[Sunsilver]

After getting run over a few times, I started carrying a walking stick with me to the dog park. When a group of dogs would come running towards me flat out, I'd put the walking stick in front of me, so they would hit that first, and not my poor knees!

I don't do dog parks any more, but I used to, because it was a good way to network with other dog people when I owned the boarding kennel.

 

[selzer]

Yeah, well, when that concrete canine skull hits your knee at 35-40 mph, you do feel it. When the concrete canine skull leaps up to get on top of her shelter while you are bending over to pick up her ball, the legs get weak and the stomach is nauseated and... Yep, got the t-shirt on that one. I think I called Whitney, Whitney War-head for a few years. And Milla did almost the same thing to me, square on the forehead. Her eyeballs were all bloodshot. The vet looked at me and worried about me if the dog looked like that. Yeah, I think we've all had our run-ins with injury. It's just part of the package. You buy a dog, and you get the tail and the bark and the hormones and the energy and the exuberance and the joy. You get teeth and toenails and puppy-making apparatus. You get vet bills and food bills and doctor bills. You get the sloppy greetings, and the loud greetings, and the whiney greetings. Just part of the package.

 

[carmspack]

strange little blog to choose --- who calls German Shepherd dogs - German Guards.
The whole thing had the feel of an article written in another language and translated by computer to English.

GSD don't bump to herd --- they use authority -- the clear message that you better move .

Breeds that do bump to move live stock have a different build --- think Rottweiler , heavy muscle , and square build.

 

[Steve Strom]

If you look at the actual blog, somehow the translation from English to English changed some of the wording. Maybe if vendors just talked about their products and didn't bother with these little article type posts trying to establish some kind of GSD cred it would be more worth while. I was glad to look at your website and product OP, I can't imagine anyone on this forum or even browsing through needs to be told what a German Shepherd is.

 

[Deb]

'Bumping' into you if gentle can be simply checking in with you. If I'm anxious, like when walking out of a hospital, Demi will touch me with her nose about every ten to twelve feet, Enya will do it with her shoulder. It's more of an 'I'm here for you' type touch. I don't get it as much if I'm not anxious. If your dog is doing this, examine yourself, your emotions, are you anxious? Are you feeling uncomfortable? Is your dog not completely comfortable? Checking in with you could also signal maybe the dog isn't completely comfortable. Standing in front of you if you not walking is blocking, it's placing themselves between you and others. Both of these behaviors are normal for GSDs and some other breeds. It's actually something we encourage in service dogs and even give it a command.

 

[wolfy dog]

Yeah, well, when that concrete canine skull hits your knee at 35-40 mph, you do feel it. When the concrete canine skull leaps up to get on top of her shelter while you are bending over to pick up her ball, the legs get weak and the stomach is nauseated and... Yep, got the t-shirt on that one. I think I called Whitney, Whitney War-head for a few years. And Milla did almost the same thing to me, square on the forehead. Her eyeballs were all bloodshot. The vet looked at me and worried about me if the dog looked like that. Yeah, I think we've all had our run-ins with injury. It's just part of the package. You buy a dog, and you get the tail and the bark and the hormones and the energy and the exuberance and the joy. You get teeth and toenails and puppy-making apparatus. You get vet bills and food bills and doctor bills. You get the sloppy greetings, and the loud greetings, and the whiney greetings. Just part of the package.

Oddly, after about 40 years of having dogs, the only dogs that ever ran into me were someone else's. None of my dogs ever bumped their head into mine (this is not to brag but I think it has to do with the fact that I put respect on the first place from hour 1). Coincidence? (knock on wood, just to be on the safe side :grin2:
But I have been pulled off my feet twice. Once by a young GSD (pre-prong times) who saw his best friend and the other time by a 23 pound Whippet when she heard the lure starting and I wasn't prepared for her fast response.
Deja, gently nudges me sometimes as if to say, "Hey, you haven't looked at me for the last xx minutes." or when I am walking slowly due to back surgery she touches my hands once in awhile. I consider it emotional support.

 

[selzer]

Oddly, after about 40 years of having dogs, the only dogs that ever ran into me were someone else's. None of my dogs ever bumped their head into mine (this is not to brag but I think it has to do with the fact that I put respect on the first place from hour 1). Coincidence? (knock on wood, just to be on the safe side :grin2:
But I have been pulled off my feet twice. Once by a young GSD (pre-prong times) who saw his best friend and the other time by a 23 pound Whippet when she heard the lure starting and I wasn't prepared for her fast response.
Deja, gently nudges me sometimes as if to say, "Hey, you haven't looked at me for the last xx minutes." or when I am walking slowly due to back surgery she touches my hands once in awhile. I consider it emotional support.

I think sometimes we get the wrong idea about respect. We demand respect from our dogs, and generally fail miserably, or have a dog that gives us a wide berth because the dog is mixing resepct with fear.

I respect my dogs from day one. I respect them as dogs, not furry people. Nothing more disrespectful to a dog than to expect it to fill a human roll, or to give it human-qualities as though the canine qualities it naturally possesses are lacking. I treat the dogs with respect. Which does not mean I do not correct them when necessary. In fact it requires that I maintain a level of discipline. It would be disrespectful to be permissive. But I talk to them, care for them, require of them what I need from them, without hassle, without coddling, without shoving treats in them to either distract or trick them into allowing me to cut a toenail or to pay them for it.

And they, trust and respect me. I am the lady with the food bucket, the one who opens the gates, the one that takes them wherever they go. They are not unintelligent.

They respect me because I am trustworthy. I am worthy of respect. They give it. I do not demand it from day 1. What this has to do with bumping, I don't know.

I have seen a young punk teenager of a dog run by my older bitch and she gave him a nip to tell him to watch it. The nip was not vicious, just communication. This was over 10 years ago, and the bitch was Arwen. He wheeled on her and laid into her. I then made a mistake for which I bear the marks yet. Be that as it may. Dogs can be careful, and can bump deliberately, probably for a number of reasons. Mostly it isn't a big deal.

I know trainers will have you sit the dog at door ways, and make you make the dog wait in hallways, or stairways. If you have a problem-dog, it is an opportunity to improve the dog's self control, add some training opportunities, and remind the dog that we are, inf fact, calling the shots. If you do not have a problem dog, then not waiting at doorways, stairs and hallways will not net you and uncontrollable dog who thinks he is in charge.

 

[wolfy dog]

I am not drill-sargent(sp?) and my dogs are not robots. There is mutual respect from and for both of us. Yes, bratty adolescents need to be drilled (NILIF) once in a while as a reminder.
Selzer: "I have seen a young punk teenager of a dog run by my older bitch and she gave him a nip to tell him to watch it. The nip was not vicious, just communication." To me this shows that she didn't allow to be disrespected and that "running into" is a no-no in the dog world. That's what I learned from them.

 

[tim_s_adams]

I respect my dogs from day one. I respect them as dogs, not furry people. Nothing more disrespectful to a dog than to expect it to fill a human roll, or to give it human-qualities as though the canine qualities it naturally possesses are lacking. I treat the dogs with respect. Which does not mean I do not correct them when necessary. In fact it requires that I maintain a level of discipline. It would be disrespectful to be permissive. But I talk to them, care for them, require of them what I need from them, without hassle, without coddling, without shoving treats in them to either distract or trick them into allowing me to cut a toenail or to pay them for it.

And they, trust and respect me. I am the lady with the food bucket, the one who opens the gates, the one that takes them wherever they go. They are not unintelligent.

They respect me because I am trustworthy. I am worthy of respect. They give it. I do not demand it from day 1. What this has to do with bumping, I don't know.

Seltzer, you certainly have a way with words. As I follow various threads on this forum, I find myself collecting quotes wherein the poster says something I would say, only much more eloquently. This is one of those statements!

I am raising my first GSD puppy, but I've always owned GSDs. This is the first time I've ever used treats to teach a dog anything, but it does seem to speed things up a bit since my puppy is so food motivated. She's now 8 months old, and I find she gets bored with me pretty quickly if the expected food treat does not appear. So I'm really wondering how intelligent the whole idea of treat-motivating a puppy or dog really is. I'm starting to think that the focus you gain with treats is actually offset by the missed opportunity for serious communication and respect you gain without them...

Now, to get back on topic...

Every dog I've ever owned did the touch thing. Not a bump really, but a nose or shoulder touch. I took it as an honor, and reciprocated the gesture as well. I think, at least in my experience, it's a showing of connection.

I guess that being said, once a puppy stops banging into various objects while learning to control their fast-growing limbs, I would not tolerate a dog or puppy intentionally bumping into me, and would promptly correct that behavior!

 

[cdwoodcox]

I look at this the same way as parenting a child. There were a lot of things that other parents even my wife on occasion, thought I should discipline the kids over. To me they were things not to worry about. If I told a kid to go do something and the kid sighed and rolled their eyes as they went to do it. I didn't care as long as they done it. Now, I know that dogs aren't children. But, they are a part of and live in our lives. And we are expected to teach them how to act. So there is some common denominators. If your dog bumping onto you bothers you. Don't allow it. Me personally, I don't care. I open my door, my dogs clammor and bang their way out. I don't care. They have been known to rush past me in the hall to get to the bedroom. I don't care. All of my dogs walk nicely on leash. Listen to me regardless. I'll put a BH on two of them in a couple weeks. Discipline and respect aren't an issue. I just choose what is important to me and don't sweat the small stuff. To each their own. But, I would rather spend my time not training enjoying my dogs. Not micro-managing how close they walk or run past me.

 

[selzer]

I am not drill-sargent(sp?) and my dogs are not robots. There is mutual respect from and for both of us. Yes, bratty adolescents need to be drilled (NILIF) once in a while as a reminder.
Selzer: "I have seen a young punk teenager of a dog run by my older bitch and she gave him a nip to tell him to watch it. The nip was not vicious, just communication." To me this shows that she didn't allow to be disrespected and that "running into" is a no-no in the dog world. That's what I learned from them.

Yes, that dog was an 11 month old show/working/pet cross that wanted to be the big boy on the block. He wasn't going to take correction from my older female. To be fair, Arwen was NOT an alpha. She was in the position by default -- Dubya was laid back and a year older than Rush, and just deferred to Arwen who was 4 years older than him. Rush jumped Dubya too around the same time. Rush was what I would call a beta dog -- not a natural alpha, but a wanna-be. The idea that he would attack a female, well, the dog was trainable and had a lot of good characteristics. I did breed him one time to babs, and kept two of the pups: Milla and Ninja. I did not get what I was hoping for, so I did not breed him again.

I do not take away that "running into" is a no-no in the dog world at all. I think it could be. And not every bump is "running into." Sometimes the dog bumps you as they are scrambling to get inside or outside or whatever, and yes, that may be careless disrespect of sorts, but there are many bumps in the lives of GSDs, and some are definitely not that. I think Rush was being a big puppy, romping and running past and into Arwen -- I was taking them to be groomed and was early so I set them loose in a field by the fair grounds, and Rush was being a young idiot, and Arwen was not in the mood. His bumping her was probably more -- "C-mon, play with me, let's RUN!" her response to his overture was "Watch your step, young fellow!" And that is when the actual behavior became ugly. I think dogs do try to engage with us by bumping -- bump and run. It is NOT trying to be the king of the mountain.

I dunno. My motto with reference to dogs is, "protect yourself at all times." And usually, I do not get hurt. In fact over the past 20 years of owning more shepherds than most people think manageable at the same time, I have had a handful of injuries almost all of them mentioned in this thread. I think it is to be expected. I have never been pulled down by a dog, which is also good, because I am a big person and the bigger they are, the harder they fall. The dogs are strong as oxen, so big as I am, they could probably pull me down, or do damage to my shoulders. But having watched them be incredibly careful with a little one on the other side of the leash, I know that these dogs are even smarter than we give them credit for. They pull, but even when aroused they are mindful of the person on the other side of the leash. They bump and run, but they are careful not to plow me over. They play a different game with dogs than they play with Susies. I had a group of 4 month old puppies that would work together: one would hang out behind my knees and the other two would run headlong toward me, veering off only in time not to lay me out. Psyche!!! But they never hurt Susie. LOL!

 

[selzer]

Seltzer, you certainly have a way with words. As I follow various threads on this forum, I find myself collecting quotes wherein the poster says something I would say, only much more eloquently. This is one of those statements!

I am raising my first GSD puppy, but I've always owned GSDs. This is the first time I've ever used treats to teach a dog anything, but it does seem to speed things up a bit since my puppy is so food motivated. She's now 8 months old, and I find she gets bored with me pretty quickly if the expected food treat does not appear. So I'm really wondering how intelligent the whole idea of treat-motivating a puppy or dog really is. I'm starting to think that the focus you gain with treats is actually offset by the missed opportunity for serious communication and respect you gain without them...

Now, to get back on topic...

Every dog I've ever owned did the touch thing. Not a bump really, but a nose or shoulder touch. I took it as an honor, and reciprocated the gesture as well. I think, at least in my experience, it's a showing of connection.

I guess that being said, once a puppy stops banging into various objects while learning to control their fast-growing limbs, I would not tolerate a dog or puppy intentionally bumping into me, and would promptly correct that behavior!

I think treats have a place in training. I think that sometimes we should moderate how and when we give them to get the best response -- not every time, keep them wondering. Give for the best/quickest responses. One should be able to wean off of them completely, but others find that their dog seems to bring his A-game when you have slimy hot dogs in your pocket. So it is up to you. Work with the dog in front of you, find what motivates him and tweak the motivation to get the best out of him.