[RocketDog]

I would not trust the younger kids to walk Kira...and it shouldn't be their responsibility. Many GSD's are purchased as companions for the adults, and not really 'family' pets. I would never want my kids to take Onyx out in public with the reactivity she has. Unless my kids knew exactly how to handle her and expect situations to happen(dog running up). It would be too much of a liability.

You missed my point, as I'm sure others did.

What I meant was, either they start respecting Anthony's rule, or no wi-fi. Works well for my house. They learn fast. :crazy:

 

[Sunflowers]

You can't tell people what they've got to do.
I suspect Anthony doesn't have the time for this. Or the energy to do this anymore. No one is listening to what he's saying.

 

[RocketDog]

Angel had a very, very good post Anthony. I hope you have a good day at home today.

 

[onyx'girl]

You missed my point, as I'm sure others did.

What I meant was, either they start respecting Anthony's rule, or no wi-fi. Works well for my house. They learn fast. :crazy:

I understood your point, but I had to comment because children should not take a reactive dog out in public. They can feed water brush, exercise,etc.
But I'd not suggest walking I don't even trust my husband with Onyx! Though I should give him more credit, LOL

 

[Mrs.K]

You can't tell people what they've got to do.
I suspect Anthony doesn't have the time for this. Or the energy to do this anymore. No one is listening to what he's saying.

It is a suggestion. If he does or doesn't do it, is up to him. Nobody can control that.

 

[RocketDog]

This is in response to Jane:

I also agree. I was talking about keeping the doors shut in the house (as he's mentioned), telling their friends to respect Kira's space, stuff like that. NOT training or helping him out with her. I totally get what you're saying, even regarding your husband, heh.

But...if Anthony says they're not interested, it will be harder and easier for him. Easier, because if he and his wife are the only ones training and handling Kira, she won't get any mixed signals or anything. But harder, because they won't reinforce rules that Anthony sets.

That's more about what I meant.

 

[Liesje]

OK here's my take. Anthony I'm sort of in the same situation as you. Now, it's not as bad because I don't have kids yet, but my husband is not involved with my dogs. We have people that come and go (his friends, my family, acquaintances that drop in...and sometimes these people have kids).

The first thing is if your family is apathetic towards the dog then you need to accept that and move on. IMO there is nothing wrong with that. You can't force people to like a dog or want to be involved. Heck sometimes it's better this way because my husband isn't trying to "train" my dogs and undoing everything I've already done! It sounds like Kira is YOUR dog.

You say you are not against crated but don't want her to live in a crate or kennel. Why? How has she earned the right to be free in the house, lying on that nice leather sofa sounding off at people? In my house a dog earns his freedom foot by foot. Puppies start out in crates/kennels/pens with structured and managed free time (yard time, playing with other dogs time, learning to be free in the house and not destroy it time, focused training time...). Right now it seems like Kira has done nothing to prove she has earned any freedom in your house and has in fact demonstrated several times that she should *not* have this freedom at this age. To me the answer is simple. If your family wants nothing to do with her and you can't be around 24/7 to police her behavior then keep her confined. If my husband wants to have people over or friends are coming over with kids and I'm not around, I have him crate my dogs even though they have proven to be OK with people and kids. Growing up with family and friends that do not care for dogs I just assume that everyone hates my dogs so I put them away (crate in the basement or van, or put out in the yard if it's nice) when I can't be there to supervise.

 

[msvette2u]

I always get the impression that Kira was obtained for beauty and (perhaps) status, a bit.
The feeling is, she's just like Coconut or whatever the fluffy thing is.
A and his wife have a very nice home and you'd expect them to have a little exotic thing like Coconut.
You might even expect them to have a GSD.

But why a GSD? GSDs are bred to be suspicious..."aloof", and even show guarding.
So then suddenly Kira is being her GSD self, with a bit of spice thrown in for good measure (unexpected, that her nerves would be poor -IF they are) and boom, everything's going to **** in a handbasket.

I expected and anticipated my GSD (we've had 3 now plus 1 mix) to be a protector for our family. Even if just by "looks", which is best, but also if he felt the need to protect us with his teeth, he may do that as well if the situation warrants.

If he's that type (guarding and/or biting) dog (the 1st two we adopted were not puppies, one was adult and the other was a 5mo. old puppy) then we'll do what it takes to keep company safe, such as put the dog up, introduce on leash, etc.

But my point is, I expected this and got my dogs solely for that purpose.

So what was Kira's purpose in the home? If people don't get a GSD for the protection factor, why do they get one?

If you didn't want a dog with guarding tendencies, why would you get one that has guarding tendencies?

Do people get these dogs to just sit around and look pretty?
I think they are beautiful dogs, but I wouldn't own one if I didn't desire some "oh, a big possibly mean dog!" aspect.

I find this breed to be a good "deterrent", for creeps and would-be thieves :shrug:

How has she earned the right to be free in the house, lying on that nice leather sofa sounding off at people?

This exactly. She's not a larger version of Coconut. She's a GSD and she's taken reign of the house, you've let her do that.

I'm BIG proponent of "Mind Games" which can help remind dogs they are just a dog in the house, not a furry person. It's a very kind method of exerting your leadership status over a dog.
Crating her ass a few times a day and at night is not going to harm her although she may be miffed, but that's okay, because she's not your wife, either

 

[Jack's Dad]

Wild Wolf covered everything I would have said and did it better than I could have.

I wish you the very best.

 

[Mrs.K]

Crating her ass a few times a day and at night is not going to harm her although she may be miffed, but that's okay, because she's not your wife, either

Remember how I was against crating when I first joined this forum?
Meanwhile I believe it is the best tool out there on the market, if it is used as a tool and not to lock up the dog 24/7.

 

[llombardo]

My kids don't care. They wouldn't care if I got rid of her. They have no interest in her, or training, feeding, etc....
I told them last night, that getting rid of her might be an option, and they just shrugged their shoulders, and justified it.




Sent from Petguide.com Free App

I am so sorry that they feel this way. It makes everything so much harder.

 

[Blanketback]

There's 3 ages when GSDs typically get rehomed - after a month or so of putting up with the landshark phase, once the puppyfur's gone and they're "dogs" but hard to manage, and right where Kira is: when a few mistakes in training makes it seem like the sky is falling. You CAN hire a trainer to come help you over this last hurdle with her. She's making poor choices because you've allowed her to, but her basic OB is wonderful (thanks to you, I'm not bashing you) and it won't be difficult to remind her of her place in your family, with the help of a decent trainer.

 

[Gretchen]

They don't like her, and they want nothing to do with her. I cant force the issue.

I'm so sorry. I just made a statement about getting your family involved on another one of your threads.

This is the source of your problems, and you know it. Your family either needs to want to work as a unit with Kira or consider finding a happier home for her. This is so sad as we can all see you love Kira so much.

 

[Mrs.K]

I'm so sorry. I just made a statement about getting your family involved on another one of your threads.

This is the source of your problems, and you know it. Your family either needs to want to work as a unit with Kira or consider finding a happier home for her. This is so sad as we can all see you love Kira so much.

I did not even see that statement. That could be the source or at least a big part of what is going on in that household.

 

[RocketDog]

I always get the impression that Kira was obtained for beauty and (perhaps) status, a bit.
The feeling is, she's just like Coconut or whatever the fluffy thing is.
A and his wife have a very nice home and you'd expect them to have a little exotic thing like Coconut.
You might even expect them to have a GSD.

But why a GSD? GSDs are bred to be suspicious..."aloof", and even show guarding.
So then suddenly Kira is being her GSD self, with a bit of spice thrown in for good measure (unexpected, that her nerves would be poor -IF they are) and boom, everything's going to **** in a handbasket.

I expected and anticipated my GSD (we've had 3 now plus 1 mix) to be a protector for our family. Even if just by "looks", which is best, but also if he felt the need to protect us with his teeth, he may do that as well if the situation warrants.

If he's that type (guarding and/or biting) dog (the 1st two we adopted were not puppies, one was adult and the other was a 5mo. old puppy) then we'll do what it takes to keep company safe, such as put the dog up, introduce on leash, etc.

But my point is, I expected this and got my dogs solely for that purpose.

So what was Kira's purpose in the home? If people don't get a GSD for the protection factor, why do they get one?

If you didn't want a dog with guarding tendencies, why would you get one that has guarding tendencies?

Do people get these dogs to just sit around and look pretty?
I think they are beautiful dogs, but I wouldn't own one if I didn't desire some "oh, a big possibly mean dog!" aspect.

I find this breed to be a good "deterrent", for creeps and would-be thieves :shrug:



This exactly. She's not a larger version of Coconut. She's a GSD and she's taken reign of the house, you've let her do that.

I'm BIG proponent of "Mind Games" which can help remind dogs they are just a dog in the house, not a furry person. It's a very kind method of exerting your leadership status over a dog.
Crating her ass a few times a day and at night is not going to harm her although she may be miffed, but that's okay, because she's not your wife, either

You are way off with this post.

 

[msvette2u]

You are way off with this post.

Not surprising you'd think that

 

[Liesje]

Why does the family have to be involved? This is confusing to me as I see in a lot of threads on here people say GSDs tend to be one person dogs and the parent(s) need to be in control of the training, not leave that up to kids. Kira can be Anthony's dog. What is wrong with that? I think the issue is not Kira being his dog but maybe him coming to terms with that? My family wants nothing to do with my dogs and my husband could not care less if I had dogs or not and it has never been an issue for us. They are my dogs and my responsibility. Clearly Anthony loves her and wants the best for her or he would not keep coming back here for abuse, lol. I don't want him to think the only possible outcome is giving her back. She can be HIS dog if HE can make that work.

 

[RocketDog]

Maybe I know Anthony better than you do. Your "internet analysis" of his intentions is completely way off base.

 

[msvette2u]

There's 3 ages when GSDs typically get rehomed - after a month or so of putting up with the landshark phase, once the puppyfur's gone and they're "dogs" but hard to manage, and right where Kira is: when a few mistakes in training makes it seem like the sky is falling. You CAN hire a trainer to come help you over this last hurdle with her. She's making poor choices because you've allowed her to, but her basic OB is wonderful (thanks to you, I'm not bashing you) and it won't be difficult to remind her of her place in your family, with the help of a decent trainer.

You are right...we see them in rescue at this age, usually after someone drove them out in the country and dumped them, and we get them here and realized their "issues". Many aren't big issues but do make them difficult to live in certain situations (unaddressed cat aggression, or "stranger fear" for instance).

 

[RocketDog]

Why does the family have to be involved? This is confusing to me as I see in a lot of threads on here people say GSDs tend to be one person dogs and the parent(s) need to be in control of the training, not leave that up to kids. Kira can be Anthony's dog. What is wrong with that? I think the issue is not Kira being his dog but maybe him coming to terms with that? My family wants nothing to do with my dogs and my husband could not care less if I had dogs or not and it has never been an issue for us. They are my dogs and my responsibility.

This is true. However....Anthony has teenagers and unfortunately, as he has stated, they are adept at forgetting there is anything else going on in the world besides what's going on in their own (like most teens do at some point). He has mentioned they forget to shut doors, etc. Keeping the dog confined may play into this, especially if they're the first ones home and they have to take the dog out, or put the dog into the crate, that sort of thing. Also, if they have friends come home with them, that might be an issue.