This is just a vent post, to anyone who sees it you're 100% fine to leave whatever feedback you'd like. Maybe my story will show how important it is to buy from reputable breeders/meet the parents of your great GSD. It's just closure for me at this point
If you've seen my last posts on my page, I have a now 6 month old GSD female who had, and still has pretty moderate aggressive issues. Which has worsened since then with the the new addition of aggression.
I first knew something was off when I got her, she wasn't excited to see anyone, and wanted to run right back to the back yard where she was. (8 weeks) when we brought her home, she warmed up and became our best friend. We took her everywhere with us, inside stores, parks, walks and she was absolutely great. Doing fantastic actually. She let people approach, pet, and didn't mind kids at all. She would follow us off the leash, got over her fear of stairs immediately. She learned, sit, stay, Spin, shake, down faster than I've seen any other dog learn. I took her to the vet for updated shots, and she did great there as well. Just normal, typical development of a puppy.
One day, at the 3 month old mark she found her voice and began barking at everyone she saw, and dogs. This behavior came from thin air. She would stop listening to commands, and would not redirect her attention even in the presence of treats. In the house, still our same dog we had since 8 weeks. Outside, a completely different personality, and remember, everything was fine up until the 3 month old point. I didn't really mind the barking because she eventually let me redirect her attention and would get over it so that was improvement.
One day at a park, a little girl my daughter's age was there (3) and Ava was on her back lets lunging, eyes completely white trying to get this little girl who wasn't acting sporadic or crazy. That was the day she truly scared me, and I realized then I did not have a normal dog. These behaviors never stopped after that. Introducing, seeing or even smelling another dog isn't an option for her and believe me I tried. Kids, are absolutely a no go for her. She's lunged and attempted to bite several, and I have to leave the park immediately. And for those who think "how's her exercise?" Its great and always has been. She runs and jumps excellent, very athletic dog. Her recent food aggression is just another "what else"? If you approach her, she gets very stiff, snarls and growls as a grown man, it's actually scary experienceing it. She never showed any food aggression before. She doesnt with her toys or anything else for now. If it was just me and my wife I would just let her eat, but I have a 3 year who who this dog is now bigger than. There's no such thing as her attacking my child.
On a recent trip to the vet, they tried taking her out back to see how she was and she "lunged" and "tried to bite". The vet was very concerned with her I could tell. She suggested some anxiety medication, both situational and long term. I gave it a try and there's been zero difference. On a road trip I stopped by a family members house in Illinois and gave the situational medication a try. It's a "sedation" type deal and didn't work AN OUNCE. She got out of the uhaul and acted straight horrible. I was actually shocked. Several people told me something was definitely off with her. They suggested the parents were probably very aggressive and it passed down to her. Unfortunately for her, she's now a massive liability and somebody WILL get hurt. I do not have the thousands of dollars for "room and board" training that ultimately wouldn't work, a guy already turned me down for it. She acts like an animal that's been chained up in a backyard and saw one person their entire life.
I've been around several GSDs and they are outstanding dogs. From highly trained police K9s my step father had to GSDs out of a friend's back yard.
"Why didn't you train or that dog wasn't aggressive" the dog is absolutely aggressive I don't care if they know how to be at 6 months or not, she did. I reached out to a couple trainers who to my surprise, didn't want to do it.
Ava was born into the world by negligence. The "breeder" didn't know what he was doing, and I should have never went through with the transaction. Bad lessons learned here, always meet the parents.
If you've seen my last posts on my page, I have a now 6 month old GSD female who had, and still has pretty moderate aggressive issues. Which has worsened since then with the the new addition of aggression.
I first knew something was off when I got her, she wasn't excited to see anyone, and wanted to run right back to the back yard where she was. (8 weeks) when we brought her home, she warmed up and became our best friend. We took her everywhere with us, inside stores, parks, walks and she was absolutely great. Doing fantastic actually. She let people approach, pet, and didn't mind kids at all. She would follow us off the leash, got over her fear of stairs immediately. She learned, sit, stay, Spin, shake, down faster than I've seen any other dog learn. I took her to the vet for updated shots, and she did great there as well. Just normal, typical development of a puppy.
One day, at the 3 month old mark she found her voice and began barking at everyone she saw, and dogs. This behavior came from thin air. She would stop listening to commands, and would not redirect her attention even in the presence of treats. In the house, still our same dog we had since 8 weeks. Outside, a completely different personality, and remember, everything was fine up until the 3 month old point. I didn't really mind the barking because she eventually let me redirect her attention and would get over it so that was improvement.
One day at a park, a little girl my daughter's age was there (3) and Ava was on her back lets lunging, eyes completely white trying to get this little girl who wasn't acting sporadic or crazy. That was the day she truly scared me, and I realized then I did not have a normal dog. These behaviors never stopped after that. Introducing, seeing or even smelling another dog isn't an option for her and believe me I tried. Kids, are absolutely a no go for her. She's lunged and attempted to bite several, and I have to leave the park immediately. And for those who think "how's her exercise?" Its great and always has been. She runs and jumps excellent, very athletic dog. Her recent food aggression is just another "what else"? If you approach her, she gets very stiff, snarls and growls as a grown man, it's actually scary experienceing it. She never showed any food aggression before. She doesnt with her toys or anything else for now. If it was just me and my wife I would just let her eat, but I have a 3 year who who this dog is now bigger than. There's no such thing as her attacking my child.
On a recent trip to the vet, they tried taking her out back to see how she was and she "lunged" and "tried to bite". The vet was very concerned with her I could tell. She suggested some anxiety medication, both situational and long term. I gave it a try and there's been zero difference. On a road trip I stopped by a family members house in Illinois and gave the situational medication a try. It's a "sedation" type deal and didn't work AN OUNCE. She got out of the uhaul and acted straight horrible. I was actually shocked. Several people told me something was definitely off with her. They suggested the parents were probably very aggressive and it passed down to her. Unfortunately for her, she's now a massive liability and somebody WILL get hurt. I do not have the thousands of dollars for "room and board" training that ultimately wouldn't work, a guy already turned me down for it. She acts like an animal that's been chained up in a backyard and saw one person their entire life.
I've been around several GSDs and they are outstanding dogs. From highly trained police K9s my step father had to GSDs out of a friend's back yard.
"Why didn't you train or that dog wasn't aggressive" the dog is absolutely aggressive I don't care if they know how to be at 6 months or not, she did. I reached out to a couple trainers who to my surprise, didn't want to do it.
Ava was born into the world by negligence. The "breeder" didn't know what he was doing, and I should have never went through with the transaction. Bad lessons learned here, always meet the parents.
