Dog Health Questions: Questions about wrestling my dog?

I have a question. I have a German Shepherd that is 7 months right now. Often times him and I will wrestle. When we were in dog training, I asked the dog trainer is it OK to wrestle with him. And he told me that's fine as long as he doesn't bite. Well, the truth of the matter is that, my dog, he will bite. And when he bites, I can tolerate it. It's not a vicious bite. However, when we wrestle, I will try and dominate my dog in different ways. First, when we are wrestling he might jump up on me so I will grab him and get him into a head lock or body lock, and I won't let him out (a few times he has managed to escape my holds LOL, but most of the time I have him locked so that he can't go nowhere). Then, when his biting gets too rough, I will get him on the floor on his side. And once I get him on his side, he will try to get up but I won't let him, I will hold him down. As I'm holding him down, I'm not sure if he's still “playing” because all of a sudden, he really starts to bite really super bad and the bites I cannot tolerate. You can actually see his teeth all around his mouth when he's biting so hard as I'm describing it. TO me, it looks like a bite that he is using in defense as if I was really attacking him or something. They are pretty bad bites. So when I have him down on his side, I will hold him down (which I can do easily) but then I will put my hand around his mouth and hold it shut for a few seconds till he is relaxed, then once he is calm, I release, and I let him up, and then we are done wrestling . I'm not sqeezing his mouth shut ,I just have my hand on his muzzle ever so lightly maybe with a tiny tiny bit of pressure which isn't even worth mentioning . Always, and always, and always after I release him after dominating him, he doesn't challenge me again, in other words, once I release him, he's not coming back to him to wrestle anymore. If I still want to wrestle, I will go grab him and start over. So, am I playing too rough/am I playing incorrectly with him? Please give me some advice. I enjoy wrestling with him. And, a lot of people that I know are so scared of him, but I don't really see what there is to be scared about. He's a big dog yeah, but I can still ultimately overpower him.

Someone else who I know has a female German Shepherd. And that female German Shepherd is done growing and she is the same size as my dog. Aren't German Shepherds supposed to be stronger than people? I can easily overpower my dog, as well as the other female German Shepherd who is done growing but the exact same size as my dog. It seems weird that if I can overpower both dogs, how would they be able to really attack someone? I'm confused about this.

Buying and Using an Electronic Dog Training Collar

Recommended Answer:
Loving and training is not about overpowering your dog, you are teaching him to be aggressive. Do convention training with him and play games that are constructive, at present you are confusing him.

Must-Have Tools For Easy And Fun Dog Training

• its OK i mess with my dog to but not in harsh ways, as for the overpowering thing your German Shepherd is only a pup its still has to finish growing then it will start to gain muscle


• You are teaching your dog to be aggressive .. These are guard dogs and need to be handled the right way. When he gets older your going to have some big issues .


• You need to teach Bite Inhibition instead of tolerating his bite. I think playing is fine however I think your metal state about it needs a differnt view. What your doing could actually build up an aggravation in him and make him snap later. Instad of forcing your self on him teahc him the commands to get the same reaction. remember to praise good stuff.
  
  GSD are powerful. It's not that you can easily overpower your dog, its the fact that your dog is letting you. If he wasn't you would be quite bloody. You shouldn't have to overpower a dog, the dog should know basic commands so you do not have to.


• that's great that you can overpower him but friends and family who come into your home, people your dog meets when it's off the leash at a park etc may not be able to so i personally think it's important to teach your dog not to jump up on people and not to bite, not even play biting.
  however, if you do want to wrestle with your dog then you should, it's a good way to bond. i do suggest though that you don't do this until your dog is older. if you teach him for now that it's not ok he will learn not to do it with other people, then when he is older you can wrestle with him and he won't be as prone to over excitement, you will be able to teach him when the game is over and that he is not to continue.
  
  so basically, there is no such thing as playing wrong with your dog, but you do need to consider that you are not the only person your dog comes in contact with. at this age dogs are simply not trustworthy, he is a puppy, he is fully grown but he will still be naughty and disobedient at times and until he settles down into adulthood you cannot trust a dog. even in adulthood many people believe you can't trust dogs completely.
  so i recommend that you follow my suggestion and teach him that humans are not dogs and do not play like dogs, then when he is 2-2.5 years you can go back to wrestling again but teach him a code word that means the game is over and that he is not to continue. at this age i think it is really important to reinforce the idea to your dog that you are a person, he is a dog and that he should not treat people like dogs. the last thing you want is to be walking down the street and for him to jump up on a little old lady or for you to turn your back for a moment and find him wrestling and play biting a kid who will be scarred for life. i know it's great fun but you don't need to give it up perminantly. good luck


• Hi,
  I train dogs so let me help you here. I know you want to wrestle with your dogs and that is okay to a point but German Shepard's are protective dogs and that is what your dog will do when he is older and the reason is this.
  When you wrestle with your dog you are teaching him to fight and at 7 months you have your dog trained to fight and if your dog ever gets out and bites someone you will be at fault and you could loose your dog.
  I have had 3 German Shepard's in my life and I have one now. The 2nd one I had, was the worst dog in biting and attacking only because at the time I was not a trainer and I did the same thing to my dog and she attacked an 8 year old girl and gave her 7 stitches in the stomach because of my playing very hard with the German Shepard's. I had to confine her for 10 days and I was responsible for any more attacks she did, although at the time the girl came on my property and I did not get in trouble but I was very very lucky.
  
  When you wrestle I know you want to show your dog who is dominate but you do not have to do what you are doing, to be dominate there are simple things you can do and one is always be in front of your dog when going out the door,
  When you feed him, make him sit and wait for the food
  When you walk him, always be the leader and not the dog.
  When he sees other people or animals, either walking or out a window, you control him with closing the view of the window or when walking you walk in another direction.
  You are teaching your dog you are in command and not him
  
  In the wild, pack dogs all follow a leader and that is the leader of the pack.
  The leader eats first, while the others wait, (teaching your dog to wait and sit before eating)
  The pack leader leads all the time and does everything while the others wait.
  THe leader is the controller and that should be you.
  If you want to wrestle, be very careful as you are teaching your dog to fight and your dog will either attack another dog for no reason or people and you will loose your dog and possibly be sued,.
  
  I am giving you heads up, now I know as I have stated you want to play but when you do, you control how long and never ever hold your dog as if you do, you will see what you have taught him to do when he gets ahold of someone to bite, just think of it if he gets ahold of someone and puts a head lock on them with his teeth, you will have some serious consequences.
  
  Stop your hard playing and he will stop his biting but again the more you do it the more he will attack you .
  Remember GSD's are guard dogs and that is what your breed of dog will do and I am concerned for you.
  If you do some training with the dog such as sit, stay, heel, come when called, lay down, leave it, etc you can control some of the dogs actions but be very careful.
  Again you be the leader and not your dog and control how rough you play with him as you are or already have taught him bad habits and GSD's are so smart and very easy to train and I am sure you have trained him to bite just by playing and please no Head Locks or Holding him either.
  Play gently with him and when he bites, use a word like I do and say NO and stop playing.
  
  Get him interested in a game of ball or hide and seek, and beleive me he will want to play but do it in a non aggressive way.