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#1
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new dog...new surroundings
hello,
My name is Tracy and I have just become the owner of a 3 year old Germam Shepherd nam,ed Dallas. She is a beautiful dog, very loving,gentle,loyal and extremely cuddly. She will sleep in bed with me as long as im in bed and wait for me outside the shower. Shes obedient and playful and will obey even the slightest command.....until i take her around other people. Whenever anyone comes over she will bark and growl viciously and will not leave my side. I had her out for a walk 3 days ago and out of nowhere she attacked and bit a man just walking past on the sidewalk. Thankfully,he didnt press charges. I dont know what to do about this. My friend (who I took her from) raised her in the country where there was no public and no other people around other than her and her kids. I guess what im wondering is, is it possible for me to (safely) get Dallas use to the city and re-train her into acceptable behavior? If so, how do I do this? Or should i try and find her a new home where she will be more suited with comfortable surroundings? Please, if you have any comments questions or advice i would absolutely LOVE to hear it... Thanks, Tracy |
#2
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new dog...new surroundings
wrote in message ups.com... hello, My name is Tracy and I have just become the owner of a 3 year old Germam Shepherd nam,ed Dallas. She is a beautiful dog, very loving,gentle,loyal and extremely cuddly. She will sleep in bed with me as long as im in bed and wait for me outside the shower. Shes obedient and playful and will obey even the slightest command.....until i take her around other people. Whenever anyone comes over she will bark and growl viciously and will not leave my side. I had her out for a walk 3 days ago and out of nowhere she attacked and bit a man just walking past on the sidewalk. Thankfully,he didnt press charges. I dont know what to do about this. My friend (who I took her from) raised her in the country where there was no public and no other people around other than her and her kids. I guess what im wondering is, is it possible for me to (safely) get Dallas use to the city and re-train her into acceptable behavior? If so, how do I do this? Or should i try and find her a new home where she will be more suited with comfortable surroundings? Please, if you have any comments questions or advice i would absolutely LOVE to hear it... Thanks, Tracy Tracy, It would be a very good idea to work with an experienced trainer in person, one on one with this problem. Good luck. Beth |
#3
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new dog...new surroundings
Hi Tracy,
You've inherited a dog with many problems. This is territorial aggression, from what you've described. If you want to keep the dog, you will need to work long and hard to get the dog to be a social dog. You will need help. You will need professional advice. You either pay for a dog trainer, or you will pay a dog fine. However, you can read more about it on the Net. http://www.positivedogs.com/aggression_start.html This is a good place to start. /Natalie On Jul 4, 9:28 pm, wrote: comes over she will bark and growl viciously and will not leave my side. I had her out for a walk 3 days ago and out of nowhere she attacked and bit a man just walking past on the sidewalk. Thankfully,he didnt press charges. I dont know what to do about this. My friend (who I took her from) raised her in the country where there was no public and no other people around other than her and her kids. I guess what im wondering is, is it possible for me to (safely) get Dallas use to the city and re-train her into acceptable behavior? If so, how do I do this? Or should i try and find her a new home where she will be more suited with comfortable surroundings? Please, if you have any comments questions or advice i would absolutely LOVE to hear it... Thanks, Tracy |
#4
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new dog...new surroundings
wrote in message
ups.com... hello, My name is Tracy and I have just become the owner of a 3 year old Germam Shepherd nam,ed Dallas. She is a beautiful dog, very loving,gentle,loyal and extremely cuddly. She will sleep in bed with me as long as im in bed and wait for me outside the shower. Shes obedient and playful and will obey even the slightest command.....until i take her around other people. Whenever anyone comes over she will bark and growl viciously and will not leave my side. I had her out for a walk 3 days ago and out of nowhere she attacked and bit a man just walking past on the sidewalk. Thankfully,he didnt press charges. I dont know what to do about this. My friend (who I took her from) raised her in the country where there was no public and no other people around other than her and her kids. I guess what im wondering is, is it possible for me to (safely) get Dallas use to the city and re-train her into acceptable behavior? If so, how do I do this? Or should i try and find her a new home where she will be more suited with comfortable surroundings? Please, if you have any comments questions or advice i would absolutely LOVE to hear it... As bethgsd said, consult a good trainer. In the meantime, perhaps she should be muzzled for her walks? This is another case where I'd be curious to know if she has a comfort zone, where she will allow herself to be petted by a stranger that's farther away from you than leash-length. Has she been friendly with other people when you aren't physically close to her? flick 100785 |
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new dog...new surroundings
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#6
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new dog...new surroundings
"Michael A. Ball" wrote in message
... Just one more opinion here. I really like GSD, and it sounds like you've acquired a potentially fabulous specimen! Whatever it takes, please, don't give up on Dallas. Why did your friend give away such a fine dog? How did you get the dog to accept you? As I believe you realize, Dallas is far, far behind on socialization; and it's going to be a challenge to correct--because everyone will fear him. I wish I were there to meet him. I don't want to minimize Dallas's problem, or blow it out of proportion. Dogs do what they know to do. If you have the resources and a professional trainer is available, use one. Otherwise, you can probably correct Dallas's misbehavior. I doubt that Dallas is trained to guard a physical area, and if so, he's away from it now. So, what's he reacting to? Again, why didn't he react that way to you? If you know, that's just about what you need to get other people to do. :-) Get some of your friends/acquaintances who would be willing to help, one at a time, to help you retrain Dallas. The three of you go for a walk. See how close your helper can get to you. Try to decrease the distance as you walk. Once Dallas appears to accept the presence of the helper, hand the leash to your helper and continue walking. Slowly drift away from Dallas and see if he will tolerate the separation. If he absolutely goes nuts, close up and retake the leash. Repeat the process until Dallas realizes he will remain safe, in the hands of people you accept. We all fear the unknown, to various extents; including Dallas. He just needs to eliminate a source of fear: strangers. For what it's worth, a balance of defending and accepting would be my personal goal for Dallas. I have a Chow Chow, and I don't want Tang to accept just anyone. Please, keep us posted. This is going to be a great learning experience! I wonder if this behavior is more like resource guarding than fear of strangers, if he's more guarding her. I wonder if he'd accept somebody else if she wasn't there. flick 100785 |
#7
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new dog...new surroundings
On Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:33:24 -0500, "Many Dogs \(flick\)"
wrote: I wonder if this behavior is more like resource guarding than fear of strangers, if he's more guarding her. I wonder if he'd accept somebody else if she wasn't there. Yes, I also wondered if he wasn't guarding her. That's probably the first thing most folks would suspect. However, I didn't even think about the "resource" aspect. Do dogs consider us a resource [except maybe at feeding time]? :-) You know, I just realized, some shelter dogs do come to see me as a source of security. They become "clingy." I'm certain most of us have experienced this behavior. There are plenty of stories where a dog has defended its guardian, but the motivation is never addressed; and I certainly don't know what motivates that behavior. Now I'm curious. Maybe Tracy will tell us how Dallas reacts to strangers, when he is alone. I suspect his reaction is no different. ________________________ Whatever it takes. |
#8
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new dog...new surroundings
In article ,
Michael A. Ball wrote: On Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:33:24 -0500, "Many Dogs \(flick\)" wrote: I wonder if this behavior is more like resource guarding than fear of strangers, if he's more guarding her. I wonder if he'd accept somebody else if she wasn't there. Yes, I also wondered if he wasn't guarding her. That's probably the first thing most folks would suspect. However, I didn't even think about the "resource" aspect. Do dogs consider us a resource [except maybe at feeding time]? :-) Toby had just about every form of aggression there is, and one of them was this. But if someone else had the leash, he became their dog temporarily as far as this went. We had to train the techs at the vet, because when they'd bring him out after a procedure, and hand me the leash, they had better back off because they were no longer magic! It was like someone flicked a switch. It worked the other way when I handed them his leash, except that I was always magic. :-) This behavior never showed up at the shelter because nothing was really _his_...it wasn't until he got here that any of this developed. Quite a surprise and quite a lot to deal with, but worth it in the long run. I still miss him. -- Kevin Michael Vail | "This is so cool I have to go to the bathroom!" | -- Calvin |
#9
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new dog...new surroundings
"Michael A. Ball" wrote in message
... Yes, I also wondered if he wasn't guarding her. That's probably the first thing most folks would suspect. However, I didn't even think about the "resource" aspect. Do dogs consider us a resource [except maybe at feeding time]? :-) You know, I just realized, some shelter dogs do come to see me as a source of security. They become "clingy." I'm certain most of us have experienced this behavior. There are plenty of stories where a dog has defended its guardian, but the motivation is never addressed; and I certainly don't know what motivates that behavior. Now I'm curious. Maybe Tracy will tell us how Dallas reacts to strangers, when he is alone. I suspect his reaction is no different. You're probably right wrt his reaction. But I'm very curious also, as I've known a couple-three dogs, and owned one myself, that any stranger could handle (one was a show dog), but they were VERY unhappy if somebody touched their human. Some dogs that behave like that maybe are just plain stranger-unfriendly, or fearful, wouldn't like somebody coming up to the gate, don't care for visitors, etc. The resource guarders, as I think of them, attached to one person very, very strongly, but were sociable with other people - as long as those people weren't too close to their human. Territorial, but their "territory" was a person. I'd think general unfriendliness (or fearfulness) and resource guarding maybe oughtta be approached in different ways. Excellent obedience training helps manage the RG imo. flick 100785 --------- What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected. Chief Seattle |
#10
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new dog...new surroundings
"bethgsd" wrote in
news:C%Oii.8545$vG2.3577@trnddc02: Tracy, It would be a very good idea to work with an experienced trainer in person, one on one with this problem. Also, it would be a very bad idea to try to rehome the dog without full disclosure of the bite episode. Even then, I wouldn't rehome her with anyone who was not experienced with aggressive dogs. Bites are serious and need to be worked on with someone who knows what they are doing and can see how what they suggest is working as they go. No one on usenet can fix the problem for you. Good luck! Paula |
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