Problem: Every time I ride my bicycle around my rural property, my 1 year old GSD fills his face with an object (stick, pine cone, old bone, deer horn, rag, plastic container, you name it) and continually charges the front of the bike just barely keeping in front of it. No sign of an attempt to bite, but then his mouth is ALWAYS jammed full of something. Maddening!!! As of yet, I have not resorted to an electric collar. Anybody out there have any suggestions??

Thanks!

 Quote: Dennis Uren

As of yet, I have not resorted to an electric collar. Anybody out there have any suggestions??

An electric collar. The ACD's episode in The Dog Whisperer should be instructive.

sounds like your dog is playing the "chase me game" where are you at in basic Obedience?

hahaha, grab a harness and a 10 foot line and train him to pull you, teach him left from right, and have fun. I know my dog loves it.

On basic obedience training: starting a class with other dogs next week. Does on leash heeling, sit, down, come and stays (off leash) in solo front yard environment.

In a VERY controled area after you got the heel next to perfect, try teaching the heel while riding, I've done this with all four of my dogs and use to run all four while riding

Take this with a grain or a shaker of salt, but this MAY be relevant. My old gsd would charge at certain cars. He would run, barking like a maniac at a 90 degree angle to the car, charging at the front left tire. As you can imagine, it really used to freak out the various drivers. For a long time, we (his co owners) couldnt figure out what triggered his "attack" as he would let 50 cars go by without incident for every one he reacted to. At last we determined that Clint would charge a car that made a "funny" noise, A clunking engine, sudden reving, or brakes/tires screeching.

So, likely not relevant, but if there any sort of funny noise associated with your bike, perhaps that's a factor?

Dennis:

I think this is a herding dog issue. This past weekend while ski touring I saw a working GSD who had a strong desire to move across the front of the lead skier (me). A GSD I owned previously used to cross in front of me while telemark skiing.

I also noted that this same good tempered GSD would block any toddler on this trip from running too far away from the remote cabin, again cutting across the front.

I cured a soft but high drive border collie cross from running sideways in front of my mountain bike by simply saying "NO!!!" as I let myself accelerate...required judgment and fairly high level biking skills...

It may actually be a GSD specific behaviour you are describing.

I think the ecollar could work, and depending on your dexterity, the dog, riding skills, etc., possibly a prong correction.

p.s. my ACD chased his first and last car at age 12 weeks. He went blasting toward the road as a car already went by, and neglected to see the ditch...I describe what happend next as a gravity assisted canine self-correction of the "Ooomph!" variety.

the lesson: one good dispassionate correction may do the trick.

that definitely sounds like keep away game to me...my GSD has herding lines and she's constantly crossing in front of me, but it's not a game...she doesn't even know she's doing it half the time when I don't have her on the heel

however, let her get something in her mouth she thinks is interesting and she then decides that I have to think it's interesting, too