[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: puppy training and the GSD

  • From: Amy Greenhut <genoaktortoise@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: arcturusgermanshepherds@xxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2014 15:15:01 +0000 (UTC)

It sounds to me like the people who were teaching the dog training have no clue 
as to what they are doing and totally have this puppy thinking it is okay to do 
what he wants and he will get a cookie even if he does something wrong. It 
certainly is not the dog's fault!!! 

Amy Greenhut 
Justrock German Shepherds 
Gen Oak Leopard Tortoises And Tortoise Rescue 
Board Member Last Hope Safe Haven 
http://www.lhsh.org 
Behold The Turtle. He Makes Progress Only When He Sticks His Neck Out 
A Quote By James Conant 


----- Original Message -----

From: "Sue Tomlinson" <arcturusgermanshepherds@xxxxxxxxx> 
To: "The list" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Sunday, April 6, 2014 10:33:21 AM 
Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] puppy training and the GSD 

I am very frustrated right now. I have a beautiful puppy coming back to 
me shortly. Champion sired, ofa's on both ends of parents, beautiful 
pedigree, deep red sable. Sound, sweet tempered parents. 
Puppy is almost 7 months old. The owners tried to do everything right. 
Took him to puppy classes starting at 9 weeks, where an older puppy 
jumped on him and began to drag him around. This went on every week for 8 
weeks. Instructor said " let them play!" so the owners did. 
The 8 week course was a "Champion of my Heart" training. In other 
words, all positive, no choke collars, no martingales, nothing but a soft 
buckle collars. You weren't allowed to use the word no, or a corrective 
sound. You followed the puppy around and when it sat you praised it and 
gave it a cookie. As the weeks went on you could "position" your puppy and 
then, of course, give it a cookie. 
Not surprisingly, at the end of 8 weeks the puppy knew little more than 
sit and to run from bigger dogs. 
So, another 8 week class was in order. At home, if the puppy was doing 
something it shouldn't the owners were told to distract the puppy with a 
toy and then....you guessed it! Give a cookie! By 5 months the puppy was 
destroying things in the house, jumping up on people and had begun barking 
at people coming to the house. The owners did what they were told and 
would distract him with a toy or cookie and then give him a cookie! Guess 
what he has learned? 
The first time they brought him out to start training with me they told me 
not to look him in the eye or he would bark at me. The puppy began to jump 
around and pull the owners all over the place. The wife immediately said, 
"Wait!" I have cookies in the car and ran to get the cookies. 
Training went pretty well for 3 weeks with them coming every week. They 
were told: " German Shepherds Need a Leader!!" and I tried to enforce that 
with them by setting up situations. Sadly they called to tell me the dog 
had bitten the husband and they no longer wanted him as he was dangerous. 
Here's what happened: the now almost 7 month old puppy was playing with 
the 20 year old daughter. He was pawing at her and biting at her hands. 
She would grab his face and push on it. Soon she was tired of the game 
and wanted the puppy to leave her alone. She called her Dad, who told the 
dog to stop ( yeah right ) and when he didn't he grabbed the puppies 
collar. The puppy turned his head and grabbed the man's arm. He didn't 
break the skin, just pinched him. So much wrong here. 
Sorry to vent, but this puppy wasn't given a fair shake either. I will 
try and re-train and then find a home with people who are leaders. The 
puppy's owner did tell me there were 3 other shepherds in the class and the 
instructor had commented "she didn't know what was wrong with Shepherds 
today". Sigh.. 

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============================================================================
POST is Copyrighted 2014.  All material remains the property of the original 
author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind 
are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the 
Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post.  This group and its 
administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in 
any post.

ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY 
MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS 
PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY 
FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE 
PROSECUTED. 

For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx

VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org  SUBSCRIPTION: 
http://showgsd.org/mail.html
NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/
============================================================================

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