New German Shepherd Parents

[Janene]

Hi all.

We are new parents to a beautiful german shepherd pup. We don't have any other dogs, our only other pets are our Budgies (who are not overly happy with this new introduction at the moment lol).

I'm just after advice, as we really want the best for her and don't want to make too many common puppy mistakes if we can help it.

Her first night went rather smoothly (compared to what I was expecting). She had 3 bathroom breaks during the night, where she woke in her crate and whimpered so we took her out.

But for the most part settled as well as expected. A bit of whining, but she wasn't too bad. Her crate is in our room beside the bed.

Here are our concerns.

We have a 15 month old, who is totally admiration of her, but she is quite nippy. Her breeders have 6 children and I can only assume play time was a lot of rough and tumbling with these children and her litter mates.

She is ok if I'm very calm and stroke her in long firm strokes, but at times she gets super excited and nips a lot. Also she nips at our heels when we're walking along...and will try to hang off us if we're wearing a robe or similar. I've read so many conflicting advice on this and not sure which path to follow. Our son loves her and wants to play, but she's just far too nippy for him and it ends in screaming matches.

Her other issue is seperation anxiety. It's crazy!, I realise she's new to us and likely unsure of her surroundings...I am very patient with her, please understand that. But this is starting to do my head in. Now if we lock her in the bathroom for short bursts, she cries maybe a minute or two and then goes quiet...after a few mins I go in, ignore her a minute or two and then praise her. BUT if we lock her in a section of the house where she can see us - she just howls/cries blue murder. Or if we walk away from her, she gallops after us and soon as we stop she lays on our feet. This may seem cute, but she gets tangled in our feet SO often, I worry when walking around with my son of falling over her. She really has no sense of leading, and walks around/in front/ and between your legs all the time. We are in the process of trying to set boundaries, like us entering through doorways first, eating first etc. She is not allowed to sit in our laps or on sofas too. We really are at a loss on this issue so advice is greatly appreciated. I work, but have taken a week off to help her settle. I work 3 days a week so will be gone on those days...and really want to try to calm this anxiety before I return and have to leave her.

She is booked in to puppy preschool but not until the 20th December. After that she is enrolled in our local Dog Training club. But we are wanting to get on top of these issues before then.

[Miss Danni]

Hi Janene,

welcome to DOL and the wonderful world of GSDs.

Firstly, how long have you had your puppy home? How old is she? What lines is she from?

It's great that you have her sleeping in a crate, they are worth their weight in gold. You might want to invest in an x-pen too, you can set it up in say, your kitchen, and put her in it when you need her out from underfoot or when you go back to work. They are much larger than her crate and will do her for a while.

With the nipping, it sounds like she is a pretty drivey pup and you need to redirect her teeth. Make sure that you have plenty of toys for her and that when she starts to bite, you can tell her no and then give her a toy and play with her - even gentle tug of war (which you need to let her win more often than not). Yelling at her her for nipping will only escalate her excitement level and make things worse. You have to be calm, quiet and composed when you redirect her.

At this stage, you will need to limit the interaction with your baby until the pup can be easily redirected (or starts to redirect herself, which is the goal), because your child's reaction will make things worse. Let them interact under very close supervision (like with your child on your lap) when the puppy is more tired and not in a nippy frame of mind. You do not want negative experiences between these 2.

A few minutes a couple of times a day of simple obedience training will also help to tire her out and make her less likely to bite you. Teach her to sit and drop and walk nicely on lead, all of which you can start to teach in your kitchen, and you will have a tired puppy in no time!

Go to this website http://www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads and download After You Get Your Puppy. There is great information in Dr Dunbar's book that will assist you.

Also, if you are having any issues, you need to speak to your breeder. They will also be able to assist you with strategies specific to your puppy.

And dont forget, if you have only had her a few days, she will be lonely and a little miserable from losing mum and littermates and she will be looking for new playmates. Lay the groundwork now and you will have a wonderful family member for her lifetime.

Oh and puppy pics are mandatory here. :D

[Janene]

Thank you Danni I appreciate your advice.

We are new dog owners so Bloodlines are not something I know a lot about. I would assume it's amongst her paperwork so I will take a look.

She is just over 9 weeks old. We have only had her a couple of days. - Hence all my questions lol, I want to make the right choices for her right off the bat.

I will download that book you suggest and read through it.

Thanks

I will upload some pictures soon as she stays still long enough for me to get a good one lol.

[Kavik]

The Shepherd Scream! Yes that is fun Shepherds can be vocal at times I have found. Not noisy like barking like my Kelpies but more if separated from us/one person leaves. If possible ignore it and only give attention if quiet.

[Janene]

Here she is determined to get all the steamed chicken out of her Kong.

Excuse the shaggyness of the coat, it's been pouring rain all day, and she'd just come in from a toilet run outside.

Edited November 25, 2011 by Janene

[bianca.a]

Yep, my girl (who is two) whines if I go into the bathroom without her! They are velcro dogs! And can be land sharks as puppies, Molly was shocking as a pup! Keep toys on you at all times so when she starts nipping you can shove something in her mouth!

Congrats on your new addition

ETA: Just saw your pic, aww she is adorable

Edited November 25, 2011 by bianca.a

[jamesn184]

Well I can share some of your pain with my Golden Retriever, we started off with her in the house for a bit and when ever we walked away and blocked off a section she cried/howled etc and we gave in which resulted in her pretty much taking over the house.

Now she is outside in her kennel and when ever I come home (she knows when I come home from work) she cries/howl's and waits by the back door, also If I close the screen door but not the main door and she can hear/see us she cries out for attention. But soon as I close the door and she cannot see us or really hear us she stops and goes about her business..

This one time was funny, my partner and mother came home in a taxi and Rosey cried out and when she realised I wasn't home she gave my partner/mother a dirty look as to let them know she wasn't happy that I wasn't home...

So you can see a progression where she had got better over time.

[Janene]

Thanks for the replies. We have been locking her in our main bathroom which is very large with a child gate at the opening so she can still see/hear us. She isn't as bad in there. In fact she happily chews her bone or sleeps which is good. Although in the kitchen area is a different story - she just has a melt down. So i think the bathroom is it. She seems content enough in there, and if she does cry it's not for long.

Although the nipping is still an issue....So still working on that one.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Janene

[jamesn184]

I remember my uncles gsd used to nip at our ankles when he was a pup.. lucky my pup hasn't really done it to me

[Janene]

Did you uncles dog just grow out of it or did he train him out of it?

[KOE]

lol a sooky boy, give his a huge soft toy to snuggle with he is missing his litter mates.

As for nipping he is only a baby and thats what they do, also contact your breeders and they should help out.

boys are sooky lalas

[jamesn184]

Did you uncles dog just grow out of it or did he train him out of it?

I remember we had the dust pan and each time he'd nip us he would get a light tap on the nose.. he stopped soon after.

As for current times try some clicker training to offer different behaviour's to the one he is offering you now

[Allerzeit]

Ummm, how is it that you refer to your puppy as female in your first few posts, and then change to the puppy being male in post number 8?

[Janene]

I'm sorry, she is a female. I've always owned male pets, so I'm still getting use to calling her "she". I'll edit my above post.

She has a Teddy, we bought her one for when she arrived home with us.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Janene

[Rozzie]

She's very cute. Where did you get her?

[Simply Grand]

Hi janene, your puppy is gorgeous! What's her name?

My first puppy Saxon was super nippy as a baby. What worked for me was any an every time he nipped at me I would give a high pitched yelp, quickly stand up, cross my arms, turn my head away from him and freeze for a few seconds.

It took a while (a number of weeks) and lots of persistence doing it every time but he learned that nipping = no more fun. Sax was very young when I brought him home tho (6.5 weeks) so hopefully your girl will learn more quickly.

[luvsdogs]

Thank you Danni I appreciate your advice.

We are new dog owners so Bloodlines are not something I know a lot about. I would assume it's amongst her paperwork so I will take a look.

She is just over 9 weeks old. We have only had her a couple of days. - Hence all my questions lol, I want to make the right choices for her right off the bat.

I will download that book you suggest and read through it.

Thanks

I will upload some pictures soon as she stays still long enough for me to get a good one lol.

You can also download "Before You Get Your Puppy", it takes you through the first weeks with a new puppy. There's also lots of good info in the Training Textbook on the dogstardaily.com website as well.

Very cute puppy, can't imagine her causing all that trouble. ;) Just remember she's a baby & in a strange environment & needs time to settle in.

My cat used to do the grab ankles thing when she was a kitten, boy did it hurt. The advice on cat forums was to grit your teeth & not react. Very hard to do, so I used to give her a short time out when it got too bad until she calmed down. Took her a year to improve, but dogs are much easier to train.

When ever I get a new puppy they spend most of their inside time in "their" room which is the back entry to the house with bed, crate, toys, water & paper towel for toileting accidents. You don't want them having access to the whole house until fully toilet trained.

Edited November 27, 2011 by luvsdogs

[Janene]

Thank you

Her name is Sasha. I have downloaded that books also luvs so I will read through it tonight.

We got her from a breeder a few hours away in the hunter valley area. The ride home was so precious as she slept on my lap most of the way.

Her large confinement area (our main bathroom) seems to be a relaxing place for her, she loves to sleep on the cool tiles.

Her small confiement area is a large crate that sits in our bedroom beside the bed. She's still adjusting to this one but she settles pretty quickly once we're in the room.

So far so good on the toilet training, she has gone in the main bathroom, but so far we've managed to stop all but one accident in the rest of the house, the one mishap was completely my fault, I delayed getting her outside after a nap due to running to answer the phone. So I slapped my wrist for that, not hers lol.

I will take on all the nipping advice. So far I do the yelp thing, and she lets go...but soon as I start to walk she's at me again. I know it's a matter of patience - we have plenty, don't worry

We're also using play time to teach her the "let go" command. We play and she loves to play on those rope tug toys, and when we are ready we stop and hold the toy still and say "let go" and wait...she took a while first few times, now soon as I say it she lets go instantly and waits, knowing that I'll start to play again in a few seconds....It's worked so well so far

Another Question I have,

What are some healthy but irresistable puppy treats?

She's not fussed on smacko's....so far I've been cutting up BBQ and Steamed chicken breast as treats (which she goes nuts for) - but is that ok to give her daily?

[Janene]

Here she is again.

She decided to bring over my Husbands nice Colorado flip flops while we were in our living room last night. We quickly replaced it with a new toy we bought her yesterday.

She was content to give up the shoe shortly after this photo.

Excuse the "flash eyes" - as much as they rave about the new iphone 4S camera, indoors of a night with an energetic puppy doesn't sit well with the new fancy lense on my phone.

Also - we had our first "discussion" (for lack of a better word) about our breed choice with a neighbour over the weekend. I found myself defending our decision to buy a GSD with a young son. I find the lack of education on dog breeds surprising in my community. It seems "big dog = Dangerous Dog" around children, without taking anything into consideration such as handling, breeding, and training. I got quite annoyed as what appeared to be accusations of putting my child in danger with such a breed. We looked over many breeds before making our choice and the GSD was what appealed to our needs and active lifestyle. We are not a family that sits on the sofa and watch TV daily, and Sasha will be part of our family and not just an animal that sits outside and whines for company all day (I worded it more politely than that, but it touched a nerve with her as she has a dog that does that). Ok, well my vent is over. Just wanted to speak my mind on that. I'm quite reserved in person so I didn't quite say all that I was thinking with the neighbour in question lol.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Janene

[Red Fox]

Another Question I have,

What are some healthy but irresistable puppy treats?

She's not fussed on smacko's....so far I've been cutting up BBQ and Steamed chicken breast as treats (which she goes nuts for) - but is that ok to give her daily?

BBQ chicken is fine for small training sessions, it's what I'm currently using for my Malinois pup.

If you want a healthier option try 4paws, chicken chunkers, dog roll, bolied steak cut into little pieces, liver or raw meat if you're game, cut up chicken necks, etc. In the beginning just use what works and small amounts.

You want small, soft, smelly, moist treats for training. Not hard chewy ones like Schmakos.

Re the biting; a thumb under the tongue with a little pressure works well for pet dogs. Screaming and running off or turning your back doesn't work too well for pups with a bit of prey drive - just makes it more exciting! Redirecting onto a toy is another option.

Just be glad you don't have one that latches on to you and thrashes about! I've copped some pretty decent 'love bites' from my girl!

Often when they start to get nippy and stupid they are either over-tired or over-stimulated. Try popping the pup in her crate with a Kong when she gets like this and see what happens ;).

If you'd like a good book to get you started I highly recommend "The Focussed Puppy" http://www.agilityclick.com/prod53.htm I've read the Dunbar books but have found the advice in this book to be much, much better.

Good luck with it all