Huge fan of the site but a newbie here, I have a 3 year old German Shepard “Iron” that is very strong and dominate, he is a Schutzhund 3 -KKL 1 -IPO3 that is a new addition to our family of about 3 months from Germany, very smart dog and very friendly, but when working his protection work is very strong, because he is just so naturally protective I have avoided putting a lot of civil on him but my question is this I have a 4 year old daughter that he really wants to be dominate over never plays with her with his mouth or un supervised, and very respectful to the pack and his place with me and my wife, with her he tries to block her from us after a correction he will stop , I have tried putting him on leash for her, to walk him, she knows all the obedience commands he will walk a minute and then sit down with her what can I do to help?

I have just order from this site but not yet arrived the following:
DVD - Training Personal Protection Dogs--

301-D
DVD - Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs--

101D-D
DVD - The First Steps of Defense--
423-D
DVD - Save Your Dogs Life--
424-D
DVD - Grooming Your German Shepherd--

302-D
DVD - Basic Dog Obedience--
1064-2
Synthetic Tracking Line - 33 Ft.--

713
Traffic Leash - 15 Inch--

746A
Dominant Dog Collar--25-






Thanks in advance

Rick Craven

Hi Rick,

You came to the right place for advice about this problem and you will LOVE Ed's DVDs.

I am no expert on training or dominant dogs but PLEASE stop letting your 4 year old try and walk this dog...even under supervision. He doesn't understand his place in the pack if he doesn't respect your child. Until you teach him that she is untouchable she shouldn't be doing anything with him. JMO

Editing to add: That's what jumped out at me in your post. I may be totally wrong and someone will come along shortly and give me a correction if I am

Hi Rick,

Congratulations on your recent addition.

There is a good book which is available at most book stores called CHILD PROOFING YOUR DOG, the author is Brian Kilcommons (and Sarah Wilson). These are the same authors of another good book called GOOD OWNERS, GREAT DOGS.

These books are geared more toward the pet community, however may provide some good solutions for your situations.

There is much you can do to help establish rank in your family. It is natural for your adult male GSD to see himself as higher in the pecking order than your 4 year old daughter. Do you know if your boy was socialized with children at all??? This will be an important consideration.

I have been importing GSDs for several years now and I also have a 5 year old daughter. Some dogs can be trained reliably with her and others cannont. Take the time to get to know your new dog. Learn to read him. Until you know everything about him and how he reacts to differnt situations I would be very guarded with your daughter (but that's my own opnion). Its not worth your daughters safety at this time. Once your boy has settled in and understands his place in the family group better you can start doing excerises with her and the dog together.

I'll try to illustrate some excerises for you later, at the moment I have to run. However I believe that those books may benefit your situation. Hope they help. Good luck.

Mel, Sarah thanks for the advice and more importantly for your time to post. Iron came from, all the research I could do and get from a very reputable kennel Kraftwerk K9 , Wayne Curry the owner did exactly what he told me and “Iron” has been everything I wanted and more and he is coming around to our family more each day, and even from the first day he has never barked or growled or ever put his mouth or feet on her or any one else in our family, I am also very lucky to live in the Atlanta area and have hired Wallace Payne a few times for the proper bite work and all around training. Just wanted to get all the info I can and help. I am just wanting to be very cautions because his bite work and protection is so strong with Wallace he crushed his sleeve. Iron also has a very strong protection instinct already for his family and property

Sounds like quite the boy Rick. I'm sure he's a great dog. I've seen nothing but nice stuff coming from Kraftwerk (while I've not imported from him myself, I've seen a few). Keep in mind that it sometimes takes a little longer for adults to settle in... sometimes they're settled in a week, sometimes its 6 months, you just never know. Having the help of a good trainer (such as you've already initiated with Wallace Payne) is also a superb idea. Good luck with your new boy, given time and the proper guidance I'm sure he'll develop into a cherished member of your family. Take care and enjoy your new addition.

Hi Rick,
When I bought my male he had a ppd foundation and he came out of his crate(airline crate) growling, it took a good 4 months for him to settle in our home where he understood where his place was in the pack, however they watch everything that goes on in the home and they quickly come to reality that our children are important to us and we made sure he knew from day one that they were VERY important to me and my husband .My youngest at the time was a year old , she is 5 now with a little sister now that is 2 and my male respects our kids a great deal.She walked him on a leash after 6 months of being part of our family, we started his bite work a month after having him, I compete in Schutzhund with him now (hard cause he is still very civil) but we train 4 days a week and my girls lay his track for our tracking exercise.I think what is important is that he sees the way your family is structure and to him he knows what is important to you and your wife everyday, they see you rush to your child when she falls, when she cries ect.. it's important IMO for our dogs to see the protection we give our kids it reflects on their behavior as well..Now my male if our girls cries for any reason he'll beat me to their room, LOL, I think Iron in time will be the protecter and great pal to your daughter ,take it step by step.Her walking him now IMO is fine.
http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r77/cadogancna/

Angelique thanks for the words and I viewed the link OMG 3 great looking dogs I don’t think I could handle 3, Iron really is doing a great job. I travel to Vegas and AC and the Bahamas a lot I own gambling and lifestyle magazines, and my wife said that when I leave he knows and becomes very protective over them not in a bad way he just looks different she says like he is even more alert. Maybe this is a different topic but how did your dogs do with the civil? Iron is a Schutzhund 3 and has been tested 3 times scored excellent all 3 times I am very proud of him and would love to compete him but I don’t know where to start for my training, I really don’t know if I have time. But again thanks for the input and direction.
Rick
Some pics of Iron

Iron-1

Iron-2

The civil bite work is very different than the Schutzhund exercises.My male is very dirty on the field when we work for Schutzhund, like he will bite right away and also will bite at anything he can but not the sleeve he does not care for the sleeve, when we do our transport he tries to bite the helper's side.I am retiring him from Schutzhund after we do our Schutz1 this march (18th) if he gets it great if not , I am fine with it we are going back to train for PPD work.He is better for that.My female is a serious female too she has more PPD in her than sport.My youngest male(15 months) he looks for of a sports dog than a serious type of dog, we'll have to see he is still very immature.I think with Iron ,if you can get a trainer who will do hidden sleeve work and full body suit, try going away from sleeve work if you can.A personal protection dog ,for the most part never sees a sleeve.Some dogs won't attack if they do not see a sleeve especially a dog like Iron that has seen a sleeve for years in training.He might guard very well and put enough defence for a bad guy but you'll never know if he really will bite unless you test him without a sleeve(a friendly advise)And if you have tested him already ,awsome.Do you have a copy of his pedigree, I would love to see what studs he has in it?
I like his looks, very nice.I am going to PM you and give you some info..

If a dog can't handle sleeve work I don't want them as a PPD.

Rick, as a mother, I'm with Sarah on this point 100% !!! If you think we're "over-reacting" at all, please PM Ed Frawley for one-on-one advice...