Dog Training - How to Train Your Dog Successful
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When he is getting aggressive he is most likely thinking you are playing with him. You need to let him know that you are the dominate "dog" before you put the dog to sleep contact a trainer who does in home sessions. Remember you are always training an animal and that sometimes we as people need to learn how to effectively train ourselves before we can train an animal.
Dog Training - Teach Your Dog the Sit Command at Once
- You have to re-establish the fact that you are the boss, not him. Obedience training will help to get the point across. He especially needs to learn the down and stay commands.
There are also small mats that you can buy online and at pet stores that you place on a bed or couch that will give him a very mild zap to get him off. Good luck! - Okay he thinks he is top dog alpha male. When he gets on your bed make him get off and put him in another room. After a little while let him out and every time he doesn't get up there reward him with a treat and LOTS of praise! Don't ever show him aggression and don't ever hit him. Show him alot of love. This might take a while but STAY consistent. Make sure he gets outside to run or take him on walks. And make sure your your signifigant other is involved in this as well
- Your German Shepherd is most likely a dominant male (I just recently adopted one myself). Being on the bed to a dog is a "status" symbol. To him, only the "top dog" should sleep there and he definetely thinks he's it. And your right, it can be a dangerous situation. By trying to remove him you are in a sense "challenging" him, and if he senses any fear by you about being bitten he won't budge and may give a warning bite to let you know to back off of "his" turf.
You said he is also crated & chained alot. THAT is the culprit of all your trouble right there. You have a HIGH energy breed (mine can run 10 miles a day along a bike plus gets 2-4 more miles of walks) If you take a race horse and put him in a stall eventually he's gonna get "kicking mad" Not that your dog is "mad" but he is very frustrated. Imagine if you had all the energy in the world, and someone put you in a closet, or bedroom and thats where you stayed with no hope of hardly ever going anywhere else....you would begin to have alot of pent up frustration & energy, this is what your dog is going thru....and the dominant aggression issue is the end result. All dogs must have a minium of 45 min walks per day, preferrably twice a day (some breeds or individual dogs may need more....way more).
The breed is VERY loyal. He wouldn't eat at the shelter because of this. But a dog will never starve himself to death. Eventually HE WILL eat. However a dog like this may have a hard time being placed. As he's going from a crate to a cage in the shelter, he will not only continue to have the pent up frustration and energy, he is now in a scary new enviroment to boot.
I would suggest looking for a German Shepherd rescue http://www.petfinder.com (type in German Shepherd in the search box) if you don't want to get a trainer or want to work with him. The shelter would be the 2nd choice.....it's better then just taking him in and having him put down as he at least has a shot at a good home maybe.
Or......better yet you can work with him. He will repay you 10 fold for it! :) Start by walking him in the mornings and again in the evenings. For now, put him in the crate when you go to bed (crates are like their den so he won't mind if it's only to sleep there). In the meantime, learn how to PROPERLY interact with him and deal with him. This can be done by the following:
Watch "The Dog Whisperer" on national geographic channel friday evenings (you can also get his DVDs & Book "Cesars Way" off ebay...he shows you WHY your dog is doing what it's doing and how to deal with an aggressive dog).
For obedience training check out Barbra Woodhouse (you can also find her stuff on ebay or petstores)
David Dikeman - Command Performance vol 1 & 2 (this is a bit more advance training methods but yields foolproof results, but you have to be commited to working several weeks with the dog using his methods).
A simple way to train your dog to walk on the leash (as I'm betting thats why you don't walk him....he pulls like a sled dog lol) is get a 6' leash, and holding ONLY the handle walk in a line, as soon as he starts going ahead of you or trying to pull promptly turn the opposite direction with no warning and walk. He will get caught by the leash and learn real fast it's better to stay by your side then out ahead. You can also purchase off ebay for a few bucks something called a "halti headcollar" it works like a horses halter and leads the head so the body must follow......drastically reduces pulling and works quite well. It doubles a muzzle only if the dog suddenly lunges (which prevents biting) otherwise it hangs loose and he can keep his mouth open normally.
Hope this helps.REY- Read your update. This bite you describe is a warning bite. My GSD I just adopted was a guard dog his whole life and bit me 10 times in a row for being corrected on a leash (that was also the LAST time he did it too.....lol...he's getting better about stuff). If your dog ever does that again, DON'T MOVE just freeze. But this is definetely a DANERGOUS situation. He definetely thinks he's boss in your house & you both. The warning bite is how dogs correct each other....he was "correcting" you for trying to move him off "his" bed. If you have the money, you really need to consult a professional at this point, you have a ticking time bomb on your hands....HE WILL DO IT AGAIN. You will find he's fine....as long as you allow him to do EVERYTHING he wants to do, but as soon as you tell him he can't do something your gonna run into trouble. I still recommend viewing the Dog Whisperer, as I said he will show you WHY your dog is doing this and how to handle it but watching any show is no replacement for a real life trainer. I would suggest at this point maybe finding a rescue for him. There is usually one in every state. If you have any further questions your welcome to email me. Or check out my group at:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/dogwh…Someone here mentioned a prong collar. While this is normally good advice, a prong collar can BRING ON an attack in this situation. This was the VERY REASON my GSD attacked me (and yep it wa fitted properly). If you look on the tag when purchasing one, most will say "not to be used on aggressive dogs". This is because a prong acts like a "bite correction" to the dog that dogs give each other. However, IF YOUR GSD CONSIDERS HIMSELF ALPHA AND THINKS YOU JUST GAVE HIM A BITE CORRECTION (via prong collar, an extension of you) HE VERY WELL MAY TURN ON YOU BIG TIME! Otherwise, that would work to keep him from pulling, but for now I would stick with the halti-headcollar. - You have already received some wonderful answers, so I will only add to this based on my personal experience with dogs.
First, congrats on recognizing that you haven't trained your dog. I wish more dog owners would recognize this. Second, I'm happy you are now training him - it's never too late.
As was stated by others, your dog thinks he's the "alpha". After a dog is properly obedience trained and you are firmly established as the "alpha", there is nothing wrong with him sleeping on a bed - as long as he knows you are the boss. If you tell him "off" he should immediately respond. If not, you must correct him. But you aren't at that stage yet. First, you have to establish yourself as the "top dog" (or alpha).
Before working on the bed issue, I'd take a few steps back. Get a prong collar (have someone at the store show you how to properly use it - if not attached to the dog correctly or if used improperly, the collar could be ineffective or painful to your dog) and a leash. Then, empty a can, but about 20 pennies in it and re-seal it (tin foil taped on works fine). Lastly, get some of your dog's favorite treats (kibble is also fine), but make it something he can eat fast.
Start to go for a walk. A dog that thinks he's in charge will pull you and walk in front of you. It's time to change that. Whenever your dog pulls you, give a jerk on the leash. The leash will tighten the prong collar and give your dog a little "nip" on his neck. This is the exact same nip an alpha dog will give to his packmates in nature (and I don't mean "in the wild", although that is true - but I mean in all packs of dogs. There is always an alpha that emerges who will control the other dogs.). You are giving your dog a nip to say "hey, I don't like that!". Immediately follow that nip with the command "heel" and then show him what heel is (that is, pull him back to your side). Before resuming your walk, tell him to "sit". If he doesn't, jerk the leash again, say "sit" and push him into the sit mode. If he already knows how to sit, then he knows what you mean, he just won't do it. So the jerk on his collar is needed. After he is sitting, then resume your walk.
Repeat the above as needed. Every time he walks in front of you, pull the leash. Once he gets that he is only to walk by your side, he will stop pulling. The can with pennies serves as a great reminder. If he's walking fairly well by your side, but starts to get a bit ahead of you, shake the can once at him, then firmly say "heel". The noise simulates an alpha dog's bark. This is your way of reminding him that when you say "heel", it means right by your side and nothing more.
Once you get this down, you have done a lot more than train your dog to walk and sit properly - you have started establishing yourself as the alpha dog.
Now bring this inside. If your dog hops on the couch, shake that can at him once (do not rattle the can, just one hard shake), with a firm "Off". Do not scream it, do not ask it, just be authoritative. Tell him off. If he doesn't do it, pull him off the couch repeating the command.
If he shows aggression on the couch as you reach to pull him off, you may have to restart this process. Get him off the couch in some manner - perhaps with a treat. Put his prong collar and leash back on him. When he hops on the couch, repeat the above - shake the can once, then say off. If he doesn't respond, get up, say off, again and then pull him off the couch by the leash. Like with the heel command outside, the jerk on his collar is your nip saying, "Hey! I said OFF the couch and I mean NOW!"
Treats are important as is praise. For example, during your heel command, jerk him back to you, say "heel" again. When he stands by your side, say "good boy, good heel" and reward with a treat. Same is true for the "sit" command outside. When you get him off the couch with the "off" command, again, say "good boy, good off" and reward with a treat. The goal is to show your dog that when you say something and he ignores you or shows aggression, he will get a nip on the neck or a bark in the ear (with the can). But if he listens to you, he gets lots of praise and a treat!
I used the couch in my example above as usually dogs love couches. But the same can be used for a bed. Many people, though, love to have their dogs stay on a bed at night. During this training time, this will have to change. You need to establish yourself as the top dog and him on the bed is not good until you are firmly in charge. So he may need to sleep in his crate. Once you have him fully obedient, then he may be allowed back on the couch.
Do not give him up to a shelter again. That's ignoring the fact that your family are, well, bad dog owners. You did things wrong and when it got out of hand, you blamed the dog and not yourselves. Instead, it's time to take action and train him. I gave you the basic tips above, but I STRONGLY recommend you get him (and yourself) to an obedience training class where you can receive proper instruction on how to train him and how you can be in charge. Trust me, it is worth it. A well trained dog is a joy to be around. You won't fear him biting you. If you need him to be calm, you can make him be so. This is NOT about breaking a dog's spirit - but rather, taking control. Dogs want someone to be in charge. If they fail to see that "alpha" in the house, they will take on that job. However, if you take on that job, they will gladly step aside. That's less stress for them.
The big trick to training, though, is to be authoritative (never yell or hit, even if you are frustrated - this does nothing), consistent (that is, don't train one way one day and then another way a different day), correct his behavior AS he does it wrong (it does no good to correct his behavior well after the fact) and then reward/praise all good behavior.
If you start this now, within a month, you should notice a TREMENDOUS difference. By early July, you might have a happier dog that never growls at you. If you want him off the bed, a simple "off" is all you need (and again, all dogs need reminders, so sometimes you need to give him one, by squeezing the top of his neck to give him a "nip" to say "hey, I said off and I'm in charge, so do it now!").
Hope this helps and good luck! - Hi, I had many of the same problems as you training my dog. He was very disobedient!
I found lots of good information on the internet and talking to my friends who had similar proplems with their pups.
Starting to ask questions on here is a very good start you will find some good info.
I hae had lots of success from one site (see sources). I learned to train my dog really fast and It while it took some efoort it is well worth it as now my dog is a joy to be around!
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