Let's See Your Dogs!!

I agree Herding Dogs are wonderful!!!!!! When my wife and I got together she had a Shetland Sheepdog - we had him for about 15 years...my first Herding breed...I was hooked. Obviously (profile pic) German Shepherd Dogs - working breed (Schutzhund specifically) are what we've dealt with for around 20 years now. The good thing about a smart breed is they are smart - the bad thing is they are smart and if YOU are lazy they know it and will take over.

 

What's a "takeover" look like. First GSD mutt here. 6 months.

 

It really depends on the dog - some will physically challenge orders/commands by getting aggressive (usually muffled growls and stares) to start. They will try to bully you by pushing you around - mentally and physically. They may try to test you. It is imperative to set ground rules early - they are not people (I think they are much better).
Heavy aggression - That is unusual in herding dogs generally, but it can happen - especially with GSDs...the history (breeding) of the dog comes in to play. I could talk hours on the possibilities that can happen - but it's boring - especially on a truck forum. Let me say this - and I will differ from many folks I know. A lot of folks (like me) - in the GSD world - deal with very expensive dogs - usually a very long waiting period and 5-8K for a puppy is a very good deal....an adult dog (trained) is 15K and up. THAT IS A WASTE OF MONEY FOR 99% of folks. I believe if you socialize your puppy and keep him healthy (quality diet VERY important...we do raw but that is not entirely necessary), heavily exercised (be careful before 8 months - no high jumping), keep him constantly involved with you and your family, and do not be lazy in your (constant) training you will be fine and have a healthy loving relationship. Your GSD puppy WANTS to please you - but he does not want to please you by sitting at your side. He NEEDS something to do! Find things - teach him to track (very easy), teach him to pay hide and seek (especially if you have kids), etc. If you would like to DM me I'd be happy to talk some more.

 

Lol, honeymoon stage is over (at least I got two days), but from what I hear, next couple months are gonna be HARD!

I made the mistake of letting her sleep yesterday evening, and she was up from 3am on.

On the positive side, she has “sit” down!! Every time! Even if she gets distracted, she comes back quickly. And because I am only feeding her by hand, she watches me non-stop, which makes the command easier to give.

I’m having more issues with my 4 year old at the moment than I am the dog, but I can’t wait to get some sleep again

 

I'll keep you as a resource. Only at 6 months here. Working from home makes it easier, but that's temporary. I'm definitely looking for some sort of mental challenges. Right now it's only basic commands 10 mins per day, dog park 2x a week and some jogging and hiking 2x a week.

 

When you're lax on training or yield to the sofa (when not allowed), dogs start testing limits. They never really stop testing but training plays a huge part.
Be consistent; that's what is most important to avoid the takeover.

I always forget. A tired dog is a happy dog.

 

My killer.

And yes he always sh*ts with his back legs off the ground

 

The puppy is back from his 2 week residential training session! He’s a good boy

 

Something that aides in house breaking is schedules. Honestly. If you want predictable poop, feed at a predictable times. Also, as puppies, if you take them out every couple hours (carry them out of the house), set them down and say "go pee", reward when they do; pretty soon, you say "go pee" and the river flows. Very useful for road trips

 

My trainer taught my puppy that trick last week lol

 

haha!!! During the day it’s every hour. I use “good potty” and she gets food. At night, I get up every 2 1/2 or so. Same thing.

As far as feeding at predictable times, that will come with time. Right now she is getting about a cup and a half by hand for doing good things. (Watching me, sitting, going in her crate, being quiet in her crate, etc). She won’t be eating out of a bowl for a couple months. I’m working on more of the mental stimulation stuff while I can’t really take her out (she has had only one set of shots, and the vet suggested two before I take her on walks. It’s also been close to 100* here lately).

my biggest issue really has been separation anxiety so far when I put her in her crate. I’ve gotten the “screaming” down to about 5 min or so before she settles down. And when she does, she gets more food

obligatory pic

 

I hated that scream only lasted 2 months for me.

 

hahaha!! Man, I got about 2 hours last night. I had to legit remind myself “she is just a puppy” before I took her out this morning (yes, I did make sure she was quiet before she came out)

my daughter looks at me, covers her ears and goes, “why does she make such a loud noise!?”

they are really cute as puppies, but I will be honest, I can’t wait until she is past this stage!

 

If they weren't so cute, they wouldn't survive to adulthood

 

haha! Could not be more true

 

Kinda hard to remember, we picked them up at 8w and just left. No littermates, no mom. We became all that right then. If they know we're there, all good.
I remember Riley was LAF when he was crated in the kitchen. So, I googled and learned "start in the bedroom and move a little bit every week till you get where you need to be". Worked great.

 

It's so fast. Hang on. It was only really a month for me until my dog would sleep through the night.

 

Say hi to Kona! She is 3 years old, and has seen most of the country in our various moves (most recently from PA to AZ). First pic is her as a crazy puppy, second and third are more recent. And she even knows how to drive the truck!

 

I should give you all a little update on Poops. Recall he was diagnosed as diabetic and osteoarthritic almost 2 months ago (I count the days by the number of syringes...). For about the first month, I was learning and found you can buy insulin in California without a prescription-same for supplies. I was doing some price shopping because insulin is pretty expensive-about $189/10ml bottle. He gets 2x 25iu's per day (.50ml) per day and 12hr intervals. In dogs, you don't really spend a lot of time dicking around with measuring sugar levels and adjusting several times a day. After the first couple unhundo on supplies and meds, I began looking around and Walmart sells an older version of insulin for $25/10ml. It's called Novolin N and is the same as Humulin N. But it's not, Novolin is metabolized more slowly which is not a deal breaker. But it means redoing his insulin curve-you start with a per kg dose and then adjust. We'd adjusted once and were ready to make the final adjustment when I discovered $25...We started over at 23iu 2x sq.. Technically, they are the same insulin but you start over because the real danger with insulin is OD and if I did, I could kill Riley.

The goal is to get his blood sugar levels around 200 and we're pretty close to getting that. He's still got issues with his hind legs that the vet says are osteoarthritis. If I give him a Galiprant, he's a walking zombie-which is a known side effect. That's the next thing to figure out.

Overall, he's happy. Still not running and probably won't get back to that but he's happy.

 

Enjoy the cute and "calm" phase while it last, they grow up quick.