My 1 yr old german shepherd female plays waaaay to rough with the other pups...today i took her out then tootsie my 6 month old and Alexis ran up to tootsie grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and flung her, then kept going she never drew blood and her tail was wagging, but it's too rough what do i do? She also was roughing with missy my chihuahua and inadvertantly hurt her by pushing her into a nail that had worked it's way out of the wall, cuting her neck nothing serious but enough is enough!
Help!! Need advice on a irritating gsd prob
- Thread starter doggiemom
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Its gotta be a Shepherd thing!!
My Belgian plays VERY roughly with his Sheltie brother and sister.
Jada(the female) is his literal chew toy. When enough is enough she lets him know by snapping at him but he still thinks its play.
He sometimes picks her up by the scruff of the neck(grabbing fur I assume, shes a fluff ball) and throws her a bit and then runs after her.
Now half the time she DOES call it on to play, but he takes it to the next level with a "tough mans" competition lol
I tell him "Off" or "Gentle" and he'll calm down for a bit.
Perhaps only allow supervised play for a certain number of minutes and then seperation until older??
Riot isn't allowed outside with Jada alone, but Crosbie hes fine with - Crosbie LIKES the roughness
My Belgian plays VERY roughly with his Sheltie brother and sister.
Jada(the female) is his literal chew toy. When enough is enough she lets him know by snapping at him but he still thinks its play.
He sometimes picks her up by the scruff of the neck(grabbing fur I assume, shes a fluff ball) and throws her a bit and then runs after her.
Now half the time she DOES call it on to play, but he takes it to the next level with a "tough mans" competition lol
I tell him "Off" or "Gentle" and he'll calm down for a bit.
Perhaps only allow supervised play for a certain number of minutes and then seperation until older??
Riot isn't allowed outside with Jada alone, but Crosbie hes fine with - Crosbie LIKES the roughness
Sounds like the prey drive is getting a bit out of hand there! The only thing I can think of is that when she does that, and I mean immediately, call her back to you and let her know that play time is now over for at least a couple minutes. Make her sit by you or down or something, but she can't play anymore until you say so and if she starts tossing your other dogs again, same thing. Timeout.
You need to protect those little dogs. Flinging a dog by the neck is serious. She could break her neck in a heartbeat. Seperate them with a baby gate. You need to teach your GSD to be "gentle." Hold a pup on your lap and show your GSD what you mean by gentle. When she does one gentle move, reward her. Talk calmly and in a low voice. When she pokes or paws, getting even close to rough, isolate her in another room immediately. Anytime she has even the intent (watch for it) of getting too wild or rough, calmly, matter of fact, not punishingly, take her into another room without speaking to her. Leave her for 5 minutes and try again. Repeat as often as necessary. Let her know that to be part of the group, she can't act that way. Don't forget this: Dont' forget to reward her amply, lavishly when she shows behavior you like. Seperate the dogs when you're not right there sitting with them. All it takes is one big mistake and you'll have a dead dog.
I showed my Doberman what I wanted when he was very young by getting down on the floor with them all, taking him over to my Chihuahuas and literally patting them myself, ever so lightly and Lyric (the Dobe would be right there with his nose) I'd say, "gennnnntle" and if he nosed gently, I'd tell him how wonderful he was, but in a quiet, calm, drawn out voice. You want to get him in a calm mood so don't use excitable tones. When he got going with his paws too much, I'd sort of catch up my breath like "heh heh, ooooooo (extreme cautionary or worried sound and very quiet) gennnntle." It took a few months till I could trust him alone with the Chi's. He finally understood and is wonderful with them. It may sound like a silly way, but it worked. I never got rough or angry with him. You don't want to associate a rotten time with your other dogs.
I've shown these a million times before, but I don't think you saw them, so here you go:
Doberman eats Chihuahua
Chihuahua eats Doberman
I showed my Doberman what I wanted when he was very young by getting down on the floor with them all, taking him over to my Chihuahuas and literally patting them myself, ever so lightly and Lyric (the Dobe would be right there with his nose) I'd say, "gennnnntle" and if he nosed gently, I'd tell him how wonderful he was, but in a quiet, calm, drawn out voice. You want to get him in a calm mood so don't use excitable tones. When he got going with his paws too much, I'd sort of catch up my breath like "heh heh, ooooooo (extreme cautionary or worried sound and very quiet) gennnntle." It took a few months till I could trust him alone with the Chi's. He finally understood and is wonderful with them. It may sound like a silly way, but it worked. I never got rough or angry with him. You don't want to associate a rotten time with your other dogs.
I've shown these a million times before, but I don't think you saw them, so here you go:
Doberman eats Chihuahua
Chihuahua eats Doberman
D
You really have to be careful with small animals and big dogs. My mother once had a Dobie that killed their cat by grabbing the cat (out of no where) and swung its head back and forth ONE time and killed him. My grandma has a Chi puppy and him and Chico get along fine, but I will never leave them alone because Chico can and probably will accidently hurt him.
My Doberman is a marshmellow. He totally respects Chulita, the one in the picture. If he is bothering her, which he hardly ever does, she lets him have it (yap, yap, snarl, snarl) and he backs off and fast. He even got whipped by my b.f's Min Pin the other day. She didn't want him near her couch, so he obliged politely. Poor Lyric. He's never that wild...doesn't make contact with them if he's running or playing. If we're on a trail and he is running and sees that he may step on them, he goes out of his way to jump over them or go around them. He really gets it but it took several months till he could be trusted alone with them...probably from 9 weeks old till he was about 9 months. I forget for sure already. LOL. It's not easy but it can be done. Be very watchful and consistant.
Heh, heh...did you like my pictures? Look at the skin on Lyric's nose where Chulita is pulling on it. He loves her and couldn't care less. He is so unperturbed about anything at all. She can do no wrong. LOL. Can you tell I just love that dog?
Heh, heh...did you like my pictures? Look at the skin on Lyric's nose where Chulita is pulling on it. He loves her and couldn't care less. He is so unperturbed about anything at all. She can do no wrong. LOL. Can you tell I just love that dog?