Member Beth
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We started our first video lesson yesterday. It is going to take a while to teach and progress the behaviours and then layer them into the final game, but it is going to be great for our exercising his brain, strengthening our bond and so much fun when it all comes together.
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Definitely following this one. Our Male GSD was twice attacked by our next door neighbour’s husky that dug out of their yard. Once at 12 weeks old and again at 16 weeks old. All we were doing was returning from a walk and the husky came out from between the cars and just started biting, no growl, no bark, the expression on it’s face changed and he just ran over and started biting. I think it was his loose puppy skin that saved him from being hurt worse when the husky was dragging him. I used my foot to push the husky away 4 times but he just kept coming back and I didn’t have time to scoop ours up. My husband and the neighbour’s teenager finally got hold of the husky so I could get ours to safety. You can never unsee that, and you can never quite forgive yourself for not being able to protect them properly. Are there things I would have done differently knowing what I know now? Absolutely, but I had to put that behind me so that I could walk our pup with confidence so that I would not transfer my anxiety and stress onto him. I am proud to say that he so far shows no signs of anxiety, aggression or reactivity from the incidents and is 13 months old. Robert’s advice and our local trainer’s advice were to possibly walk with a walking stick or a heavy flashlight, continue walking with confidence until the dog gets too close and then turn and step towards it to apply spatial pressure to it and bang the walking stick on the ground to scare it off with noise. Hang in there, it sounds like you have an extra dose of irresponsible owners in your area. Maybe go for a drive to a neighbouring town and then walk there?
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Our favourite bonding activities are training, going on walks and grooming and my son loves to snuggle with him even though our son is 14. So far, ours hasn’t had a lot of stress that we didn’t just try not to pay too much attention to so it wouldn’t become a thing. He’s only 13 months old and most of his stress is “what’s that new thing, it’s scary”
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Beautiful! So sorry for your loss. We lost what was the 6th GSD of my life(Tucker), September 2019. By late December both our son and I were really wanting another one. I searched and found a breeder and we brought Gibson home in February 2020. We love him to bits, but still accidentally call him Tucker at least once a day even though they are very different looking dogs with very different personalities. I still tell stories of my 5th GSD (Digger). He was such a good dog, he just understood everything you asked of him and did it happily. He would even catch and kill spiders for me. Pictured Tucker upper and Digger lower.🐾🌈❤
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Thanks! I will definitely give an update or two. It looks like it will be fun and good for bonding.
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Beautiful work for beautiful dogs!
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Yeah, I have done some research as well and am still going back and forth in my head.
My vet wanted to neuter him when he was 7 months old, even sent me emails as to why. I continued to research and found out about waiting until the growth plates are closed. He hasn’t gotten any taller for a couple of months, so I was thinking it is probably safe now.
The new attitude is something we are going to have to work through for sure. There is no magic pill for that, but I am hoping that the neutering doesn’t make it impossible to get the old Gibson back.
My goal is to be able to take him out to the farm to live after we build our new home (48 acres) and I want him to be able to go out hunting, like our dogs did there when I was a child. I don’t want him to be out getting the neighbour dogs pregnant though.