I hope I'm doing this the right way, this is my first time trying this. Anyway, I would appreciate any help I can get re: my female GSD.

I had pick of the litter from a local breeder that imports titled dogs for breeding puposes. She is now just turned 2yrs.old.Her mother has a pedigree that I'm told is very good, but I do not know much about them as I never had a purbred dog before. I always wanted a german shepherd, so I tried to be careful, but boy , I need to learn ALOT!!!!
Her mother is Jolly vom Lachenerweg,whose father was Dorijan v. Yohaness Berg and mother was Gilla v.d. Wienerau. Their parents were Nero vom Hirschel,Kora v.d.Ehrenfeete,Wilko v. Kirschental, and Sirpa v.d. Wienerau....those dogs parents were Zamb v.d. Wienerau on the both sides,Ica v.Haus Reiterland,Eiko v. kirschental,Zora v. Wildsteiger Land,Jeck v. Noricum,Cardi v. Kirschental,And Xila V.d Wienerau.....On the next line of her pedigree she has Uran Wildsteigerland in both of her parents lineage. Her father also has Fanto v. Hirschel in his 3rd generation and he has a mix of Czech. lines, which is where he was imported from.....Now that I went through all of that( and I don't even know if it's relevant!)I'll get to the problems.
First let me say that I bought her initially to have a dog in the house with my kids for protection(natural,not trained)but I began to think that if this dog was so wonderfully bred that maybe I should work with her and compete with her in some way. The breeder gave me pick of the litter female and breeding rights in the AKC papers, which is her only registry. I decided to spay her just last week as she has some conformation faults( very narrow shoulders, toes turn out, cow hocked-but gaits straight), and a sensitivity to Staph infection on her skin.
As for her personality, she is a fireball of energy with a prey drive through the roof. I thought a GSD would be calm,intelligent,easy to train and responsive.Well,she is smart,but a challenge to train. We went to obedience training from the time she was 6 mos. old and she was a nut case in school at first. I worked very hard with her on her manners at class and she did improve alot.
As for her learning commands, she constantly challenges me, even now when she should know and obey her commands. I am not soft with her, so she knows that I am alpha. I have done all of the little psychological tricks that I know of to establish that. In the past she had started to growl if repremanded verbally for disobedience and I was told to take her by the collar and pick her front feet up off the floor and hang her for a few seconds like that if she ever pulled that with me again and it seems too have worked because she hasn't dislayed any of that behavior since.
I live on a quiet road with only an occasional car,so she goes out off leash most times. I have the Tri-Tronics companion model collar for her that I put on her for these times.I am not able to trust her if someone comes down the road with another dog though. She will run to them and ignore my recall even with the collar on level 5.If she doesn't come instantly,then I call her a second time and use the correction.
Am I doing something wrong here or is she just stubborn? She seems to just ignore me.
Also, today at the end of my driveway I was holding her by her choke chain because I spotted a seeing eye dog in training coming down the road and as they approached i commanded her to down. She ignored me and I repeated the command accompanied by a push on her shoulders,she downed for a second and sat right back up, all the while fixed on the passing dog and trembling with desire to get to it.I repeated the down command and push and she didn't listen until they had passed and vere going down the road.
I am very frustrated by this dog and her disobedience, especially out in public.In the park she is a nut case, on a scale of 1-10 her energy level goes to 20!!! she seems to go into sensory overload. An d I socialized this dog alot, took her everywhere,the mall, the bank , the dog school, hiking,etc,etc...
What can I do to get her to focus on me and calm down? ( if my husband goes outside without her,for example, she will race from window to window and whine and pant to see what she is missing, even if she just came back in from a 1/2 hour ball catching session!)
I just got a new puppy(male 9 wks old) and he seems so different than she was at that age! they get along great, hopefully they will wear each other out too.I know this has been very long, but I have so much to say and am very grateful to any insight I may receive.thanks alot

Jeanette:

You've come to the right place. I'm sure you'll get some good advice here; I sure have. But may I make a suggestion? You can make it a lot easier for the experts to read and respond to you if you break a long post like yours into paragraphs.

Thanks for the hint Dave, I took you advice. I think it's a little better to read now!

Jeanette, it sounds like you have a mixture of show and working lines (mostly show) and a high prey drive bitch.

A wise person once told me that high drive dogs must be worked hard EVERY DAY at the same time... routine is important. Then they learn that at noon they always get to run to their hearts content.

Keep reading everything you can... it takes time to learn what you need to know.

Thanks for the insight. I will try the daily work out. I do realize that she has a high prey drive, she once went through a screen window after a squirrel!!!! I wonder though, can her above mentioned disobedience be caused by a high prey drive or have I not trained her properly?

I must admit that I have worked sooo hard to get her trained and I feel like somewhat of a failure!! We went to a top utility trainer named Ed Wilson who has trained GSD's for 40+ yrs. However, his health is very poor now so his ability to help me was somewhat hampered physically.

I feel that she gets bored w/the obedience and just humors me!

I had hoped to get into Schutzhund, but I can't find any clubs in my area.I feel that I need to be around experienced GSD people to progress further with my dog(s).

Jeannette--

Is your dog's name Callee by any chance?

Just kidding. I recently took on a female from our local rescue (a GSD/Mal hybrid) who sounds almost exactly like your dog. Prey drive through the roof, very high energy and easily distractable.

I don't have an electric collar and have been working her with a prong. She has the same problem as your bitch with the approach of other dogs. This turns out to be all bluff--she actually plays well with dogs--but it's annoying and it needs to be stopped, especially as it could cause her to bolt when (if?) I let her off-lead. Plus, it is a hindrance to her attention span. Callee is a phenomenal natural tracker and I want to get her started in tracking; however, she could have the best nose in the world and ultimately she will have problems on the track if she continues to be so easily distracted.

I'm bringing all this up because I agree that you should get your dog into a regimented working activity. It sounds as if she would do well in Schutzhund and I'm sorry there isn't a club near you. You may want to check nearby kennel clubs and see if they have herding activities or tracking events scheduled--many GSDs excel at these sports. Agility is another possibility. So is competitive obedience.

As someone who has been involved in GSD rescue for years, I can tell you that for most GSDs it's not so much a question of WHAT activity--it's a question of AN activity. At least you're thinking along the right lines. Get this dog started in some kind of sport that will keep her mind and body occupied. That should help you with many of your current problems. Dave L. is also right about the importance of routine. Dogs are absolute suckers for routine, and a predictable schedule does wonders toward calming most dogs down.

You have done a lot of things right with this dog, so don't beat yourself up too much. I only wish more of the people I meet through rescue had as much on the ball (if they did, I guess they wouldn't wind up surrending their dogs <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> ).

Focus/calm down: Train her with something that will cause her to focus. With Callee I quickly learned that a ball or toy gets her overexcited; she will concentrate much harder if I train her with food. My male GSD, I might mention, is just the opposite. Also, you may want to try crating your dog during certain set hours of the day. To a dog a crate is her "den" and it's a kind of safe haven where she can't be bothered and where there is a limit on how much stimuli floods into her brain. This can be quite restful to some dogs.

You can feel free to e-mail me privately too--it's interesting to me that our dogs are so similar in temperament.

Pete Felknor

I think one of the first things I would do myself in this case though is to make sure the dog doesn't go out without a leash on. I think this dog has learned that you can not correct her, even with the collar on, therefor she ignores you. I would make sure she drags a 10-foot leash with her at all times when outside, and a shorter one while inside. This way when she does start to bolt you can step on the leash and she will learn that she can be corrected by you when she is not within arms reach. I trained my dog that way from little on. Also this way when you put her in the down you can step on the leash to bring her down and keep her down. My dog trainer showed me this since my dog when young refused to down or stay down. Worked wonders.

Since you have another pup now, maybe you can use the pup as distraction training while she is in the down. Have the pup on a leash away from the dog but where she can see it. Put her in the down by stepping on the leash if necessary and reinforce her stay and attention to you by using food (hot dogs). Keep it very short in the beginning (ie 5 seconds) and build on it slowly until you can do a full minute and so on. Also do you use a release word? So your dog knows when it is ok to move? Hope this helps, worth a shot.

thanks for the tips. I do use the release word O.K. when she can relax and be free, or play ball as a reward.

As for the down command, she does know the command and will stay in the down for 1/2 hour if I want her to. The problem I have is when we are outside and she sees movements of the public at large!!LOL!
If she is in a down already when someone comes around then she will stay in the down. I have the problem of her bolting when she is out of reach. Then she won't recall until she feels like it.

I have been taking her out on leash around the property more often, I have one of those retractable ones.
Do you think I need to start over again so to speak with her training? Something like a refresher course?

I took her out today and played ball till she couldn't walk up hill anymore! A tired dog is a well behave dog,or so I'm told

Actually, I'm thinking about it and as happened to me the other day, sometimes she won't obey at all even if I have her right next to me on leash, if the distraction is strong enough( other strange dog, cat or small animal running,etc.)

This is why I have problems with her out at the town rec. center.(my kids sports events) I hate to bring her now because she is so hyper that its embarrassing. I feel like people think I'm abusing her when if fact I'm trying to control her!

Again, I think you definitely need to back up in your training. She has learned that if she bolts you have no control. That's where the 10 foot leash/long line comes in. Even if she bolts you have a chance to quickly step on the leash and stop her.
I think distraction training would be beneficial. Right now she is receiving more reward (in her eyes) by the distraction than by you. I would definitely try training her with using food rewards. When my dog was a pup I rewarded him with a piece of hot dog every time he looked at me (during training) and praised him. Reward all eye contact during training. Initially keep your trianing short 5 minutes and work on simple things but try to get her to look at you. Ed has a good tape on competition heeling which has this type of training in it. Also you might get the book Purely Positive Training, it's really a good book. My trainer always said you need to make yourself more interesting to the dog than the things around him. So, wether you use food as a reward or a ball, get the dog to keep focused on you and reward the heck out of her when she does!
Also, do you have a prong on her when she is on the leash?