Do I understand my GSD?

Hi All,
3 weeks ago I rehomed a large friendly GSD and am training him and we are progressing well together. There are inevitably a few places where we have not ironed out all the wrinkles and I would welcome confirmation that I understand what is happening as Rex is my first GSD.

When somebody comes to the door he breaks into great excitement and barking. I read this as 'normal' guarding of the home and pack. I call him in from the hall and he stays in the livingroom without barking whilst very alert.

If somebody walks near the car when it is parked and I am in it, he barks loudly and scares passers by. He stops when told to. I read this as above.

On lead, he goes into fixation mode when he sees a cat and tries to pull me after him. When he pulls me, I turn and walk in the opposite direction until he catches up and is to heel again.
He has also behaved in the same way when neighbours appear over their fences.
He behaves the same way sometimes with other dogs, barking. Last weekend I summoned up the courage to allow him to stay off the lead when there were other dogs off the lead. He rushes at them and when they don't panic, he calms down and gets into sniffing mode.


Sometimes when off the lead, in the country, he takes a dislike to men coming towards us. A couple of times he barked at them and jumped up, not touching them but scaring them.

All comments welcome.

I'm no expert but it sounds like a cross between excitement and maybe a bit of nervousness.

If you've only had him 3 weeks he'll still be finding his feet. Do you know his history? Has he been abused by a man? I recently fostered a dog who had been badly abused by a man and she was terrified of my OH for the first week or so.

Sounds to me like you are doing all the right things. Well done on rehoming your dog. I love GSDs - I was brought up with 2 of them

Yes to ALL of the above, and I have plenty of experience with this breed, coz I'm now on my 8th, aka Zena my 9 month old puppy. I've only just got her to be ok with ALL men, it's a gsd thing the protection bit, same with the car, same with the neighbours over the fence, I've had all of that with the puppy, and finally I've managed to do it all my way! They're so quick on the uptake, and as long as you're quick, you're consistent with everything and every command you use, they don't take long to know what you like and what you dislike, and because this breed is so very eager to please at all times, you'll have your perfect companion in no time. If you've got a very smart one there, like I have now, you also have to remember to be one step ahead every time, keep your wits about you, always think the worse, without actually conveying it to the dog of course, and you'll be fine! Oh what fantastic dogs these are, I'm afraid nothing else comes anywhere near it for me! All the best, keep up the good work!

Edited to add: I also had the "men" thing with my one and only rescue who was 5 years old when I got him. He even did the foot stamping at every man in sight, and I thought thank goodness I still had him onlead. I think you've got to be very careful if there are people about before you start letting this guy offlead (I waited about 6 weeks with my rescue, and thankfully he learned most of what to do and what not to do from my older dog I had at that time!!!). Don't under-estimate just how far this dog could go in order to protect you now that he's found you, they live for their "people" you know!

Hi Helena,
Thanks for input.
Is it likely that he is protecting me because I am not demonstrating strongly enough that I am the leader?

I do usual stuff like remove his food, go first through doors etc etc to show him who is who.

Do I need even more examples to prove to him that I am the man?

He can be a scary animal rushing towards somebody barking and I need to get rid of behaviour that frightenss others.

All sounds like pretty normal GSD behaviour to me! I`d start training him - just a short session but repeated often and he will start to look to you for cues rather than taking it on himself to protect his (and your) space.
GSDs soak up training like a sponge once you`ve found what floats their boat, and they are immensely rewarding dogs.

eta as you cross-posted.
Your dog knows you are a man. It doesn`t buy you obedience - that comes with training and earned respect.
A good book is The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson which covers both behaviour and training.

I teach my dogs the `watch me` command and that is very useful - just hold a treat or toy by your face and say watch me. Repeat till it`s automatic. It gets your dog to focus back on to you, and puts you back in the driving seat. Taking food away just makes him distrust you around food.

Hi Brrendan,

Well done and congratulations on rehoming your boy. He'll bring you so much joy I hope you're hooked on GSDs the way I am.

Anyway, everything he's doing is completely normal. However, removing his food or going through a door first isn't going to solve the problem of him jumping up at people when off-lead.

So long as you slowly build up the trust and respect for each other between the 2 of you he'll be happy to hand over control of situations to you and let you be the leader. But you have to take it on 100%. If he feels you're not doing a good enough job he'll step in without you even realising it.

Keep going the way you are but maybe try to keep him calm when off-lead around other people. Have you trained him in recall and/or retrieve yet? If he goes running towawrds someone and you call for him to go "down" or to "sit" does he do it or carry on running? I think you ahve to be sure he's NOT going to jump at people, even in play, when he runs towards them. After all, what if it's an old lady who's unsteady on her feet, or a 5 year old with an ice-cream? They're very scary dogs for people that don't know the breed.

Maybe training him with rewards (high value treats or toys) will help him progress further mroe quickly.

Good luck and can we see some piccies please?

Laura xx

Hi Laura,
I am training him in Recall/Retrieve. He will retrieve and drop a ball 100% of the time. As for 'sit' when in full flight, I doubt it. I have only had him 3 weeks, so would not wish to gamble onn that. I quite agree about the old lady a
and the child or anybody else for that matter which is why I seek guidance from the great and wonderful (you).
I bought a clicker yesterday hoping that will speed up the training with treats.
There is a small pic in the heading of my post. I tried to include an image here using the button 'include an image' but that only seems to allow for images from the internet?
Brendan

I haven't heard of this. Does it work any better than a sit command or any other? Think I am missing the point.
I thought the point about food was that it teaches him that since I dictate whether he eats or not, I am higher up the chain of command but I am here to learn, so please teach me.
Brendan

The good thing about 'watch me' is that the dog is actually looking at you. Just a sit, the dog might not be looking at you, but to say 'watch me' and hold a treat up near your eye the dog's face is pointing towards you so their attention is on you.

HTH

The object is to to get you dog to attend to you rather than focus on possible threats & distractions. Once you`ve got your dog`s attention he is more likely to take a cue from you than act on his own initiative. You might well want him to sit afterwards, but he might still be eyeballing passers-by or approaching dogs, sending out hostile signals. When his eyes are on you, he is neutral about what else is going on.
I don`t really understand about the chain of command - your dog isn`t human. If you take his food it just means you are likely to take his food next time too, so he needs to be wary around food. Dogs don`t have the capacity for philosophical thought. And he won`t `respect` you because you`re bigger or harsh - he`ll become anxious, which is really not a good thing.
You train a dog by making it a good thing (the action is rewarded) to do (for instance) Come, and prevent him doing what you don`t want to -e.g. don`t allow him to pinch your dinner by not leaving it on the floor.
Dogs are fun, but they aren`t human - you need to work on the dog`s level. As I said - the book I recommended is excellent.