I currently own the hardest pup I have ever owned. He has begun to growl at me when I correct him and it is only getting worse. How can I handle this without killing drive?

Question

Hi Ed- I have many of your DVD's. I am a member of your forum. I have a problem with this pup. I need some expert advice. I've owned working import bloodline Rotts and GSD my whole life. I am 60 years old and consider myself experienced with handling these type dogs. I used to be a Koehler type trainer but over the years have changed my methods to more middle of the road. I have a super hard male Dutch Shepherd pup. I've had this pup for two months. I am the center of this dogs life. I spoke to my breeder which is Heartland in Oklahoma. They are connected with Risen Star Kennel in Holland. The sire of my pup is Czech and super hard also. This 4 month old pup is growling at me when I correct him.  Yesterday he started showing teeth with a level 3 or 4 correction, so the problem is progressing. I am only correcting for two things. Trying to eat stuff off the ground and biting my 6 year old son too hard. The pup is never off leash or long line. I have a pup prong and Dogtra remote. My breeder-trainer suggest I put the remote collar on him. I don't want to kill any drive in him. Willie Pope a long term Schutzhund judge and head of our local club has temperament tested the pup and says he has what it takes to compete, so far. This is the toughest dog I've ever owned. My breeder who also breeds Mals says there is a big learning curve with these 2 breeds. I'm finding that out. Can you give me any advice.

    Lee

Accepted Answer

Hi Lee,

    I see that you have both the ecollar dvd and the Dominant dog dvd.  I would probably try a couple of things before I went to the ecollar.  First I would not allow your pup near your son at all right now (at least not in close enough contact to bite him) , this will set you up for more success and take away the trigger for one of your disagreements.  I don’t allow my working pups access to kids anyway, because I guarantee you a kid is much more fun to play with for a pup than me!   It’s just one more way to control the environment and set it up in your favor.   I would probably use a dominant dog collar and hold this pup up calmly, when he shows aggression to you or picks up something he is not supposed to have.  Using the prong on some dogs will cause a reaction of retaliation, and I am not a big fan of correcting puppies with a prong.

    With my pups, I teach the word YUCK  and reinforce to  them that whatever they have needs to be spit out right away.  You can make this a bit easier by teaching your pup you will trade what he has for a treat.  I choose my battles these days. It’s nice to have a dog that willingly gives things up with just a verbal and I don’t see anything wrong with trading them in this situation.

    If using the dominant dog collar as outlined in the dominant dog dvd doesn’t seem to get your point across, then I would use the ecollar.  I raise Mals and the young male I am working with now had the collar introduced at about 4 months.  I don’t believe you will kill his drive if you use the collar correctly.