Gracie is now 17 months old and is becoming quite the little pistol. I feel as if I have a rebellous teenager on my hands. From what I've read, this is a natural phase she is going through on her way to maturity but I guess I just want to make sure.
She is challenging me quite often now. When I say challenge, I don't mean aggressively, I am referring to her trying to push the limits to see what she can get away with. It reminds me of the Velociraptors on Jurassic Park testing the fence for weakness. LOL
There's also times when she tries to hump me or my purse which I take as a sign of her trying to be dominate.
There are times when she won't listen or stop bad behavior and I've had to take her down to get my point across. She has always been required to sit before meals and before exiting the door to go outside. She sleeps in a crate-not with me. and I frequently have her wearing her leash indoors in order to correct her quickly if needed. Is there anything else I should be doing?
Also her prey drive is off the charts and her DA is becoming quite apparent and hard to control at times. I know this is to be expected with this breed, but since I have never dealt with this before, and I want to contine to be able to take her out in public, I thought I'd ask for advice.
Training wise, she completed obedience classes last fall and she did awesome. And I have tried to keep up on the various things we learned by having her do sits/downs/stays ect. at random times through out the day. And more reciently, we just ended a 7 week class in preparation for the CGC test.
Well let me tell you, that was a colossal fail! There were 7 other dogs in the class and she wanted nothing to do with me. I tried using treats to get her attention, popping her prong collar, blocking her view, and nothing worked. She wanted to get at them all. Well except for the St. Benard. That was the only dog in the class she was able to stand next to and not react one bit. I think the reason was, the saint was very docile, never moved fast and never actually looked at her.
Same thing when we are out taking a walk. She is able to pass the dogs that don't react to her just fine, but as soon as they so much as look at her, she starts to act the fool by growling, screaming and lunging. In an attempt to correct her, I try popping her prong and saying NO! Or putting her in a sit until the dog passes. Neither of these things seem to work. And trust me, this is not the image I want to convey for the breed either. I've thought about taking her to the park and just sitting on the bench while other dogs walk by and treating her whenever she doesn't react. And then gradually work up to walking past other dogs. What do you think?
My daughter is getting concerned that it will get to the point where we won't be able to walk her in public any more. And I guess I'm starting to wonder that myself.
Should all dogs be able to control their DA (somewhat) with training? Or are there some dogs who just aren't able to be around other dogs at all?
As far as her prey drive goes, she wants chase after literaly anything that moves, whether it's an animal, children running, or someone on a bike. To be honest with you, this it the part that concerns me the most. if she were to accidentally get loose, I can totally see her chasing after some kids who were running around and possibly knocking them down. Now once down, she would fill their faces with nothing but kisses, but it would be very scary for the kids and she would be labeled "agressive". Is there any way I can handle this besides making sure she never gets loose?
I am looking for training advice from people who have experience with this breed. I haven't been able to find anyone locally and I know you all will give me great advice. While it might not sound like it, Gracie really is a good girl and a sweet heart and I just want to do right by her TIA
Edit to add: During her CGC classes, she was able to remain at a sit/stay while kids rode bikes by her and ran around bouncing basketballs next to her, but this was indoors, in a controlled setting - not the real world.
She is challenging me quite often now. When I say challenge, I don't mean aggressively, I am referring to her trying to push the limits to see what she can get away with. It reminds me of the Velociraptors on Jurassic Park testing the fence for weakness. LOL
There's also times when she tries to hump me or my purse which I take as a sign of her trying to be dominate.
There are times when she won't listen or stop bad behavior and I've had to take her down to get my point across. She has always been required to sit before meals and before exiting the door to go outside. She sleeps in a crate-not with me. and I frequently have her wearing her leash indoors in order to correct her quickly if needed. Is there anything else I should be doing?
Also her prey drive is off the charts and her DA is becoming quite apparent and hard to control at times. I know this is to be expected with this breed, but since I have never dealt with this before, and I want to contine to be able to take her out in public, I thought I'd ask for advice.
Training wise, she completed obedience classes last fall and she did awesome. And I have tried to keep up on the various things we learned by having her do sits/downs/stays ect. at random times through out the day. And more reciently, we just ended a 7 week class in preparation for the CGC test.
Well let me tell you, that was a colossal fail! There were 7 other dogs in the class and she wanted nothing to do with me. I tried using treats to get her attention, popping her prong collar, blocking her view, and nothing worked. She wanted to get at them all. Well except for the St. Benard. That was the only dog in the class she was able to stand next to and not react one bit. I think the reason was, the saint was very docile, never moved fast and never actually looked at her.
Same thing when we are out taking a walk. She is able to pass the dogs that don't react to her just fine, but as soon as they so much as look at her, she starts to act the fool by growling, screaming and lunging. In an attempt to correct her, I try popping her prong and saying NO! Or putting her in a sit until the dog passes. Neither of these things seem to work. And trust me, this is not the image I want to convey for the breed either. I've thought about taking her to the park and just sitting on the bench while other dogs walk by and treating her whenever she doesn't react. And then gradually work up to walking past other dogs. What do you think?
My daughter is getting concerned that it will get to the point where we won't be able to walk her in public any more. And I guess I'm starting to wonder that myself.
Should all dogs be able to control their DA (somewhat) with training? Or are there some dogs who just aren't able to be around other dogs at all?
As far as her prey drive goes, she wants chase after literaly anything that moves, whether it's an animal, children running, or someone on a bike. To be honest with you, this it the part that concerns me the most. if she were to accidentally get loose, I can totally see her chasing after some kids who were running around and possibly knocking them down. Now once down, she would fill their faces with nothing but kisses, but it would be very scary for the kids and she would be labeled "agressive". Is there any way I can handle this besides making sure she never gets loose?
I am looking for training advice from people who have experience with this breed. I haven't been able to find anyone locally and I know you all will give me great advice. While it might not sound like it, Gracie really is a good girl and a sweet heart and I just want to do right by her
TIAEdit to add: During her CGC classes, she was able to remain at a sit/stay while kids rode bikes by her and ran around bouncing basketballs next to her, but this was indoors, in a controlled setting - not the real world.
