May 13, 2011
My 11 month old GSD has crazy prey drive. I am having trouble controlling his nipping when he plays in the backyard. What should I do?
Full Question:
Ed, greetings from Miami. I need your advice on an issue that's driving me crazy. My GSD is now 11 months and is very playful and his prey drive is very high. My concern is that when we are in the backyard he becomes unmanageable with the way he plays. He jumps up and bites your hand and runs away like a speeding bullet and comes back and does it again. He doesn't get the message when I correct him and I do correct him hard. He has a prong collar and I sure yank the hell out of him and tell him NO. He will sit look at you with these "I didn't mean it eyes" and does it again. He seems more scared of getting wet than getting the hell yanked out of him. What can I do. The corrections in the backyard "specifically" don't do him any good. I'm concerned because I have a seven year old and with this intense prey drive he can take some skin of you hand.Regards,
Frank
Ed's Answer:
This is 100% an obedience issue.
You need to do some serious obedience work with your dog. This training must follow the proper steps.
If you would like to learn something about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes.
You also need to give the dog some options to use his energy in prey drive, this can be Kongs, tennis balls (as long as they are NEVER left with the dog - they will eat them and die if you leave them with the balls).
But the solution begins with obedience training and the use of a toy as a reward, sometimes when prey drive it too high in dogs the food reward is better because they get so crazy for the toys they can not focus.
You need to do some serious obedience work with your dog. This training must follow the proper steps.
If you would like to learn something about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes.
You also need to give the dog some options to use his energy in prey drive, this can be Kongs, tennis balls (as long as they are NEVER left with the dog - they will eat them and die if you leave them with the balls).
But the solution begins with obedience training and the use of a toy as a reward, sometimes when prey drive it too high in dogs the food reward is better because they get so crazy for the toys they can not focus.
100% (1 out of 1)
respondents found this answer helpful
Can't find what you're looking for?
100% (1 out of 1)
respondents found this answer helpful
