# Please help ASAP



## dogluver (Apr 28, 2011)

I got a 1 year old gsd 2 days ago. My son, husband and myself thorough checked her out. She showed great temperament. Now home, she barks at my son's best friend and today has started barking and showing teeth at my son. He is 17 years old. I must stop this behavior. Please tell me what to do.I took her to work with me for socialization purposes and she was great with some people and barked threatening at others. I am hoping to train her as a therapy dog so I need to now how to ease her up.:help:


----------



## n2gsds (Apr 16, 2011)

My best suggestion is to get her to obedience classes with a good, reputable club. Is this a rescue? What is her history?


----------



## suzzyq01 (Feb 15, 2011)

n2gsds said:


> My best suggestion is to get her to obedience classes with a good, reputable club. Is this a rescue? What is her history?


I second this.


----------



## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Do you have any history on her? Where did you get her from? What were you told about her? It will help you to know what you're dealing with. If you don't have this info then I would try and get it if possible. If you plan on keeping her then I would seek out a good trainer in your area who can evaluate her in person and work with you.


----------



## DanielleOttoMom (May 11, 2010)

She is in a new environment and must give her time to ajust to your home and your family. She is still young so she might be scared or intimidated. Do you know any thing about her past? Where did you get her from? Do you have a crate for her to relax in? I would seek out a trainer to help you with advise of getting her settled in.


----------



## dogluver (Apr 28, 2011)

I got her from a couple that is being deployed in three weeks. She has had basic training, but that's about it. I have her signed up for obedience classe starting in about a month. She is being spayed on Tues. She comes from a good home. The only problem I saw was that the couple worked long hours and she had to stay in her crate until they got home. Sometimes she went to doggy daycare. They had a 9 year old daughter.


----------



## dogluver (Apr 28, 2011)

She has her own crate, bed, toys, etc. She was very well taken care of. Indoor dog.


----------



## billsharp (May 3, 2011)

Def get to a trainer asap.

She showed great temperament in the security of her home for the first year of her life, and you were outsiders she tolerated. Now she's in unfamiliar surroundings with those same strangers. During the first two days in that situation I'd bark too. (You've done nothing wrong, just see it through her eyes).

Is son/friend approaching full frontal with lots of serious eye contact? Until they bond and she trusts them this is a no-no. They need to learn how to approach her asap.

Whole family should go slow, lots of low-pressure contact, allow her to roam and approach you, always treat her when she approaches you voluntarily, don't try to force immediate intimacy with her. As you build trust and bond this fear aggression should lessen.

But do get immediate eval by trainer, in case it's more serious than this.


----------



## billsharp (May 3, 2011)

Can you postpone spaying a few weeks? She may need significant help during recuperation, and that will be more difficult if the bond and trust is still being established.


----------



## dogluver (Apr 28, 2011)

I want to go ahead with the spaying so she is ready for training classes when they start. My husband and I will be available to help her during recuperation. Once I start the training classes, I don't want her to have to miss any. So spaying her later would be a problem.


----------



## dogluver (Apr 28, 2011)

*update and still need help*

My new girl showed some progress today. I had the boys not look at or try to pet her. She stopped barking at them. Later all three of us took her for a walk and I had each of them hold her leash. She did great. Then they each did some basic sit/stay work with her using treats. She did very well. Still has a long way to go, though. If anyone has any other suggestion for her barking at people when we walk, I'm all ears.


----------



## dogluver (Apr 28, 2011)

*Cured the unnecessary bark*

Fixed Ziva barking at my son and his friend. When they came in the door, I spoke to them as did my husband. Shepherd/Husky went to great them, Ziva acted like she was going to greet them as well, then she lunged down the stairs barking aggressively. I had a tin can with pennies in it ready. I shook the can. She stopped immediately and retreated. All is quiet now. A friend suggested this after her trainer told her to use it for her shepherd.


----------



## Mom2Shaman (Jun 17, 2011)

For what it is worth, you are being kind of unfair to the dog. You need to slow down and work positively. In 2 days you are expecting her to adapt to a whole new environment? Not going to happen. 

Think about it. You are an 8 to 10 year old kid. You love your parents and sister. Some strangers come and hang out. You get in their car and go home with them. You get there and are wondering where your family is because they told you nothing. You have all these chores and rules and some of them make no sense. Now a stranger comes in and starts trying to talk with you. You don't know this person and if they are good. You are confused. You try to show the family that you don't know what to do and are missing your family and want to go home. They get mad at you and let off an air horn. Oh, and then they say within the next couple weeks you have to undergo a medical procedure and go to school. They say your new hobby is going to be volunteering at a hospital with tons of strangers and really scary medical stuff. And, WHERE IS your family, anyway?

Isn't that all a bit unfair? It takes adult dogs up to a month (maybe even more in some cases maybe less but certainly not less than a couple weeks) to adjust, cope, learn, accept, trust, etc. You are shaking a can at her on day 2? You should be building careful, calm, positive experiences. You should be teaching rules, presenting a stable environement with minimal chaos, giving instruction while setting boundaries, and helping her understand her place within the family dynamics. You are rushing this dog way too fast and you are setting yourself up for failure and setting her up to turn into a sullen animal not bonded with your family. You will get frustrated and dump her off on someone else. She's not a bad dog, she just is confused as heck.

Please rethink everything and give her time to adjust. There is a military family who gave you their child and you really owe them, her, and yourself a fighting chance to make it work.


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Mom2Shaman said:


> For what it is worth, you are being kind of unfair to the dog. You need to slow down and work positively. In 2 days you are expecting her to adapt to a whole new environment? Not going to happen.
> 
> Think about it. You are an 8 to 10 year old kid. You love your parents and sister. Some strangers come and hang out. You get in their car and go home with them. You get there and are wondering where your family is because they told you nothing. You have all these chores and rules and some of them make no sense. Now a stranger comes in and starts trying to talk with you. You don't know this person and if they are good. You are confused. You try to show the family that you don't know what to do and are missing your family and want to go home. They get mad at you and let off an air horn. Oh, and then they say within the next couple weeks you have to undergo a medical procedure and go to school. They say your new hobby is going to be volunteering at a hospital with tons of strangers and really scary medical stuff. And, WHERE IS your family, anyway?
> 
> ...


 
i agree pretty heavily on this. Some dogs adjust better and faster than others. You're asking a LOT of this girl and you havent even had her that long! She doesnt know you. All she knows if she got shipped off to live with strangers. I also agree that you should wait until she's comfortable with you before you spay her. She's already scared and nervous. She doesnt know the rules or the routine yet. And shaking the can of pennies at her at this point can only cause more nervous behavior. give her some time to adjust before you start throwing all kinds of things at her to get used to right away.


----------



## dogluver (Apr 28, 2011)

*You are right!*

I have been thinking i needed to get everything moving because she is already 15 months old. Noticed she was in heat today, so I will be waiting on the spaying. I will go ahead and start training in about 5 weeks. In the mean time I'm just going to reinforce what she already know and slowly add new commands. I am forcing on her my need too have a very well behaved dog TODAY and not considering all the new stuff she is being exposed to. I'm slowing down and giving her time to adjust.


----------



## kennajo (May 20, 2011)

Have everyone( one at a time) who will associate with her sit next to her crate (closed until she is less sensitive)and toss treats to her. She will learn that new people mean good things for her! Just sit beside ,don't crowd, don't look at her....no pressure. Good luck


----------



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

dogluver said:


> I have been thinking i needed to get everything moving because she is already 15 months old. Noticed she was in heat today, so I will be waiting on the spaying. I will go ahead and start training in about 5 weeks. In the mean time I'm just going to reinforce what she already know and slowly add new commands. I am forcing on her my need too have a very well behaved dog TODAY and not considering all the new stuff she is being exposed to. *I'm slowing down and giving her time to adjust*.


 
this is very good. also, some dogs have been known to be "angry" types when they're in heat. I've not had a female in heat who was snappy and testy but i know some other members have. Good luck!


----------



## Mom2Shaman (Jun 17, 2011)

I was going to ask if she was in heat. That certainly doesn't help. I am glad to hear you are slowing down. At times I feel the same way about my pup. I want to flash forward to him being adult, socialized, entirely well mannered. I have to realize that it takes time to get the pup to the superior point of my other dogs. It's a process. Give her time and give her positive experiences. I only had one dog that fit right in and was perfect from day 1. He had been unhappy in a rescue group for 6 weeks and was so thrilled to be inside a nice quite home that he adjusted perfectly. All the others were a process.


----------



## rblanshan (Jun 23, 2011)

I am in a similar situation and recieved lots of good advice on this forum. I brought a 1.5 female (non-spayed) home a month ago. Really good dog, but she is not comfortable with kids. She also barks at a few people I let into the house (delivery guys, not actual friends). She has also barked violently at my daughter, who was around her for the first week, and then had to go to her dad's and came home for the weekend. My dog is heartworm positive, so I can't take her to training until her treatment is complete. However, I started NILF (Nothing In Life is Free) with her, and that has helped. I had kids over Thursday night and then several over Saturday night. Both nights I had her in her kennel with a blanket over it. If she was really quiet and calm, I would lift the blanket up so that she could then see everyone. She actually did very well, even with kids playing right next to the kennel (I did take her out for potty breaks, on leash, when kids were in another room!). However, I was very impressed with how calm she was! I think the other posts are correct (along with the hormones she's experiencing with going into heat) when they say to give it time. Has she bonded with one particular person? Give her time, but definitely keep an eye on her. GSD are not like labs who love everyone, they are cautious dogs. Since yours is in a new environment, she is nervous right now and I would think has a higher chance of snapping at someone. I keep my dog in her kennel or on her leash when someone who does not live in the house, comes by. If I let her out of her kennel when they are still over, she goes on her leash which I have in my hand the whole time. My dog is going to have to earn my trust when it comes to non-family members, and I totally think she will earn it...but she needs time to become confident and relaxed in my home. In the meantime, it's my job to make sure anyone who comes into my home is safe too...so, dog in kennel or on leash. Kennel is in the living room so she can see everything. Seems to be working because she no longer is reacting the way she was. Good luck!


----------



## dogluver (Apr 28, 2011)

More great advice. I have stopped walking her around the neighborhood now that I know she is in heat. I don't want to take any chances with possibly aggressive male dogs or her being aggressive. She is getting much better with my son. I suggested he spend more time with her. Being 17, he has quite the social life. I want to take her back to work with me, but will hold off on that too.


----------



## APCURLS (Apr 14, 2011)

This is all great advice! My husband and I recently adopted an 18 month old who was found as a stray. I read on one of the forums here and was also told by the rescue to take it easy and to introduce new people only after a couple weeks so that the new pup can get accustomed to you and start to trust you. We canceled all plans and have only had a couple people over in the last week or so and he's very comfortable with him. Maybe limit the amount of traffic into your home for a few weeks until she realizes that it's her home and she can trust you. There's a great wealth of info on this forum that's helped me a great deal! Keep up the good work! The work you put in at first pays off in the end!


----------

