laeral Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 (edited) I have a 16 month old GSD who loves other dogs. This in itself is great as she gets on with most dogs she meets. The problem I am having with her is that it has got to the stage where other dogs are way more interesting to her than I am. Whenever she sees another dog she goes absolutley nuts, pulls on the lead, runs on the spot, whines and carries on. I can barely hold her back from just charging over to them for a play. When not around other dogs she is generaly well behaved and listens to me, but as soon as another dog comes into the picture I dont exist. I have tried trying to calm her down, not letting her see other dogs or trying to distract her but it doesnt work. No corrections get her attention. In hind site I think it is my fault as I let her play with other dogs when she was younger and she now sees that as what to do with other dogs, but how do I address this? I am finding it hard to take her into public as her display of excitement is so over the top. Does anyone have any helpful ideas on how to address this and help keep her calm around other dogs? I attended a wokshop by Steve from k9 force about drive training and am going to start training her in this in the hope that it will help give me some control back. Any other ideas?? Edited June 7, 2008 by laeral Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissMaddy Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Was this the girl at the workshop in Melbourne? My girl, the black and tan who was also at that workshop is the same, although Í can get through to her most times in order to at least get past other dogs without getting dragged, tripped or whatever. She's much better in a situation with lots of other dogs, as she's been expected to behave and not play at training since she was young. I see that the e-collar would be the most suitable method to communicate to my girl that I am what she should be focused on, just need to save up for one!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean26 Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Hi :D I too have a 16 month old GSD, Kaiser. He gets way over excited when other dogs are around and doesnt really listen to me at all! He is a beautifully behaved boy at home though. Perfect angel!! I have found that the only way it worked for me is to go to training with other dogs. I've only been a couple of times, but it really helps. There was great improvement even after the first lesson. I am trying to teach him to make eye contact with me. Maybe this will help with your girl too?? I'm not an expert so I cant offer much other than that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laeral Posted June 7, 2008 Author Share Posted June 7, 2008 Was this the girl at the workshop in Melbourne? My girl, the black and tan who was also at that workshop is the same, although Í can get through to her most times in order to at least get past other dogs without getting dragged, tripped or whatever. She's much better in a situation with lots of other dogs, as she's been expected to behave and not play at training since she was young. I see that the e-collar would be the most suitable method to communicate to my girl that I am what she should be focused on, just need to save up for one!! Yes we were in Melbourne, she was the black one who wouldnt sit still for more than 3 minutes! Mica is also usually better with lots of other dogs around as she went to training and is used to having to be somewhat civil. She is getting worse though, I took her for a walk the other day and we encountered a black lab chasing another car up the street. She lost all focus and started running on the spot puliing in all directions and carrying on like it was a life or death situation to get to that dog. I had to drag her away up the street. she didnt calm down for about 5 minutes after the dog was out of sight. I have also spoken to Steve about a collar and am looking into that as well as practicing the Drive training that was discussed at the workshop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissMaddy Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Zali is a bit the same when she sees other dogs running, especially if they're chasing something. I just think whenI finally get that much focus from her on me, she'll be so good at obedience!! I don't let her off anywhere I can't see a larger distance around me as she has no recall around other dogs. Another reason for the collar, I just with they weren't so expensive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laeral Posted June 7, 2008 Author Share Posted June 7, 2008 (edited) Hi I too have a 16 month old GSD, Kaiser. He gets way over excited when other dogs are around and doesnt really listen to me at all! He is a beautifully behaved boy at home though. Perfect angel!! I have found that the only way it worked for me is to go to training with other dogs. I've only been a couple of times, but it really helps. There was great improvement even after the first lesson. I am trying to teach him to make eye contact with me. Maybe this will help with your girl too?? I'm not an expert so I cant offer much other than that! I have taken her to obedience training since she was 5 months old. She has improved at training most of the time and has learned to behave there. The eye contact thing is something that I am working on to, good idea. I have started the Triangle of Temptation training. hopefuly that will help. Its good to know Im not the only one with this problem though! Thanks for you help Edited June 7, 2008 by laeral Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavik Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 What I have found helps is having good focus on you. Start at home with few distractions. I use food as Diesel doesn't have much prey drive. You can use a clicker or spit food, or many other methods for eye contact. When you have that going well to a command for a good amount of time, start using it on walks without other dogs. Once that is going well, start using it when you see another dog. I get my guys to sit on the side of the footpath when another dog comes and passes us. You may have to start some distance away from the other dog until you have good focus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalandLibby Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 (edited) 'Look at that!' by Leslie McDevvitt (Control Unleashed) might help - it's a particularly user-friendly approach to counter-conditioning. It's pretty counterintuitive I know, but at a distance where you know that you're not putting yourself or anyone else, dog or human, at risk, and where you can be pretty sure your dog will be able to take offered treats, click or verbally mark the dog for looking at 'the thing' (whatever that is) and reward. You can see the stress go, and pretty soon you have a dog who's reluctant to actually look at the thing that previously it couldn't take it's eyes off, actually it gets hard to have anything to click for - you have to be fast lol. The 'thing' becomes associated with the c/r so that the dogs thinks for eg - there's a dog, that predicts a treat, look at treat deliverer (you). Then you can start clicking for that sequence of events. Once this behaviour is strong (which usually doesn't take long at all) you can move closer and do it again. Counterconditioning can certainly be done without a marker but it's less precise and efficient in it's action in that case - the treat is likely to be associated with many more elements of the environment. Edited June 8, 2008 by WalandLibby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charli73 Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 I have a 16 month old GSD who loves other dogs. This in itself is great as she gets on with most dogs she meets. The problem I am having with her is that it has got to the stage where other dogs are way more interesting to her than I am. Whenever she sees another dog she goes absolutley nuts, pulls on the lead, runs on the spot, whines and carries on. I can barely hold her back from just charging over to them for a play.When not around other dogs she is generaly well behaved and listens to me, but as soon as another dog comes into the picture I dont exist. I have tried trying to calm her down, not letting her see other dogs or trying to distract her but it doesnt work. No corrections get her attention. In hind site I think it is my fault as I let her play with other dogs when she was younger and she now sees that as what to do with other dogs, but how do I address this? I am finding it hard to take her into public as her display of excitement is so over the top. Does anyone have any helpful ideas on how to address this and help keep her calm around other dogs? I attended a wokshop by Steve from k9 force about drive training and am going to start training her in this in the hope that it will help give me some control back. Any other ideas?? Hi, we had this EXACT same problem with our GSD but when she was 9 months old. We called Judi and she worked her magic with our girl with private lessons to get control and focus and then we slowly integrated back into class around other dogs...now at 12 months she is so much better.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Leila was the same when we brought her home, taking her to obedience and seeing 100 other dogs settled her down instantly LOL Dante on the other hand sounds like all your dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 (edited) Your dog is exploding in the presence of other dogs and drive training ups the excitement. Regain control before continuously increasing drive. Supression training would be a start - you have to teach your dog there is limits to excitement and when it can be released. I also teach my dogs there are some non negotiables in life and one of those is when on lead we ignore other dogs unless the command is given to have a quick sniff. What do you do when your dog acts up? Is it on a halti/check chain/flat collar etc? Does your dog have a shut down command? Edited June 11, 2008 by Nekhbet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laeral Posted June 11, 2008 Author Share Posted June 11, 2008 Your dog is exploding in the presence of other dogs and drive training ups the excitement. Regain control before continuously increasing drive.Supression training would be a start - you have to teach your dog there is limits to excitement and when it can be released. I also teach my dogs there are some non negotiables in life and one of those is when on lead we ignore other dogs unless the command is given to have a quick sniff. What do you do when your dog acts up? Is it on a halti/check chain/flat collar etc? Does your dog have a shut down command? I use a martingale collar on her which is just a cloth one and doesnt seem to do much. I have just bought a collar from Steve at k9 force that he tried on her and had some results. Cant wait to get it! No I dont have a shut down command. Can you explain a bit to me?? Sorry I live in a country town in Vic and am learning to train my dog myself so ANY advice is appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoothcollie Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 What I find is when they have had all their booster shots and go to dog training they are still pups and dont take notice of the other pups as much and are easier to train and when they grow other dogs arent something to get excited about, but the longer the owner waits and the dog grows up the less easier it is to control a young dogs excitement around other dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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