# 7 month old behaviour



## spinkamor (Oct 22, 2012)

My 7 month old GSD is starting to exhibit horrible behaviours like barking at everything and anything. He has his big boy bark now and it's scares many people. Yesterday, on a walk, he stood his ground and barked ferociously at a little 4 year old girl. (Who obviously screamed and cried) I frequently take him to dogparks and he's absolutely fine. He plays rough but no barking or aggression. But when he's on leash, or in the car, he barks at other dogs passing or even people. This morning, my boyfriend came out of the washroom and he barked/growled at him He's also started to become very food/bone-agressive with my other dogs. If he's chewing on an antler, and my little pom goes near him, he growls/barks. Thank god he hasn't started that with me! But I'm a little worried, he seems like a completely different dog

Another problem: he's still pulling insanely. We've tried the Easy Walk harness, which he got used to after a week or so. We've tried a prong collar, which he still pulls with. He weighs 70 lbs, so when he pulls it feels like my arms are going to fall right off We've been to classes, and for teaching "heel", the trainer taught us to use treats to keep his head near our knees. It doesn't work. He's not interested in the treats at all. I've also tried stopping every time he pulls, then only continuing to walk until he's stopped. It takes me half an hour to walk one small street, and he STILL pulls! I don't think it's a lack of exercise because he gets a one hour walk in the afternoon and two hours of playtime at night, plus pee breaks during the day. 

Please help!! I miss my sweet little boy


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## Gsdlover13 (Jan 9, 2013)

first of all a dog harness is for PULLING..its going to be tough to correct him
with a harness i suggest you try getting a regular collar for walks...
before you step out of your house for a walk with him make sure hes calm if hes excited wait for him to calm down

make sure your the first to step out the door an he follows when you tell him
too..if hes a high energy type of dog try draining that energy by
running with him or give him high energy level activities..

at this age your pup will try to test you and have it his way no matter
what..german shepherds are stubborn sometimes haha..
just be consistent with his walks an corrections!!

always remain calm and assertive!! :]


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## mandiah89 (Jan 18, 2013)

Cant really help with the whole barking/aggression issue that you might have to see a behavioral trainer... 

As for the pulling, as soon as he starts to pull whip around and go the opposite direction, keep doing this, it may take doing it 100 times but he will soon learn "oh I really have to watch what this person is doing" he will start to walk by your side after doing this repeatedly and again its not going to be a miracle fix and you may only get up one street and back in like 30 mins to an hour but dont let him pull infront of you anymore your just enforcing the bad behavior try keeping the sessions short to make sure he doesnt become saturated. Doing this you will see a difference and I bet within a few weeks he will be walking no problem by your side


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Gsdlover13 said:


> first of all a dog harness is for PULLING..


The Easy Walk is a no pull harness, it is clipped in the front and turns the dog around when he pulls. 

OP, are you correcting him with the prong or trying to let him self correct? What are you doing to be more interesting than the environment on walks? Your walk should not be in a predictable straight line, dogs dont care about how far they've walked, they care about what they've seen and smelled. Mix it up, be interesting. 

As to the growling in the house, more info is needed to know why that is happening. Has he been to classes or do you have a trainer you can talk to?


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## spinkamor (Oct 22, 2012)

We live downtown, so we walk every which way on the streets. Lots of smells and different people everywhere! 
I tug on the prong collar when he pulls too hard, but it doesn't seem to stop him. He doesn't care about the prongs at all.

As for the barking, he's been to classes and the trainer even said he's one of the best and sweetest dogs in class. It's only been these past few weeks that he started this barking at everything. Luckily, he never barks at me (yet) and lets me take his food/water/bones away if I want to. I wonder if it's because he's in his "teenage years" ?


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