April 28, 2011
My 9 month old GSD is starting to nip at us when she comes and pushes our hand to get pet. She is also starting to bark when she is in the crate. What can we do?
Full Question:
Mr. Frawley,Recently our 9 month old GSD has started to nip at us for no reason. We can be sitting on the couch and she'll come and nudge with her head to be pet and once I start to pet her she begins to nip at my hand. Lately her nipping has become a lot harder and more with me then with my boyfriend. She was crate trained from when we first got her but now when we put her in she begins to bark. She also barks if I'm in another room with the door closed. I'm not sure where we went wrong. Can you please let me know what we're doing wrong and if we can fix this problem. I don't want this problem to get out of hand.
Thank You,
Jeanine
Ed's Answer:
Read the article I wrote on how to deal with a dominant dog. Look in the list of training articles on my web site.
Then do what the article says. It's time to train this dog - with a prong collar. You are EMPOWERING HER by petting her when she wants to be petted. When my dogs come to me and demand to be petted I BACK-HAND SLAP them and tell them to GO LAY DOWN !!!
They damn well know that getting petted is something that is earned not something that they demand.
Your dog is not looking at you are a pack leader. That's WHY this is happening. Make it live in the dog crate 24/7 for awhile. Like several weeks. The only time it should be out is when it goes outside for walks or when it gets out to eat or be trained.
If you would like to learn more 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. Get this tape and a prong collar. If you do not have a prong, we also sell those on our web site.
If you do not have experience with a prong collar I have written an article on my web site that explains how to fit a collar, and how to take it off and put it on.
Then do what the article says. It's time to train this dog - with a prong collar. You are EMPOWERING HER by petting her when she wants to be petted. When my dogs come to me and demand to be petted I BACK-HAND SLAP them and tell them to GO LAY DOWN !!!
They damn well know that getting petted is something that is earned not something that they demand.
Your dog is not looking at you are a pack leader. That's WHY this is happening. Make it live in the dog crate 24/7 for awhile. Like several weeks. The only time it should be out is when it goes outside for walks or when it gets out to eat or be trained.
If you would like to learn more 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. Get this tape and a prong collar. If you do not have a prong, we also sell those on our web site.
If you do not have experience with a prong collar I have written an article on my web site that explains how to fit a collar, and how to take it off and put it on.
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