Help, any suggestions, I have a 4 yr old female German Shephard she is a great dog, buttt last summer we got a new swimming pool and she loved it, now this year whenever my husband jumps in the water she gets all nervous and tries to sit in all the chairs on the deck, starts shaking and just gets all nervous. We have tried diverting her attention with playing ball which is her favorite passtime, giving her a command to take her mind off of it and nothing seems to work. I am thinking we are going to either need to put her in a crate when we use the pool or possibly go with a shock collar??? I hate to have to put her in a crate everytime we swim because she is a part of the family.. Any suggestions??? Thanking everyone in advance..

Definitely not shock collar unless you want to send her over the fence!

Unfortunately, inadvertently, you have reinforced the behavior by playing ball with her when she acts "nervous." "Ball playing" is used as a reward to train dogs to engage in a variety of activities.

However, just as she was trained to become "nervous" she can be trained to be "calm." It will take time and patience, but the fact that she is a great dog indicates that you have shown patience with her.

Thinking out loud here (and others will come along who know more than I on this topic) but I wonder about putting her on a leash and starting DISTANT approximations to the end behavior you want. Have your husband in the water swimming quietly. You bring the dog in a gate from outside, GOOD TREATS in your pocket. Just walk, heel, and stand with the dog a distance from the pool while husband moves about quietly. That's it for a few sessions, perhaps moving a little closer, intermittently and profusely rewarding the dog for calm, civilized behavior. Once she has mastered that, bring her in again with husband outside of the pool and have husband walk calmly and slowly inside the pool while your are practicing your calm routine in the yard. Do that a few days until she has calm behavior down as husband enters the pool and exits the pool quietly and slowly. Then have hubbie run to pools edge, but step in quietly...same routine a few times.

My bet is she is reacting to the fast movement, noise, and splash. She may be acting protectively, fearful that your husband is in danger. She needs to be taught to remain under control while you work in a team with your husband in gradual approximations to the desired end. Does your husband ever move rapidly and jump in any other setting? How does she react there?

During the "calm" training for the pool she shows nervousness at any time, I'd end the session and put her in the crate. (Others jump in here - some might use corrections at this point, but I would try it without corrections first). Try another time. She basically needs to re-earn the privilege of being in the yard during swimming by showing civilized behavior. Yes she is a family member, but she earns the privilege through calm behavior. She's not entitled to be there acting like a wild critter. PATIENCE. Going slowly to re-teach new habits will pay dividends down the road. Thereafter, catch her being calm at time when she was previously "nervous," call it to her attention "calm...good" or "quiet...good" (whatever you use) and make heaven open up and deliver goodies to her randomly for boosters.

Good luck and I look forward to following this thread with the good folks on this board. There is an awful lot of knowledge here.

This "Nothing in life is free" article reminds me of the concept that time around the pool is to be earned.

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Hi Fern,

Welcome to the forum. You say that last year she loved the pool - what does that mean? Did she swim in the pool with the family, just lay calmly outside, etc...? Can you give any more details about the difference between last year and this?

What types of training have you used with your dog in the past?

could she have had a bad experience last year, such as, falling in or pushed in? Is she ok if no people are in the pool, or is she nervous just being around the pool? Maybe you could try working with her first in a wading pool, then one on one with high value reward in the larger pool. Do you have other dogs that she is fine around, perhaps if they were swimming, with her present, she might be less nervous.

What is the situation with the pool during winter months? Does she have access, is the pool covered, is she told to keep away?

I had an English Setter that did a complete separation anxiety fit whenever I entered the water. Pacing, barking, shaking, howling. Once at a lake he waded in + nearly sank both of us. He was a bad swimmer -- lots of splashing with the front feet, no engine in the back.
As he got older he learned I was coming back soon and came to accept it.

Wow I am overwhelmed with all of the responses to this!!! Cindy sent me an email and I have just come back to this page and there is a ton of adivce and I thank EVERYONE!!! I have since posting my original learned a lot of things that my husband and I have done wrong.

Last year when I say Zoey loved the pool, she used to actually walk done the steps with our guidance (not forcing) and swim with us. We used to have a hard time to keep her out of the water, she actually got onto one of the floats last summer and I wish I could've got my camera fast enough. She is NEVER unsupervised out there. NO she has NEVER been pushed into the pool I would absolutey NEVER do that or allow ANYONE else to do this to her. She got nervous when my husband jumped off the deck into the pool and I honestly think it is the splashing that made her nervous. She now is better (not great) but when she sees my hubby start to take his shirt off she starts to get nervous. I have been removing her from the situation as Cindy had told me that it kinder to her to put her away in the crate while the splashing is going on and that is what they do with their dogs. She also suggested desensitzing her with her ball or favorite toy, with a one on one situation gradually getting her on the steps again which I have been doing. I had some people tell me a correction was the answer and I didn't think it was correct but figured I would ask others who know more than I do.

She has had basic obiedance training from puppy classes to the basic obiedence and the person who used to help us train is up in Maine and we are now in Texas. He used the Schutzen methods and I know I spelled that wrong probably and that is the theory we have worked with.

I thank everyone who has responded and I am going to be on here a lot more and look forward to talking with all of you!!!! Thanx everyone!!