that no matter how hard we try we simply cannot calm him down and I have to take him upstairs to my room where he can settle down and maybe sleep. His teeth seem to have all grown in, so by now I'm assuming he has finished teething? Maybe I just taste nice.... :rolleyes:

The second major issue I have with him is that he is incredibly reactive to other dogs. I volunteer at a rescue centre in my spare time, so luckily I do have experience with this but it upsets me to see it in a pup that I've tried so hard to socialise properly. It was going well and we had no issues until he was around 5 months old and somebody on my street had left their gate open and their two dogs attacked him. Since then, understandably I guess, he has been absolutely terrified and has never walked the same since. If he sees another dog across the field, he will freeze and fixate on the other dog and the owner until they are out of sight. If they come halfway down the field, he will bark, lunge and growl. I am currently trying to redirect his attention to me with his favorite treats and this does seem to be helping a little bit but when the other dog gets past a certain point, he simply will not focus on me no matter what I do or how exciting I try to make myself look. Sometimes I just can't get him out of the way quickly enough. If a dog is behind us, he will try to sprint away (I'm tiny, he's huge... he could drag me for miles if he wanted to - i've walked mastiffs that pulled less than he can :surprise:) I don't want it to get to the point where I'm walking him in the woods at midnight just to avoid everybody, so if anybody has had similar issues I would really appreciate some advice. I daren't take him for play dates anymore at the minute :( I am seeing improvement with his pulling - as soon as he got the hint that we were on the way home he would drag me for the last chunk of the walk however now I can get his attention when he's pulling, get him into a sit and then he seems to understand that I want him to take it slowly from then on.

In addition to this, he barks at everybody that comes near my house (at least I don't have to worry about being burgled I suppose :whistle:). If any letters come through the letterbox, he barks. I try to answer the door? Not without him, I don't. Neighbour coming home? You guessed it, bark. This is only ever in the house. The only times he's barked at people when we've been outside is when somebody has accidentally startled him. Is this just guarding behaviour? :confused:

I have more, smaller, issues with him that seem to just be typical puppy behaviors that I'm trying to tackle. He gets a 30-40 minute walk in the morning, a training session mid afternoon and then another 30-40 minute walk in the evening. He has plenty of toys and I use kongs on a regular basis in an attempt to keep boredom at an absolute minimum. I'm just wondering if it sounds like I need to seek a professional trainer, or if this is something that he should grow out of if I persist with trying to tackle it myself? He's an absolutely beautiful dog in the evening when he's tired and it's just myself and him - he will just cuddle. I'd love to see more of this side of him, as sometimes I feel like I've got a little demon! >:) Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank you for reading.
 
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#2 ·
What you've described is in my view, typical bratty adolscent behavior which requires strong leadership on your part, a stronger will then his, and consistency and patience. I do agree with your post when you mentioned hiring a trainer - I would suggest you explore that option. That is not to say you can't do it yourself. I would start with the biting. That has to stop and since the nice way isn't working, it is time to get tough. When he bites, say a sharp no and squeeze his muzzle hard - that should stop the bite. If he yelps, ignore it. Then after he stops, give him his toy and say this is yours in a nice voice. Praise him for taking the toy. Once he has learned that you are not a chew toy, working on the other problems will go easier.
 
#3 ·
Sounds like he needs to be protected from and reassured around other dogs. I'd have him leave it and redirect his attention to you then reward when he's calm and his attention is on you.
He's too old for you to leave the room thing over biting. Sounds like he needs firm leadership and immediate consequence for biting you. You can let him be a jerk and he'll be a jerk or can intervene.
Hope you can find a good gsd trainer.
 
#4 ·
First he sounds very bratty, probably has gotten away with a lot of bad behavior (?), and has difficulty capping his energy (which is typical for this age).

With the biting I would teach him more structured play with a tug... Michael Ellis videos on engagement (youtube) will help. I think teaching a fun game and teaching him the rules, so he gets to play when he follows the rules will help him bond to you and learn to cap energy. Michael Ellis also has a video on capping energy. Start now. It will be hard and he will push the limits but I think if you stay committed, he will start to mature and learn how to play fair and how to cap energy. Part of that is maturity part of that is training. Given his energy you might be more challenged than the next guy but it is certainly doable.

Reactivity... here I would always recommend a good trainer. Timing and distraction and trust building is so individual specific that I would want to work one on one with a good trainer to learn my dog and how to work with that individual dog.
 
#6 ·
Agreed with what others have said. He's being a brat.

At this point, I would argue for well-timed corrections instead of only treats. You need, with the help of a trainer, to give him a correction to establish the rules. A correction will give him the "no". Then you give a well-timed reward as soon as he does the right thing to give him the "yes".

I am learning this too with our puppy. At this point in his life, he needs very clear yes and no answers to behaviors. He needs to know what is wrong and what is right. There is nothing at all immoral or cruel about teaching your dog the "no" via a correction, so long as you also pair it with the "yes".

So have a trainer help you establish yes and no rules. This is what he needs right now. He needs rules. Lots of rules. Lots of exceptionally crystal clear rules.
 
#7 ·
Agree with the bite advice. With all of my dogs when they would wanna get bitey I would either with two straight fingers smack them on top of the nose fairly hard and say no bite. Hold their muzzle shut and say no bite, or push my fingers down on the back of their tongue while saying no bite.
Of course redirecting with a chew toy is nice to pair along with these things but not always possible. Just be persistent.
 
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