A question about aggression with a German Shepherd
Comments (0)This is a recent question from a reader of my website:
Question: I have a three year old German Shepherd that I have raised & trained since he was seven weeks old. He has been a great dog. Suddenly, he has bitten me twice in the last two weeks for giving him the command ‘Drop It’. The first time it was a piece of roadkill. The second time was over a dryer sheet. He has not drawn blood but marked me on the forearm & hand. I have spent hundreds of hours working with my dog, not just training, but walking swimming & other fun stuff. I am afraid for my grand kids and I don’t understand him suddenly turning on me. I don’t want to put him down as I love him very much but won’t have a biting dog. Please help!
Answer: I sympathize with your situation as you obviously love your dog very much and feel trapped by what to do. Allow me to give you my insight.
I highly doubt that this behavior is ’sudden’. The manifestation of his behavior happened suddenly but I would bet that there have been subtle signs for some time that perhaps you didn’t recognize.
I would need numerous details to be able to give you an in depth response but there is one thing I can be sure of without further information. Your dog suffers from a lack of respect for you. A dog that has respect for his owner would never do the behavior you described. So the solution for you comes down to gaining proper respect and dominance from your dog.
Again, I don’t have all the details but I run across situations like yours quite often. The situation is that the dog, for the most part, is an obedient dog. The dog also has a big problem with dominance. The reason being is that the owner has taken the wrong approach to training. In most situations like this I find that the owner has done training based heavily in treats or ‘purely positive’ methods. The end result is a dog that is quite obedient out of pure conditioning and rewards. He is obedient because it suits him and because his owner doesn’t actually challenge him. The moment, though, when the dog feels challenged enough (in this case when he didn’t want to give up a tasty piece of roadkill) he will then exert his dominance.
Treat training or strictly reward based training will NEVER earn the respect of a dog. When people do this they are essentially ‘paying’ the dog to be obedient. This works great in a human system but does not work well in a canine system. Dogs in a pack aren’t obedient to the alpha because he pays them. They are obedient because of respect.
Now, obviously I have made a big assumption here. I don’t know how you have gone about training your dog. Once thing I do know, however, is that it has not earned the respect of the dog. Training does not need to be harsh. Training should have a balanced mix of corrections and praise, though. Praise for good behavior and corrections for inappropriate behavior. Training in this style will help earn the respect of your dog. Respect equals no aggression.
Good luck.
Obedience is the key
Comments (0)I field all sorts of dog training questions through this website. In answering the questions I find myself sometimes feeling like a broken record as my answers often sound the same. A lot of my answers have some form of the response, “Obedience train your dog,” in them.
It got me thinking why obedience training is such a catch all for behavior problems.
Obedience training is calming and soothing to a dog: A lot of questions I get deal with hyper dogs or dogs who jump all over guests or dogs who are generally out of control.
These are all behaviors I describe as chaotic canine behaviors. The opposite of chaos is control. Control in dog-speak means obedience. As you inject control and structure into your dog’s life you will see that this combats the hyperness head on.
Obedience helps deal with aggression: Aggression is often caused or worsened by a dog who has little to no respect for his owner. Obedience training garners respect. As your dog learns to put your will ahead of his own (a.k.a. obedience) it helps him to look to you as the leader and the dominant one in the relationship. A dog that understands a proper relationship is much less likely to show aggression in the first place.
Obedience is also crucial for an aggressive dog because it is functional. If you have a dog that leans toward aggression it is imperative that he comes when called, stays on command, and will heel by your side even in the face of distraction.
Obedience is functional: So many of my clients have dogs that know how to do perform obedience commands but they never use them in real circumstances. The client then focuses on the things they don’t like about the dog. They complain that the dog jumps on guests, begs at the table, gets on the couch, etc.
The first thing I do is help them use obedience to replace the negative behaviors. You don’t even need to focus on your dog’s begging at the table, simply have him lie down and stay 10 feet away. Your dog can’t jump on your guest if he is sitting down. Your dog won’t be getting on the couch if he is taught a ‘place’ command.
Don’t focus on what you don’t like, teach your dog to do what you do like.
There are myriad reasons why obedience training is the best way to approach behavior problems with your dog. Be firm, be fair, and be consistent and you will find that you are able to mold your dog’s behavior for the better.
I got Best of State!
Comments (0)I own and operate a Utah dog training company, CommuniCanine Inc. I specialize in puppy training, advanced off leash obedience, fixing aggression, and behavior modification. Every year there is an organization here in Utah with the name, Best of State, that gives out awards to companies in several different categories. Companies are judged by the impact and quality of work they have provided to the community during the past year. There are approximately 160 categories from hospitals, to restaurants, to customer care, and everything in between. The award recognizes the company that was the best in that category.
They also have a category for dog trainers and this year we took it! In our first complete year of operation we were recognized as the best dog training company in the entire state of Utah! I can’t help but be excited and brag a ton. (If you can’t brag with an award like this what is the point, right?)
At the end of this month I will be attending with my wife a black tie gala at the Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake City where I will be presented with this award. I can’t wait.
The neutering myth
Comments (0)Before I get into this post I do want to point out that I support spaying and neutering your dog. There is a definite pet overpopulation problem and it doesn’t help if you allow your dogs to breed. That is unless you are a responsible breeder and are looking to improve your breed and place your dogs with responsible pet owners.
There are many myths, though, about neutering and it’s power to fix behavior problems that I would like to talk about.
Neutered dogs won’t lift their leg or mark in the house: The truth is that there are many dogs that won’t lift their leg after being neutered. But there are many that will. The younger you get your dog neutered the greater the chance you will avoid your dog marking your house but the best remedy is simply sound training techniques.
Marking is a behavior that connotes dominance, territorial tendencies, etc. Neutering your dog MAY help him be less dominant because it drastically cuts down the testosterone in his body. There are numerous dogs, though, that even with their diminished testosterone are perfectly happy to lift their leg on anything and everything.
If your dog is marking getting him fixed may help but what you need is supervision, prevention, and obedience training to fix the problem.
Neutered dogs won’t engage in embarrassing ‘humping’ behavior: All the time I get clients who complain that their dogs are humping their legs, their couch cushions, and gasp! their guests. This is an embarrassing issue for sure.
Will neutering fix a humping problem? Sometimes. The thing many people don’t realize is that humping is most often a dominance behavior. Getting a dog fixed will most likely not help with a dominance issue. The best thing to achieve dominance is to obedience train your dog. During obedience training your dog learns to put your will ahead of his own and learns to respect your leadership.
Neutering will fix your dog’s aggression problems: Aggression springs from numerous places. It comes from fear, territorial tendencies, dominance, possessiveness amongst other places. Very little of these will be affected by getting a dog neutered. Aggression problems need to be addressed with an intense training program.
To sum up, get your dog neutered. It is the right thing to do. If your dog has some of the above problems get your dog neutered still. Just don’t be surprised if your dog’s behavior problems aren’t affected by the surgery.
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