My 18 month old GSD has started to growl at my husband and I. Is it too late to obedience train him? Will it even help?

Question

Dear Ed,

    I have a 18 mo. old GSD. I'm so attached to him It would just kill me to have to put him down. Before him I had a pair of Dalmatians that lived for 14 yrs. Before that I had a beagle who lived for 9 yrs. All of my dogs were very well behaved dogs. However I didn't do enough research on German-Shepherds before I bought one. The one that I have has been very hyper from the very start, We thought this was cute. He has always been a little crazy. But he is also the most loyal, affectionate dog that I've ever had. We used to live in the city, and I socialized him pretty well. He would walk with other dogs without to much trouble. Anyone could come and pet him, he loves people. He is very smart, And learns very easily. Now we have moved into the country, we have no neighbors, and he doesn't see very many other people. So now for my problem. Last week I came home, walked up to my dog and started petting and kissing him, the same way that I have always done. With my face 2 inches from his he began to growl at me. And the look in his eyes told me he was giving me a warning to back off. I immediately scolded him and put him in his cage. And he continued to growl as I did this. I scolded him again, walked away and left him in his cage for a couple of hours. When I let him out he was fine. After that he has been growling at me and my husband at least once a day for various reasons. But so far he has not bit. I foolishly didn't know how important obedience training was for GS. My question for you is Do you think that it is to late to train him, will it even help? Please advise me, I love my dog very much. But I also have grandchildren whom I love more. By the way he has never shown aggression towards them, or he would be gone already.

    Thank you,
Vicky

Accepted Answer

Your dog is going through maturity. This happens from 18 to 30 months of age depending on the dog. Your problem is fixable IF YOU ARE WILLING TO CHANGE THE WAY YOU LIVE WITH THIS DOG and PUT IN THE WORK TO FIX THE PROBLEM. I cannot emphasize this enough.

The fact is your dog is the way he is because of how you raised him. So your current way of thinking and living with the dog will not cure the problem.

Here is some reading material to get you started on your new course. I am sure some things are going to jump off the page at you.

I would start by recommending you read an article I recently wrote which explains my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some ideas from this.

Read the article I wrote titled Dealing with the Dominant Dog. You can find these if you go to the list of training articles and scroll down.

Read the article on The Ground Work to Becoming a Pack Leader.

If this were my dog he would begin by going through my Basic Dog Obedience program – I recommend you get this. Also get a prong collar and learn how to use it (the DVD teaches you) If you have never worked with prongs before – read what I have written about how to fit a prong collar. (also in the DVD).

The vast majority of dominant dogs go through local obedience classes and come out as dominant as when they went in. That’s because pack issues were not addressed.

If this were my dog I would follow the obedience training with e-collar training (low level stimulation) I use a Dogtra 1200 on my dog. - Last week I finished editing a new training DVD “E-collar training for the pet owner”

In the early stages of training if there is ever an issue of the dog trying to bite – then get a muzzle. I wrote an article on how to pick them.

You have the information here to solve your problem if you choose to follow the work you will be fine. Good luck.