Carney

Thank you for your response to Sophiette, I couldn't agree more with you that the dog needs a new home....Her post actually made me so mad, I was shaking when I read it, and I really had a hard time controlling my answer...You are so right....

Hi Carney,

I hope you don't mind me asking but I've seen some of your posts and you make alot of sense. I hope you might give me some advice. My GSD puppy is a 10 week old tripod and I think she is awesome but she's also willful and stubborn. She always bites when she plays. She goes for hands fingers shoes feet sleeves and pants legs. My last dog was a GSD/Huskey/Mal mix with the same tendency but no aggression at all though he was also willful and stubborn as a puppy. I sense the same thing in this puppy but have been told some scarey things about GSD's so I have been trying to get her to quit the biting. Her teeth are razor sharp and the backs of my hands look like I've fended off an ax attack!

She understands "NO" and "STOP" and "DROP" but either she gets into a frenzi and doesn't hear, or she adopts selective deafness - my other dog had that too! - so I resort to the tap on the butt and a sharp "NO", and then she'll growl, but it still sounds like playing to me. I am at a loss as to what to do for the best. I think that my belief that it is just play is undermining the conviction of my corrections.

This pup was a rescue the breeder gave her to me free because of her birth defect. They couldn't keep her and give her a good life and couldn't sell her so if they didn't find someone to take her they were going to have her put down. Yes it melted my heart, but she's a little tiger and I don't feel bad for her though I don't want to push her too hard and complicate her physical problems. I wasn't planning on adopting a dog and scrambled to get the place ready.I signed up for sessions with cesar because I'd like to own a dog that comes back when I call it and doesn't hip check me  when I'm trying to go through a doorway and won't drag me all over town when I walk it! I've never owned an aggressive dog and don't know if I'd recognise aggression unless it bit me in the face. I read you said GSD's are vocal dogs and this little girl is surely that, the sounds she makes are hysterically human sounding! Should I even be worried? I am worried that trying to stop her might cause her to develop aggression. As it is now I can touch her food while she's eating and she will eat from my hand without biting the hand at all. I can touch her while she's eating and she is totally chilled out. She loves people and is really friendly. She loves to chase a whiffle ball and she'll run around outside in the yard. She can go up and down steps and She knows how to sit and she's learning about respect at meal time and waiting out of the way, she's really starting to get that. I'm sorry I've written so much here, but I wanted to give you a good idea of what I've got here.

Honestly if it weren't for the biting I wouldn't have one single concern about this beautiful little bundle of puppy. She's smart and I think she loves me, though I have yet to earn her complete respect and thats work I need to do on me, not her.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Carlotta (TripodGSpup)

Hi carney

I just read your response to "curious behavior" about the dog that growled at it's owners from under the bench.  In your description of your newest dog, I see a lot of my dog.  I know Sierra has confidence issues...she is rarely happy go lucky outside of my house. With that being said, today I had such a roller coaster of emotions because of how she reacted to people.  First, a strange women approached and I kept Sierra at a comfortable distance and answered her questions (Sierra was wearing her backpack) then she asked if Sierra was a good doggy - and I said you can help her because she is fearful and I gave her a treat to give Sierra. Sierra was great, took the treat very gently and sat down...we continued to talk and I fished another treat out of my pocket and gave it to the women...this time sierra didnt sit and started to back away, then she took the treat but then she barked and lunged at the woman. 

Luckily, the woman didn't scare, I got Sierra under control immediately and made her lay down and I continued to talk to the woman for another few minutes, thanked her and walked away.If that was it, I could have handled it but after a very long walk with her 8 lb pack, we went to her all time favorite pet food store...where she is a superstar...loved by all of the workers.  We ran into a stranger (to me) but Sierra ran right up to her - I found out the woman works at Sierra's daycare and this lady LOVES my dog...she couldn't really let us us go to shop...and Sierra said hi to all of the other people and she was great and I felt great.

SO we go to the cat food section and sierra sees the manager, who is talking to a couple, she runs up to manager, manager says "of this is sierra she is very friendly she likes to say hi" and she is wagging wagging tail and all of the sudden i watched sierra go from happy to wary to aggressive in her eyes and before I could react she LUNGED at the women with her mouth open - i guess the woman was going to pet her...again I calmed her down - well not really I yanked her by the collar and told her to lay down and she did and I apoligized to the woman who was very shaken up and casey the manager said ive never seen her do that...and I left the store.  so here I am...wondering...is my dog human aggressive? how can I trust her but  i guess what i hear in your post is that it is my job to manage my dog under all conditions...ugh sorry I am venting! any advice?

Hi my name is Johanna. I was woundering if you knew how to wrigth a letter or something to cesar? I would like to help out my neigbour whit her dog, or rather the dog with her owner.

Best Tegards Johanna and Tiger

I didn't realize the photos would be so LARGE.  I am so sorry.  You can delete them if you wish.

Cheers....Susan