# experienced GSD owner needs help



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

We just resuced a 14 month old unspayed female. We have taken rescue dogs before but have never had a problem like this one. Please any help or advice appreciated. 

Our new dog loves myself and my 19 year old daughter but she will do nothing but bark and growl my husband. We have tried all the tricks we know. He approaches her non-aggressively, he has tried feeding her treats which she takes and then backs away. She will just not relax around him. My daughter and I growl her when she acts agressive and she rolls right away but the next time he comes near she starts again. We currently have her crated in our living area so she can watch us interact with each other and our 9 year old neutered shepherd. Its been several days now and she just is not calming down around my husband. Our old guy is no help at all he will not take dominate. She has growled him and tugged his ears but he doesn't react. Just acts like she doesn't even exist. I think maybe if he ignores her she will go away. We have 5 acres and I make sure I take her out several times a day and toss the ball for her to chase. I feel badly about keeping her crated so much. Will she ever calm down? Is there anything else we can be doing? Help!


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I would have your husband put her on the BIG IGNORE as well..and I mean TOTALLY IGNORE, like she doesn't exist..No staring, no approaching, no nothing. 

She may have been mistreated by a man. I'm sure she's doing it out of fear and uncertainty, and Hope you'll get some other ideas here


----------



## ken k (Apr 3, 2006)

+100


----------



## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

Agree with Jacoda here. Hubby needs to act like she doesn't exist(other than being careful of her presence). Her growling at him and being so uneasy is her way of telling you she in uncomfortable with him, for whatever reason. Give her time and she will probably start approaching him little by little, but right now, pushing her to accept him is only putting her over her threshold. Set her up for success, give her time to settle in. She is adjusting to a lot of new stuff right now.


----------



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

*The big ignore.*

Thank you everyone for your responses. How long should he ignore? Since she fine with my daughter and myself should we continue to reprimand her when she barks or growls him or should we ignore as well? 
As far as I know she has never been abused or mistreated, just never in a home with a male human. She came from a search and resuce handler who we've gotten dogs from before. She was supposedly with a trainer for 7 months before she was returned for chasing small fuzzy's. 

Thanks again for your responses we love her already and really want this to work.


----------



## ken k (Apr 3, 2006)

she`ll make the first move when she feels shes ready,


----------



## RebelGSD (Mar 20, 2008)

One option is for your husband to take over the feeding responsibilities completely. If you are concerned about her biting someone, you can use the soft muzzle. He can carry some smelly and yummy treats, cheese or tuna, and offer them to her if she approaches him. Thank you for taking her her. This may require some time and patience. Would she go for a walk with him?
I once fostered a dog that was abused by a woman. Thevpoor dog would not come out of the crate in my presence for an entire month.


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

I don't have much to add to what the others have said. Be patient and let her become accustomed to the "big scary man" at her own pace. I do think it's a good idea for your husband to ignore her, but also he should be the one that feeds her. Other than that, he should pretend she doesn't exist.

I'm not sure if I would reprimand her too harshly for growling at him, but she should know that it doesn't please you. Sometimes ignoring is a better "punishment" than a harsh word. Does she have a command for "settle", or "quiet"? Give your husband lots of hugs in front of her, hopefully she will begin to understand that he isn't a threat. I'm sure he won't object.


----------



## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I wouldn't reprimand to harshly for growling either, it can backfire on you..If you try to correct her growling, you may get her to STOP the growling, the fear will still be there and she may just go for a nip.

Atleast with a growl , she is saying "i am uncomfortable with this and I'm letting you know"...

What I would do, and have done with my male aussie, who can be barky/growly at strange men he doesn't know, is basically not make to big a deal out of it, and usually say something like "oh leave it",,and then I'll call him to me, or redirect his attention to ME and toss him a treat..


----------



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Thanks everyone. My husband is ignoring her and she is calming down a lot. She even let him feed her some treats yesterday. I guess it is just going to take time. I'm glad I did this when I have a month off of work. I just hope I can get her to calm down before I have to go back and my daughter heads back to the university. We have a dog door that she will need to use. Once I start back to work I don't want her to have to be in a kennel all day.


----------



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Two steps forward one back. Everytime we start making progress she seems to be afraid to get too comfortable with us. Had her leashed in the living room this morning on her blanket. She was just fine for about half an hour then she had to get up and start growling toward husband on other side of room who had not moved and was ignorning her. I was told she had some training, but at the moment I'm failing to see it. I'm trying to be calm but the barking growl really bothers me even tho it is not directed at me. I was wanting her to be more comfy with us before I took her to the vet but I'm thinking maybe I need to get her checked out ASAP. This just doesn't seem normal. We've had dog friends for over 25 years (several of them rescue dogs) both older and younger than her 14 months and never had anything like this before.


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Maybe you should get your husband checked out too. 

I'm only half kidding. Dogs can sometimes pick up on it when things are "off"... does your husband have any health issues? Siezure disorders... low blood sugar... anything like that?

How long have you had her now? I have found that with a new dog in a new environment, it takes about three weeks for them to really settle in. Longer if the dog has some fear issues.

When she starts the growling and barking, I'd simply call her to you and try to re-direct her attention. Then put her in her crate. I'm thinking it's still all too much, too soon. I can't overstate the importance of letting her move at her own pace. Pushing her, challenging her too much will bring you one step forward and two steps back, every time. It seems like she may have been abused or frightened by men in the past.

Is there any way you can get more information on her upbringing and experiences, her "training", and how she came into rescue?


----------



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Husband is fine health wise tho he does smoke. Maybe she doesn't like the smell? She is back in the kennel watching everything quietly. She did freak out a little while ago when my huband sat down with our old dog Buddy and was rubbing his belly. She started barking and lunged at the door of her kennel. I don't know if she felt she should protect Buddy or if she was jealous. So frustrating. I wish she could talk english. LOL


----------



## ken k (Apr 3, 2006)

shepherdmom said:


> Husband is fine health wise tho he does smoke. Maybe she doesn't like the smell? She is back in the kennel watching everything quietly. She did freak out a little while ago when my huband sat down with our old dog Buddy and was rubbing his belly. She started barking and lunged at the door of her kennel. I don't know if she felt she should protect Buddy or if she was jealous. So frustrating. I wish she could talk english. LOL



she sounds a lot like my Heidi, its going to take time, a lot of time and patience, Heidi was like that when I petted Max, she came out growling and barking


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

shepherdmom said:


> Husband is fine health wise tho he does smoke. Maybe she doesn't like the smell?


It's possible she might have a bad association with the scent of tobacco smoke...perhaps a smoker had done something to hurt or scare her in the past. Could be interesting to see if her attitude changes according to when he smokes... for example, does she freak out when he lights up, or when he comes inside after having a smoke? Is she calmer when the smell of smoke isn't so strong?

I used to train Luka with a helper who smoked cigarettes. It got to the point where the smell of a cigarette would excite her. It's been years since she's worked with that helper, but she still gets turned on by the smell of tobacco, and expects something fun to happen. 

It could very easily go the other way, if the association was a negative one.


----------



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

This is just so frustrating because there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason she takes turkey breast from him just fine then an hour later he will say something and she goes off. I'm sure part of it is his voice. He was singing to the radio and that set her off. It really seems like she just really doesn't know what to make of him. Talked to the person we got her from and she says the trainer she was with for 7 months kept her crated except for walks and training and that her husband was older tall soft voiced and grey haired. My husband is bald with a grey beard and has a deep voice. I know she is confused and scared.


----------



## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

it could be that she is just intimidated by your husbands deep voice. there may not be any ryme or reason, just that she has a weird issue with it. i would still have him ignore her, and not force himself on her. it might help if he were to take her for short walks just the two of them, and not have him say anything just walk, or take her outside and play ball, or tug? tug is a great interaction game when done right. some dogs do better to socialize through play vs food.


----------



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

After talking more with the lady we got her from I realized we might be misreading her signals. Her ears are up and cocked when she is bark growling. I think maybe she is talking to him not being agressive. I feel dumb for missing that sign. We've had talkers before it is just that our current baby is not a talker and I'd forgotten how vocal some shepherds can be. When she talks to him he is starting to talk back just small soft its ok baby I see you...that kind of nonsence and that seems to calm her. It seems to be going better than ignoring her.


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Is there any way you can get a video of her when she's doing that bark-growl thing?


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Where did you get her from and what is her background? 

Here is a great resource: shy-k9s : shy-k9s so much great information in the archives alone!


----------



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Thanks for the links. She is 14 month old from a search and resuce breeder. She washed out of training because she likes to chase small fuzzies. (i.e. cats etc.) She was with the trainer for 7 months. The rest of the time she was with the breeder. (The breeder is someone, who we have gotten dogs from before) Every single one of her dogs has been friendly, loving and great pet dogs. My vet loves them. They have the best hips she says she has ever seen on shepherds. (we have only gotten puppies from her before and this was kind of an odd turn of events) When our other dog passed on I asked to use her as a reference for a Rescue Place in Las Vegas where we had been looking. She said she had a dog we could rescue out of her lines. This is the great grand niece to my 9 year old baby so I was very interested. When my daughter went on winter break I picked her up and then swung down to Phoenix to go get the dog. (a good 14 hour drive from where we live) I think that was the first mistake. If my husband could have come with us and met her on her home turff things might have been better. We spent a couple of days bonding with her then brough her on the long car ride home. Our other problem is our older dog won't take dominate. She comes from a home with 8 dogs and knows pack rules. It is confusing and upsetting to her that our old guy is not pack leader. Unfortunately our dominate dog was the one that passed on. Our second mistake was that we have been misreading her signals. It's been a long time since I've had a dog this young and the bark growl that we are concerned about may be her trying to communicate with us. She is very loving with me and my daughter but we are just not sure what the bark growl thing with my husband is all about. I also know that she must be hungry. We brought a bag of her dog food back with us but she is uninterested in it. We have tried mixing it with the science diet we feed but that doesn't interest her either. I have gotten her to eat a little by putting bacon greese on the food and also feeding her turkey breast. Which actually we've had my husband doing in an effort to bond with her. At this point I'm not sure who is training who. I think she is training us. We have 5 acres so we take her outside and she loves her ball so we've been making sure she gets plenty of exercise. At this point I'm just not sure what else to do for her. We want to let her out to be part of the family but as long and she is bark/growling my husband we are afraid to take the chance.


----------



## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

Ok I got a video. Not sure how to post it tho.


----------



## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

shepherdmom said:


> Ok I got a video. Not sure how to post it tho.


Upload to your youtube account.. or start a youtube account if you don't have one. 

Once it is there, get it playing and just copy and paste the addy from the title bar of the browser directly into your post. I've had some trouble here myself... but I've found this is the easiest way to do it.


----------

