Great for you Marcia!!!!
I. Am. So. Glad. That you didn't think that I was telling you to hang him......he is a pup. I don't think that you are facing anything that the pack structure wont fix. That and some redirecting and training.
Keep us posted!!!!!

Lol, hey Willie I apologize, but I didnt read your post. I only read Debbie's first post.

 Quote: Marcia Blum

... My dog LOVES to play double kong. (you play fetch with two kongs) When we are doing this, the world goes on by with barely a glance. It took me a while to realize that this was THE game we could do at the park and I could get total engagement. I was getting disappointed with tug and even treats could not hold her attention, once gobbled up.

What a good post about finding your own dog's currency and using it!

I remember Bob Scott saying here that it's all about your own dog's currency. It kinda nudged me to examine my choices of rewards. High-value isn't necessarily the same for every dog.


Debbie, here are a few of those desensitizing threads:

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=251675&Searchpage=1&Main=24232&Words=desensitize&topic=0&Search=true#Post251675

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/266059/page/0/fpart/1

http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=134&Number=253411&Searchpage=1&Main=24388&Words=desensitize&topic=0&Search=true#Post253411

No problem Steve! I respect your posts and input.
Some other people were confused as to what I was saying.

Thanks for the links Connie . Will be reading them tonight.

Th Pack Structure and Dominate Dog DVD's and the Dominant Dog collar arrived. I watched the Pack Structure DVD and was happy to see I did at least some things right with my now 11 month old Benny. He was crate trained, tethered to me when not in the crate. He now lays quietly with me in the house, but is crated when I have to leave him. I also made him earn everything, but making him lay down, wait before releasing him to eat or give him a toy, go in and out a door.

The things I have done wrong was playing with him and praising him too much before establishing that I was the pack leader, and letting him play with my sons pit pup who is the same age. The fact that he does not respect me as pack leader shows on walks as I posted in the original thread. The DD collar does help. When he started to lunge after a cat I lifted his front feet off the ground and in a few seconds he forgot about the cat. I put him down and he was his happy self again, did not seem to be upset by what I had done.

Should I now stop playing with him, lower the level of praise, be more aloof to establish leadership? Is it too late for that?

I took him for a walk today with his new back pack which was empty as I just want hoim to get used to it. Carrying the pack seemed to make him less susceptible to distrations, more focused on me.

He looks so cute in his backpack!

I was thinking about ordering one for my dog to have her carry the long line and other stuff down to the park. I want to get some of those big "IN TRAINING" patches to put on it, too. Hopefully it will help with the people coming up to us all the time to pet her.

I have had some similar problems with my one year old female shepherd. We have worked through a lot of them, but some things continue to be a struggle at times. She too gets wound up very easily. We work on focus, engagement and self control a lot. I totally understand where you are coming from. I have to watch myself in keeping the leadership role all the time.

He's still young, you have that on your side in helping to get a handle on him. Now that you are working on it from a more effective perspective it probably won't take you very long before you start to see real improvement.

As the ome who started this thread two weeks ago I have learned a lot from the resources here. First most I have learned that my dog at 11 months is exhibiting normal male adolescent behavior GSD behavior

It was quick and easy to teach Benedict obedience commands, even tricks, but teaching him impulse control takes much more time and patience.

Being in a busy town I cannot guarantee there will not be triggers that will set him off on walks. His biggest triggers are skateboaders and large barking dogs. If I see any of these things approaching I make sure that I do not unconsciously tighten my hold on the leash; I then distance Benny, by calmly pulling us off to the side, behind a bush or tree. I will let him sniff the grass which he loves to do. When he looks at the trigger, but I call him and reward him with a treat when he focuses on me. I try to work with him in very distraction free places. A good training session or walk is a boring, when nothng happens If he lunged and barked at something I chalk it up as my failure and try to do better next time.

I am hoping Benny can get his CGC and become a Therapy dog so taking him to public places that allow dogs is good practice as long as I keep him under threshold. I do not take him to dog parks but feel places like Pet Smart are more controlled
Yesterday I took Benny to Pet Smart and we walked around. He did great.

There were a few other dogs but I stayed away from the aisles they were in and kept praising Benny for his non reactions. A woman came up and asked if she could pet him and he was great. He also let her three year old pet him and layed down, shook hands on command,

They key is to always keep him under that threshold where he gets excited and starts to lunge and bark.