I got a one year old male GSD this week. From what I have seen in tha e first few days he has good prey drive and is highly intellegent. I have to admit at first I was conserned about his temperment as he is very suspisious of strangers and new suroundings. I am doing the normal groundwork with the new dog that I do with any dog new to my home. That means he is always on leash or in his crate in the house or in his kennel. The only exception is he is off leash alone with me to play with a flying squirrel or other prey item in a fenced yard, no other dogs are alowed outside kenneled or otherwise. The first night he was nervious but did ok with a short walk. The next day I tied his leash to my belt and kept him next to me using a bait bag to do some bonding with him. He did ok with the exception of going after my daughtor barking and growling (he was on leash and was corrected right away) She was not close enough for him to reach her and had been told not to come close to him. I have two adult GSD's a male and female both with Shultzhund titles and a female Shepherd Chow mix. The Shepherd Chow mix is moving to a new home in a couple days. He is not alowed out of his crate or kennel with the other dogs. He has barked and growled at the two females in the house and has been corrected verbally or both verbably and with an electric coller each time. He has also growled and barked at other people with the same sort of corrections being given. I have treats on his crate so that people can give him one as they pass by and I take him out to move him from the crate to kennel and to change his collers several times a day. I will do this until he is able to prove to me that he can be trusted off leash and I really only mean with a short tug leash in the house alone with me. I have kept my male away from his crate and will continue to do so as he is very dominant and I don't want to set up future problems.

Can anyone think of anything I am missing or could do differently or better? This dog dosn't have a temperment or nervious problem it's simply dominance/pack order that he is trying to work out. He has shown no agression to me at all.

I made the miskake of not checking the back yard for a loose dog today when I was taking him to his kennel and he tried to T the shepherd chow mix. I had left her in her kennel and my daughtor had let her out, my mistake, he was on leash and I seperated them in less than 30 seconds so no real harm done. The Chow mix runs free a couple times a week with my male GSD and can deal with him and she isn't dog agressive so it wasn't a bad experiance for either of them. I'm actually very relieved that it's a pack order/dominance issue rather than bad nerves or temperment. I had my doubts up to that insident.

Any ideas or critism (other than being a dumb a#%$%^$ for not checking the yard) would be welcome!

Just remember that dogs take longer to settle down with each other minimum, 2/3 wks,human bonding is lot quicker,
What worries me is the aggression towards your daughter,
was this dog socialised around children he sounds very PP background, do you plan on having him in and around the house or will he live in a kennel and be worked in some capacity? I always worry about dogs like this, as they can be challenging when you have kids in the home. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
Even if he is dominant and trying to establish his pecking order no dog should under normal circumstances
and unless trained, challenge a child like this.
What happens if he gets out and you are not home, to control
the situation, he sounds very much like a one handler dog.
Well this probably sounds like paranoida here but, I am a mother, so I guess it is my emotional side coming out <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

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he sounds very PP background

Eh? The dog is a year old!

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they can be challenging when you have kids in the home.

ANY dog can be challening in the home around kids.. no matter what breed, no matter whether it is trained in SchH, PP, agility, whatever... or not.

I share your concern about his reaction to my daughtor. I live alone the majority of the time but my daughtor is here 3 days a week or so and I will keep him kenneled or crated if I have to when she is here. That can be forever, but I don't think it will come to that.

The dog has had no bite training yet. My intention is to use the new dog as a PP dog if he can learn to control himself. All high drive young dogs will be somewhat difficult to have around children even if they just nip pant legs etc.

My other male was a little growely with my daughtor at first. Now he is very protective of her. In fact, after the new dog acted out my daughtor was crying for Brix not her pet dog. I'm sure it was because she knows that Brix WILL protect her. I do civil work with the older male when she is here and walking next to me the key is to start REALLY slow and be sure of your relationship with the dog before that sort of work is done. Even then a high drive dog will do some things you don't like. For example last weekend we were doing sent work with the older male and after the last track which was about 1/8th of a mile he found her and was so excited that he knocked her over while licking her. No agression just an excited 85 lb dog and a 45 lb little girl. The next time we do that sort of work he will be told to sit and given a treat until it becomes automatic. My goal with his tracking is to be able to send him to find my daughtor and have him sit next to her and bark until I get there.

Chris - first I need to say that I know this dog (I bred it). The dog is still a puppy in an adults body. It's is a sharp dog - as you are finding out. It will remain like this for a long time - probably until it is completely mature.

In my opinion this is not a dog for a beginner. When your daughter is only there 3 days a week there is a possibility that this dog is not going to bond with her for well over a year - IF EVER. It will be a handler mistake to underestimate this and jump the gun.

You need to be careful in how you use a remote collar on this dog. Read the article I wrote on the Theory of Corrections in Dog Training. Then use that information.

This dog is about a year old. Twelve months is a very very stupid age for a male dog. Many people don’t understand this.

Spend a year being this dogs friend. ONLY DO PREY WORK WITH HIM. If you go out 6 or 8 months from now and do DEFENSE - you will create a monster. This dog does not need defense - its there. It has great prey drive - focus on this and use the DRIVE and FOCUS work to build your bond.

This dog is very immature - DONT allow strangers to come near it. In the beginning temper your corrections to his unwarranted aggression. Take your time in making him understand that this behavior is uncalled for. With time, training and your improved relationship you can get firmer with him. To get down on him too hard too soon (at this age) will only make him insecure. If he were 2 or 3 years old this would be a different situation.

In closing, if you don't screw up you can end up with a nice dog. He will not come into his own until he is 2 to 3 years old so it is going to take some patience.

Thanks ED for the information about his age and the post.

I feel better about using the electric coller with him, I seroiusly questioned using it at all. I have only used it twice on a very low setting when he has gotten unusually inappropriately aggressive in his crate along with a firm no.

For example, last night my ex wife came to pick up our daughtor rang the bell and just walked it. My house dog ran to the door barking and he chimed in - no correction given I verbally calmed him and gave him a treat. This morning he barked and mostly wined when I was feeding the other dogs - no correction given (he just wanted out to eat) Yesterday afternoon I was talking with a friend that had been in the house for an hour, he began growling and barking litterally moving the crate and continued after a verbal no; I gave a correction with another no.

I can wait a few years for him to mature. I got him to serve as Brix's replacement when he is 9 or so. I have plenty of time and want to train him my self. I'm not correction happy with any of my dogs and rarely have to use physical corrections with either of the adults.

It's funny how dogs seem to know what is going on; I had the best play session with Brix yesterday afternoon that I have ever had. No possesiveness of the toy, outed every time he was told to with no rebiting absolute perfection on his part.

My apologies Chris, my emotions got the better of me when reading did not see you said one yr old hence the PP comment.Since Ed knows this dog and has given you excellent advice, I wish you all the best in your future training endeavours. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />