Hi All:

Hoping for a little insight. I have a 1 1/2 year old female GSD that is basic obedience trained using Ed's techniques. We are seriously considering getting a male GSD pup in the next 6 months. Here's my question: our female is a very good family dog, not possesive, great around other dogs. She is what I would classify as an energetic/excited but submissive dog. She is a whiny dog however, she whines excessively in the car and whines in the house. I am planning on taking her to a trainer/behaviorist to work with her on this problem. We are looking at a more dominant male dog. My question is will having another dog, especially a dominant male dog, make her more sound/confident or will her anxiety/energy get passed on to our new dog? My wife and I are definitely the pack leaders in our house, the dog knows that she is a dog and we have established the rules consistently and early on. Any help anyone can provide would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Energy is passed on when there's excitement.As far as her energy for everything that goes on around her it all depends.My oldest male Yaggo is very mellow, now if my female comes in and starts to run around and jump all over the place in the house he will get a bit excited with her but it dies down quicker than hers cause he is more of a mellow dog and only gets excited for serious things.Now my 11 months old male when him and the female are in the house together it is a riot! So we tend to seperate the time they are together in the house, cause if you add up our childrens' excitement with it it is a big problem for us.But energy is passed on to a level of excitement and what the excitement is about.
As far as confidence, any female will feel more confident when a male is around(a bit like humans)it's natural.My female acts different when the males are around, she may be more bold towards other dogs than if she was by herself.It all depends on the dogs.Some females change attitude and some don't.Mine I have to say is confident no matter what.I think you will have to see when you get your male in the picture.I think things will be fine for you.At least you don't have a dominant female to worry about cause that "sometimes" can be a problem.Keep us poste dwhen you get your male!

I personally think the energy transferance thing works both ways. I've occassionally seen anxious or nervous dogs calmed by being around more steady dogs. A confident steady dog is often better at calming an anxious dog than unexperienced owners are, simply because they won't accidently reinforce the behaviour!

Of course, if you get a male and he also turns out to be anxious, then things could get worse. Also, a dominant dog can see anxiety as weakness and try to impose his own brand of dealing with the unstable anxiety.

Is there a specific male dog that you are looking at? Is this an adult or a pup? If possible, it might be a good idea to try and introduce the two dogs together and see what sort of reaction you get, bearing in mind that there is generally excitement when 2 dogs meet. Maybe take a walk with the two of them, if possible, and see what they're like together when the "newness" has worn off.

Good luck!

thanks for the reply. We are looking at a male puppy that is going to be 10 weeks old when we pick him up. Little background on the female we have is we got her from a private breeder and she was only 6 weeks old when we got her. The male is coming from a very reputable breeder and we have met the parents, grandparents and other dogs that this pair has bred- very sound, confident and calm.

As far as introductions go, we will absolutely walk and tire our female out as well as the puppy before intro's are made at a neutral site and we will follow Ed's advice to a tee.

I was most curious if the male would calm the female down more. I'm also hoping that by having another dog around, our female will calm down a bit when seeing other dogs.

Well, let me just say this: Puppies very rarely cause anyone to calm down! And it's hard to say what temperament or energy level this pup will grow into...From everything I've seen and read there is only so far you can go into guessing a pup's future temperament at that age. There are some signs, but no absolute certainty.

And I don't think a pup will do anything to help the older dog's anxiety with strange dogs, because once the pup becomes a member of the pack...it will no longer be strange! Some dogs (and people) are naturally suspicious or nervous about the unknown (you said your female was 6 weeks old when you got her? Eek!).

If I were you, I would have friends who have calm dogs help you deal with your dog's issues on that. I would correct the dog if it begins to show any nervousness or excitement upon seeing the new dog. You may have to rotate strange dogs to make it clear that it's ALL strange dogs, and not just a certain one, that you want her to be calm around. Make sure you don't bring a friend's spastic dog over to do this work because they will probably amplify each other's excitement!

But as far as the new pup goes: I personally don't think that having a pup will help your current dog in the areas you mentioned--YOU are the only one who can do that. Keep in mind that you're going to have a lot of work on your hands helping your existing dog and training a new one.

I hope this helps and good luck!

Thanks for the advice, that's what I was looking for. We have scheduled our existing dog with a trained behaviorist and trainer and will make sure she is solid in mind and training before adding an additional dog.

One more thing I forgot to mention--Try to notice if you're accidently reinforcing her insecure/excited behaviour?

It's very very easy to say to a likeable dog, "It's okay, nothing to worry about" or even "Calm down, calm down" in a sweet or passive tone of voice. It's easy to forget that the dog doesn't understand the actual words, but does understand the tone. So what you may be accidentally saying to the dog is, "I like what you're doing."

I'm not saying this is what you're doing but I've found that it's reeeeeeallly common. I only train in basic and intermediate obedience, but one thing I've noticed over and over is that people really forget or don't realize that it's tone, not words, that your dog understands. Try it sometime. Tell your dog that he's driving you crazy and you can't stand what she's doing, but say it in a sweet way. The dog will react like it's being praised! You shouldn't sound mad at the dog when you verbally correct, but you should sound serious and strong, with a deep voice. I also then praise in a higher voice, but still calm, when the dog does the correct thing.

I also was concern about bringing in a male dog into my pack..My female (8 month old)was blind sided while i walking her. Another dog came out of nowhere and hit her so hard that she was slammed into me and my knees buckled. From that day on she has been very suspicious of all dogs...also we had a 8 year old cat..
Gretchen was 3 when i purchased and bought Hoss home at 7 weeks old. They seemed to get along ( as you will notice in the pictures ) and so far no problems. In fact, I have noticed that she handles situtions alot different the last 2 and half years. But that could also be her age. Also i would like to say i am also with my dogs 24/7....More time you put into them of course the more times you will be proud of them..Same with kids.
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Steve, why do you want a dominant dog? How about looking for a stable, clearheaded dog instead. I have a whiny female and i hate it, i've tried tons of things to stop the whining and nothing seems to work. I have managed to cut it in half but that's about it, it's not like stopping barking. She's like that no matter what my other dogs are, i believe it's a nerve thing that is just how the dog is, so adding another dog to help with the problem will probably not change a thing with the whining. If you're going to purposely get a dominant dog, get the dominant dog dvd and find a good trainer to help out with the dominance thing,
Good luck,
AL

Hi Al:

I may have been wrong with using the term dominant- i don't mean dominant in the same sense that Ed uses it. We gave our current dog the puppy aptitude test when picking her out and she's a submissive dog. I would look for a clear level-headed male dog that is a little more assertive. I'm not looking for a highly dominant dog. I agree that it is a nerve thing and also we got her when she was 6 weeks old so i think that contributed to her weaker nerves.