Anxious and Stressed out

Brownne · #1 06-01-11, 03:20 PM

Hi Guys, I haven't been on for a while as Zak had to have his leg broken to try and fix an apparently hereditary issue!!! Surprisingly the breeder never mentioned a history of the problem. Anyway, I digress. I need help....my lovely, placid GSD has turned into a completely neurotic, highly strung 35K ball of fluff and I am at my wits end. It started when, shortly after having his osteotomy (Leg broken to us non vets) my sister decided to show him who was boss and continued to jump at him growling and making herself larger than him to try and be the dominant one - even after he had submitted. Yes I know, I did try to tell her to pack it in, and remove Zak but he was too far gone by this stage and eventually I kicked her out the house, never to be allowed back at present. The upshot is, I can no longer walk Zak when I know there will be people, children or dogs around (so pretty much all the time) he goes nuts, barking and up on his hind legs trying to get at them. At the weekend I wasn't quick enough when someone rounded the corner and he managed to nip her sleeve - luckily she was very good about it and kept trying to give him a stroke. I have bought a muzzle for him but sufficed to say I feel blooming rubbish that my very calm dog has turned into this. Even my vet says he has become a neurotic and couldn't believe the change in him over the past 5 weeks!!!!! HELP ME PLEASE, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

super D · #2 06-01-11, 03:47 PM

Im sure someone will be along to give advice soon xx

LOVEGSD · #3 06-01-11, 04:33 PM

OMG I can't believe your sister, I can imagine how annoyed you are with her, what on earth was she thinking of???

It sounds like he needs to be re-socialised with people and learn that people are nice and he doesn't need to be scared. If you are in any doubt with him I believe he should be muzzled, you don't want to be reported for having a dangerous dog.

Is it possible to get his attention when or preferbly before he's going mental at people? Could you give him a command of 'leave' and then 'watch' so he'll focus on you?? Do you know any people you can ask to be stooges? Perhaps you can have him sitting and watching you so he learns to ignore people? Then perhaps progress to asking people to just throw a treat on the floor when he's calmer so he associates people with good things but don't let them approach too soon because you don't want to scare him.

kita · #4 06-01-11, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brownne

Hi Guys, I haven't been on for a while as Zak had to have his leg broken to try and fix an apparently hereditary issue!!! Surprisingly the breeder never mentioned a history of the problem.

What hereditary issue? Have you been in touch with the breeder to let them know about it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brownne

Anyway, I digress. I need help....my lovely, placid GSD has turned into a completely neurotic, highly strung 35K ball of fluff and I am at my wits end. It started when, shortly after having his osteotomy (Leg broken to us non vets) my sister decided to show him who was boss and continued to jump at him growling and making herself larger than him to try and be the dominant one - even after he had submitted.

What your sister did, combined with all the excess energy he must have had (I presume he had to be confined after the op.) has caused a lot of problems for you. That is why I hate this 'dominance/Alpha' type attitude - and to cap it all it is completely wrong - dogs don't think like that!!

All your sister has done is make poor Zak terrified, he must think that everyone is out to attack him!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brownne

The upshot is, I can no longer walk Zak when I know there will be people, children or dogs around (so pretty much all the time) he goes nuts, barking and up on his hind legs trying to get at them. At the weekend I wasn't quick enough when someone rounded the corner and he managed to nip her sleeve - luckily she was very good about it and kept trying to give him a stroke. I have bought a muzzle for him but sufficed to say I feel blooming rubbish that my very calm dog has turned into this. Even my vet says he has become a neurotic and couldn't believe the change in him over the past 5 weeks!!!!! HELP ME PLEASE, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The first thing I would do is walk him in a Halti/Dogmatic or other head collar of some kind. This will allow you to control his head and stop him getting up on his hind legs.

I never used to walk my dogs round blind corners (everyone used to know me as the lady who walked her dog in the middle of the road

), simply because they were so big and people would get a shock when they walked into them - it used to make them jump and the dog would react.

Another tip is if you are walking in a built up area have the dog between yourself and the wall (not on your outside), that way if they go to lunge at someone they have to go across you and you can block them off.

Try and go to an area where you can see people coming from a distance. When you see them approaching put him into a 'sit' and get his attention on you with a treat or toy. 'Watch me' and 'leave' are good commands to practice.

Sue

PS Don't take too much notice of your vet - they often have no idea about dog behaviour/psychology!!! If I had gone through an operation like that I don't think I would be too keen on Doctors!!!

Kev&Kel · #5 06-01-11, 04:55 PM

hello,

just thinking outside the box, could he still be in some kind of pain? As for your sister id ban her from my house for life. Ive just been given some very good advice on here hear regarding the same behaviour. ill post the link below and its defo worth 20mins of your time to read it. As for the dog make sure he's always muzzled when walked, and walk him in a place where hes happy, i.e a quiet field. then over time rebuild his confidence. Again all that is in the thread. And im sure more advice will be on the way.

Hope you both sort this out and things get better.

http://www.mygermanshepherd.co.uk/fo...r-night-3.html

also look into zylkene Sams just been put on it, its a stress tablet. herbal, the vet has just informed me it does work. ive just posted a thread on here about it. good luck

Nanny Ogg · #6 06-01-11, 05:10 PM

Let your dog attack your sister - it'd let him feel like "boss" and give her a free holiday in the local NHS holiday camp. Two birds with one stone.

Obviously that was a poor taste joke, so what I'd be inclined to do would be to make meeting people become a treat. I'd do it like this:

You'll need some free time, a private bit of land/space where you can control who comes near you, a collar and lead, some high value treats, and some stooges.

Sit in the middle of the land/space with your dog, make sure your body language is nice and relaxed but that you've got a good hold of the dogs lead. I probably wouldn't muzzle the dog whilst training him like this, but if you're worried about a bite then it might be worth it.

Get your dog focussed on you and the treat, and have a stooge walk towards you. Feed the dog treats constantly, and praise what a good brave dog he is.

When dog reacts aggressively to the stooge, the treats go away immediately (important), turn away from your dog, and the stooge needs to swiftly remove themself from the vicinity. Then rinse, repeat if necessary.

You are teaching your dog that good things happen when people are approaching, but the good things go away when he reacts poorly.

Once he has mastered people and dogs in your sterile environment, you can practice in a park, sitting on a park bench and letting people walk past you. As soon as he barks, treats go away.

Don't be afraid to take control of the situation by explaining as people approach that you are doing some training and he may get a bit shouty. If he does, ask the passers by to ignore him completely.

mackico · #7 29-01-11, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kita

I never used to walk my dogs round blind corners (everyone used to know me as the lady who walked her dog in the middle of the road

), simply because they were so big and people would get a shock when they walked into them - it used to make them jump and the dog would react.

People pop out from around blind corners, and Archie jumps away and bumps straight into me. The people, on the other hand, don't do anything.

I would also get him checked to see if he isn't still in any sort of pain. Once Archie had a sore on his chest from his car harness rubbing, and he snarled at a smaller dog that came up to sniff him. He'd met the dog before and was friendly enough with it in the past, but what really happened was it got too close to his sore and he didn't like it. I had no idea what was going on, why he was suddenly aggressive, found the sore that night and felt bad. He growled at another small dog that got too close to his chest the next day, but was fine with other little dogs as soon as the sore healed up.