Advice on what to do with my dogs please

[jessica1983]

this is gonna be a long one cause ill need to explain from the start

 

here goes

 

i got my female gsd when she was 15 weeks old (bonnie). wonderful dog, very loyal and faithful, never left my side and the most wonderful dog anyone could ask for. she was very shy and nervous of strangers and other dogs so always coward down and hid behind me when we were out walking bless her.

 

when bonnie was around the age ofone i decided to get her a friend hoping it would give her a bit more confidence and not be so scared of dogs when we were out and could play and have fun, so i got marley a male gsd. (i love gsd)

 

so this went well bonnie slowly grew and wouldnt be scaredof other dogs and would let dogs sniff her and she would sniff them and continue on her way. so i thought great this is working.

 

marley obviously grew and grew been a male german shep he is very big. he is now 9 months old and already more than twice bonnies size and since he has grew so big bonnie has changed dramatically when we are out on walks. she seems to think she is ten men and chases other dogs. when the dog stops she goes about her business but when the dog runs off to do whatever she chases it again till it stops and so on tilli end up having to put her on the lead. she has never hurt another dog i must stress that it just looks so awful as she does it and doesnt look playful its like she has suddenly changed into another dog and im rally hating this behaviour. if both bonnie and marley run over to the same dog they seem to work as a pack, one at each end till the dog submits and its awful and not how i ahve raised my dogs but bonnie just changes as soon as were out. she is still the same old bonnie inthe house the problem is when were out its like she isnt bonnie.

 

i really hope this makes sense to people that read this and that u can give me some really good useful tips on bringing her down a peg or two but i need to know how to stop it. i call her and she ignores me its like she goes into her own world and thats it she's off chasing these dogs till they sumit.

 

i dont want to have to keep her on a lead all the walk ilike tolet heroff tohave a good run about with marley but its so embarrasing.

 

pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssseeee help me.

[whitewitch]

I too love Gsd's, im far from being an expert but it sounds to me like she believes she is the Alpha dog. I had the same problem with my bitch, she wouldnt come back on recall, practically did what she wanted. My brother gave me some advice and it seemed to work. Everytime she ignored me whilst out, I had to pin her to the floor on her back, hold her there until a couple of minutes after she stopped struggling (the struggling usually lasted a few minutes) telling her "No" and making sure we had eye contact, then let her up and carry on with your walk, I only did this about 5 times and it seemed to work, she then thought of me as the Alpha dog and came back when called. Give it a try, you cant lose anything

[jessica1983]

so everytime she doesnt come back do i follow her and do this pinning down thing or wait till she returns?

 

watch me do this and get reported lol

[whitewitch]

so everytime she doesnt come back do i follow her and do this pinning down thing or wait till she returns?

 

watch me do this and get reported lol

 

I followed her calling her name, you should be ok with it, its not like you are beating it or hurting it in any way, your just lying her down, rolling her over and holding her there, its just about showing her who the boss is

[medusa]

I'd do the opposite actually- I'd work on recall when there isn't any distraction around and then apply that to when any other distractions are there.

 

My advice would be that you never chase after your dog. It is your dog's job to come to you and you can practise and reinforce that every few minutes during a walk. This has the advantages that your dog knows that you have fabulous treat with you and they will get some if they are good and if you call them back every couple of minutes then they never get far enough away that you can't call them back.

 

In terms of when either of them run off after another dog, I'd tell them goodbye and head off in the opposite direction, making sure that they know that you're leaving. Obviously that's not something that you want to employ a lot, but it's a very powerful thing to do when you need their attention in an emergency.

 

Alpha rolling is all very well, but it's extremely hard to do with two dogs around you and every now and then a dog really takes exception to it and it can result in a dog that is frustrated and repressed, rather than a dog that wants to please you by doing the right thing.

 

All dog training is either bribery or blackmail. You can get the same results either way round, but if you do it by bribery you also get a dog that thinks that you're the best thing since sliced bread and who really wants to do the right thing for you.

 

In your situation I would never have got another puppy to try to bring out better qualities in a puppy (at the age of 1 she's still a real baby) because what often happens is that the puppies reinforce each other's bad behaviour rather than one teaching the other good behaviour. It would have been far more sensible to have got her an older rescue companion who was calm and assertive and who could teach her that it was OK not to react to other dogs.

 

A nervous shepherd works best with very firm rules and boundaries, coupled with the knowledge that they don't need to look after everybody because YOU as their owner is looking after everyone (including them) so they can just get on with being a dog. Firm boundaries, frequent schooling, lots of rewards and careful introductions to lots of other dogs lead to a dog that feels a lot more secure, meaning that they react less.

[suecatsitter]

im with medusa never ever chase your dog,it turns into a game of chase and is scary.

 

id try a distraction when she wont return i squeaky toy or whistle?

 

try some one to one work with her,maybe somewhere where there are no distractions and slowly build up to parks once she knows to return,

[Stevet123]

Please please do not pin your dog down it does nothing at all except makes your dog scared of you. The Alpha male is just a myth if you would like info on this then please send me a message and isend it to you. It sounds like you never took your dog to puppy classes when it was younger they are so important at an early age to teach them how to get on with other dogs this can be resolved i wont give advice on here as you really need to see the dogs in action. I must say though please dont pin your dog as it really does not work honestly.

[Stevet123]

Also one other thing, 1 secret a dog should never ever find out is that it is faster than you lol once they find that out they will use it to their advantage never chase your dog.

[happymummy24]

Alpha roling when it comes back,arent you then just punishing it?in wich case why would it come back

[jessica1983]

Thankyou all for your comments

 

I'd like to add that if no other are around bonnie comes when called, sits and waits when told etc its just when she see's another dog she is off no matter how many times I call her. She will do her chasing thing until she has had enough then comes back. Sometimes if marley follows its a long time and as you can imagine very frustrating. When I got bonnie she was already a nervous dog the bloke hadn't mixed her with other dogs because she hadn't had her first jabs so at the age I got her she had already become this way. No I never used a puppy trainer I did it myself and learned her basics and how to walk on a lead etc. As for tryin to give her treats when out, this has never worked she won't eat when were out. I can honestly say yes I made a mistake gettin her a friend I reaslise that now but I love both my dogs and need to know how to correct this behaviour from her.