GSD literally screams with excitement

Hi All

I have done some training with a German Shepherd who screams with excitement!! One on one this dog is amazing walks to heel follows all commands but she was 7 month old when I started training her and unfortunately the owners made the mistake of rewarding her screams of excitement when they returned home after being out and in the mornings!! Now dont get me wrong shes calmed down a lot with training but she still screams the neighbourhood down when she sees my van or even worse my poor collie Oz and nothing brings her down all the dogs are scared of her because shes so vocal and im kinda at a loss as to what we should try next!! anyone come accross this problem or successfully solved it??

Personally I would rather face aggression than overexcitement or low self esteem.

Have you tried walking/driving away when she starts screaming? Noise aversion/distraction?

Or rather - what have you tried to stop this? And is she your dog?

One of my two dogs (15mth old litter-mates) literally screams with excitement. I don't reward the noise and simply ignore it and I have no idea why he does it. It only happens when I or someone he knows arrives at the house. It is immediately followed by him rushing off to collect a certain toy which he then carries around making another really loud 'scream/cry' while wagging his tail.
It doesn't worry his brother, although it is deafening for us and drowns out any conversation for 4-5 minutes. I don't want to tell him off for it as it's his happy noise so I ignore it.

I have no idea how you can stop the Alsation as it is obviously upsetting your dog

I wonder if you are the only highlight in her day? as if you are, then her whole "happy" budget needs looking at

My sister had a JRT who screamed like she was being murdered at only one time - when she was being brought "home" to us in a cat carrier on a train.

She yelled and screamed like a banshee when she saw us at the station, awaiting her and my sister, but then calmed down and was a bit more rational

I miss her, she was just gorgeous.

It may be that some gentle self control exercises will help over time - it depends really on what is driving the emotion for her to be like this

Wys
x

Yup! Some of them do that.
I heard a police dog trainer once explaining why they train dogs miles from anywhere - he said it was because the screams of excitement caused people to think the dogs were being killed.
How about a toy for her to hold? It muffles the sound. I know a lady whose GSD does agility courses with a ball clamped in his mouth because the noise is awful otherwise.

When I was a dog walker I used to take a GSD out that did this. She had other issues too, so the owner was working with a trainer. When I got to the house if she starting wailing I would turn round and leave. Then try again etc. The first two times she didn't get her walk at all, the whole 'walking' hour was spent training. Then the third time I had to leave twice and she just clicked that I was leaving because of the screaming. After that she needed the occasional reminder but was lots better and calmer on the walk as a result. You'll need the owner to be on board though so everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

This.

I just initially go out the door and wait for 5 seconds of silence before returning. If the dog starts wailing again repeat and continue to repeat until the dog catches on.

Never taken me longer than 15 minutes.

I agree with C&D. One of mine is a squealer And it can get VERY wearing! I got him very ball/toy focused through play and now whenever we are ready to go out I make sure he has some sort of ball or toy in his mouth, which he can chomp on and shake around in excitement, but keeps the noise to a minimum.

Works for me and Yogi bear!

Prince gets so excited he `kills` his toy and leaps up and down, with accompanying flappy jowl noises. Passers by tend to edge away from us.

Haha I can just imagine that