I have a five month old girl GSD. She shows drive in all areas, but not over excitement by any means. Some days she is excited and energetic in training and other times she appears reluctant and apprehensively compliant.

I train her in short periods less than five minutes a time usually once per day. She knows sit, down, come, place. Compliance is good some days she really runs when performing acts, lately just a jog. She does not seem happy and energetic, when training. I guess I am worried that I am too hard on her. The dog has never been struck in any manner, the only “violence” she has seen is a raised voice and occasional leash corrections, not too hard just to let her know she needs to comply. She now responds to "no" prior to the correction 90% time.

Can I do anything to get her to be more excited, "happy"? Should I let off the training? Last thing I want to do is break her spirit. Even after corrections she will take food, chase a ball, play etc. It just seems her intensity and excitement has been turned down a notch.

Would love to hear some input, or answer any questions....Thanks

Jason


P.S. I have Ed’s Basic Obedience DVD.

I would try to use the training as just play time with no corrections. I have a female gsd that is about the same age as yours and the only time I try to correct is just for the come. Let her see you as fun to be with and it will pay off. My girl has a big spirit also, but I try not to test it. I would just take it easy on the corrections and have more fun she is still a puppy. Good Luck

Jason - She is probably teething and getting hormones. I would not be correcting her, or really even training. I would back off & just play. If she gets too bitey remember this old song: REDIRECT REDIRECT REDIRECT!!!!

I agree with no corrections for your pup yet, Jason. He's very young still. Make sure your training is done with treats for motivation. Dogs need rewards, most especially puppies when training. Try to make your training session even shorter than 5 minutes. Pups get bored/tired/distracted easily. Focus is not something they have acquired yet. Try one or 2 minute training sessions, ending with the pup still excited or happy, even if the pup is willing to do more. End it with play time. That makes the next training session something she will look forward to when it comes.

During trainig periods I will use a rolled up potato bag as a "bite" reward. So during and after a good session of training the dog get the reward. It makes training more "fun" for the dog/puppy.

YMMV.

Best.

Thanks for the input.
I may have been too demanding of her as she has shown great popensity to learn. She still follows me every where I go and she getsexcited when sit down on the ground to play with her, But when it come to training I hink she gets down.

I guess I will just play with her for a while. Is there any advice as to commands,she already knows? Give them? Don't give them? If I give them what do I do if she does not obey?

Thanks for the help...

Hope I didn't ruin her...Who knew this dog thing could make you feel so guilty?

Jason

You haven't ruined her! For now, I would just take a break from giving commands. When she is acting like her old self, start but make it always a game. No compulsion yet. If she is food or toy motivated, use them as a reward. For example, give command "sit" when dog can't back up & move the food or toy in a way that manipulates her into a sit, then make big party (let her know you are overjoyed with her) & reward!

You can also use those times you see her doing a behavior to give the command and praise her. For example, if you see her going into a sit give the sit command just as she completes the action and immediately praise her.

Games such as follow the leader, hide and seek and find it are fun ways to incorporate training into games. And, since they are games, no corrections are used.

Thanks for all the advice... I will take it easy on her and let her be a pup for a while. Last night went for a walk on long lead and she had a blast. She seems to be back to her old self.

I am not one to ascribe human emotions to dogs, but my wife agrees that my pup might have been depressed, my pup had played with my brother's lab mix puppy for a couple of days at our house. The pup was gone and Juliet seemed sad. When my wife let her in from potty she went right to her kennel and didn't want to come out. last night when i got home from work she seemed over it. Am I crazy? (Relating to this only )



Jason

You're definitely not crazy :laugh:

I try not to ascribe human emotions to dogs, BUT and a very BIG but, they do have emotions and some of them are much like ours. They show us these emotions everyday, so we would be hard pressed to think they don't have them. They can definitely get sad, depressed, insecure, frustrated, lonely, happy, traumatized, etc. That's one of the reasons I think humans easily bond with dogs so well, why we take them into our hearts and love them, and they love us in return. It's one of the reasons they're such good friends. They're very intuitive and tuned in to their owners. How can a creature do that without emotions, emotions similar to ours?

This has been my observation and my experience.