View Full Version : Suggestions please.
Before I go insane (completely) can anyone come up with a good idea.
If you look in the photo (if it works, first time I have done this on my own :D ) you can see that the lounge window at the front is low down. Now we have a German Shepherd, and as anyone who has owned one will know, they bark at bloody EVERYTHING. :mad: :mad: :mad: Shelby doesn't even bother jumping up there half the time, she knows that she can sit in front of the window and still see out.
So my problem is, if I am not in the room (or even sometimes when I am here) she barks constantly at people outside. It is driving me crazy and giving me a sore throat yelling at her.:mad:
I tried closing the curtains, but she has worked out how to get through. She can open the kitchen door so shutting her in there is a no go. Then I thought about getting rid of her ;) , but that seemed a bit extreme.
Chairs in front of closed curtains doesn't work. Andy won't let me brick the damn window up, so now I am out of ideas. :( :(
Any suggestions??? PLEASE.... :( :( :(
OK so the photo didn't work. :o :o :o
I should not be left alone to do things. ;) :D
Ace, what team does Shelby support :)
Blinds behind the curtains? :) That way it's mangled nose time if she goes for a look :D :p
Yeah, it worked.:D :D :D
And it's my 600th post. Am I a regular now. ;)
Originally posted by andyf
Ace, what team does Shelby support :)
She likes anyone, she just loves football, but she does prefer red teams. :D
Only trouble is that we now have scratches down the ****ing screen. I see an insurance claim coming. :rolleyes:
A male dog to keep her company / preoccupied? :)
Originally posted by Starionman
A blindfold
Bullet springs to mind more.;)
Andyf, 2 is the last thing I need. :(
we have a dalmation :mad: :mad: & its got that bad that we are looking into getting one of those collers that gives him a MINOR elec shock ( button which you control ) ;) :) every time it gets to much or when there was no need to bark :)
there is the old trick of disconnected punishment training.
Trouble is, it isn't so easy indoors.
But, if you get a water pistol and fire it at her everytime she barks, she prolly won't associate it with you for a while and won't like hetting wet. So long as teh punishment is disconnected from you it should work after a while...
Seriously, I don't want to stop her barking when people are around. That is a dog's natural instinct. Plus I like to know if someone is about.
The trouble is that she keeps on and on. Then when I finally get her to stop barking, she sits looking out of the window growling.
At least I am getting plenty of exercise running up and down the bloody stairs to shut her up. :rolleyes:
i know what you mean but the coller is worked by you, we are only thinking @ the moment :)
I've got one of those collars, just haven't tried it yet. What with Shelby being nervy and also constantly ill, it hasn't felt right. They are suppose to be humane.
I know that one of the dog trainers that we saw suggested the water pistol idea to try and stop her jumping up at people.
The other thing we use to stop her misbehaving is a tin with coins in it. It does work and if she won't stop with shaking it, she soon stops when you throw it on the ground near her. Doesn't cost anything either.
except for the coins in the can;) :p :rolleyes:
my dog wud be sh1t scared of it. she doesn't like coke bottles sitting on the edge of tables, drives her crazy, she barks at them for ages then tries to take them off the table then walks round the table with it in her mouth (parading sort of) then sits in front of the french windows with it in her mouth watching the squierrals and birds then listening to her barking with a bottle in her mouth sounds well funny, dopey dog:rolleyes:
Vipers, what ya got?
Shelby is well weird. She will not play with just one toy or ball. We have loads of footballs in the garden, she has to carry one and push the other along with it. :rolleyes:
dave_s13
24-02-2003, 11:38
As you said Shelby is acting in a perfectly natural way; one of a dogs strongest instincts is to protect its territory and every time someone walks past your window your little puppy is feeling threatened.
What about planting a hedge in the front garden (if you've got one) and using blinds to block her view while it grows.
If the pistol works then try that.
When she barks shoot her with the pistol and say "Shelby no", don't scream or anything but be assertive. Its always a good idea to ONLY use the word "NO" to tell your dog its being bad, standing there talking to a dog about a specific thing ie. "Let go of the childs arm" is useless. You can train this when she's on the lead as well, if she's being bad jerk her collar at the same time as telling her NO. My dogs (usually) stop whatever they're doing on this command, unless its something really good like rolling in fox shit :)
Otherwise your vet should be able to put you in touch with a local animal behaviouralist, might cost a bit but worth it if it works.
I would say absolutely don't use the shock collar, bloody awfull things, they are the lazy persons solution IMO, have you tried it on yourself yet???
SteveCarter200
24-02-2003, 11:54
How about mirror window tint on the bottom half of the window but facing inwards. Would look shit awful but at least the hound wont be able to see anyone through it.
Mike Martin
24-02-2003, 13:39
How old is she?
How is she on general obedience Ie Sit, Stay, Come, Heel, Kill, Fetch etc? Does she respond to these commands?
Mike
Mike Martin
24-02-2003, 13:51
BTW,
Not quite sure what the point of "disconnected punishment" is all about but sounds a little like treating a dog like a child which of course it isn't.
This is probably going to upset the more humanely minded but I've grown up with dogs and have never had any problems with mine.
You aren't dealing with a child, you are dealing with a pack animal. It accepts commands/chastisements from its pack leader (you). The territory protecting will not stop but you should be able to tell her that you hear her warning. My Dad's Shepherd Kahli (who is 13 years old and arthiritic) still comes up and barks when someone approaches his front door. However, a "good girl" is all she has ever needed to lie back down or get on with whatever she was killing at the time.
The answers to the other questions will help but I suspect that you need to get yourself up the pecking order to stop her, how does she respond to your other half?
Please do not use the collar!! As all it will do is tell her that you are very sneaky. Punishments and rewards are understood by dogs, punishment should be sharp, quick and "personal" as it is deliverd by a "dominant" member of the pack (that should be you), exactly the same way as treats and rewards.
Mike.
She is 2 in April. She knows sit, stay, leave, etc. Come apparently means lay 5 inches in front of whoever is trying to catch me and as they lean down to grab my collar, jump away 2 foot. :mad: :mad: :mad: She choses when to obey and when not to.
She definately knows, walk, car, lead, coffee (that means we are going out in the garden), food, and many others she shouldn't. :rolleyes:
The tin does work with her. I take it out with me because she is nervy and barks at people. Also she is frightened of other dogs. We have been to many trainers and behaviourists (which are claimable for on insurance :D ) but nothing works.
Forgot to say that this is our 3rd Shepherd, so it's not like we are novice owners. The other two were fine, but Shelby has caused us problems from the very beginning.
thejames
24-02-2003, 14:09
Can't you just block the window up when you don't wan't her to see out. One of those sprung net rails and a sheet of cardboard would do the trick. Easy to put up/take down and what she can't see, she can't bark at. :)
AshT_200
24-02-2003, 14:50
Shutters?:)
thejames
24-02-2003, 14:52
Originally posted by AshT_200
Shutters?:)
Hey, even better!!
I was just going for, cheap, cheerful, and err.... rustic! ;)
got a extremely nervous golden retriever.
you can almost talk to her, things she understands are:
sit
down/liedown
up (gets back to sitting or standing depending on which she was doing)
roll over
here
paw
other paw
left paw
right paw
away
no
up the garden
do you want to go out side
want some water
apple
does most of the above with out saying stuff can just use finger commands
but only when she deems necesarry
dinner
breakfast
food
busicuit
squirral
cat
mouse
catapillar
spider
fly
knows most immediate family names
rob
emma
mum
dad
cindy ( my nans dog)
Mike Martin
24-02-2003, 18:06
So she's still a young dog, then!
How is she with heel both on and off the lead?
Does she react the same to commands regardless of how you say them?
How do you play with her? By this I mean do you wrestle her or do you just throw things etc. You didn't mention reaction to other half, this is actually quite important as men tend to play with dogs in a more animal way and tend to have to win. This is of course straight forward pack behaviour which is why men tend to have a touch more success than women with dogs. (Before you get the hump this is just a statement of fact, although there are obvious exceptions to the rule Barbara Wodehouse being one of the most famous dog trainers in the Uk but if you ever watch you'll see why the above is still pretty true.)
tim rome
24-02-2003, 18:35
i keep mine in the kitchen when we go out, they learnt to open the door so a changed the handles around so to get in and out the handle has to be lifted up instead of pressed down, that has worked for the last 4 years, had to do it to the back door too.
My neighbour priced up shutters and they are quite expensive, so I don't think that's a goer. :(
Mike, I don't get the hump about everything.;) :D
Shelby is more aggressive towards Andy then she is to me. She obeys me more when she is told to do something, but when we are playing, Andy can get her to do more than I can, ie, throwing the ball and making her wait to go and get it. She is a very intelligent dog (maybe too much).
Heeling off the lead never happens, and on the lead, we have had a lot of trouble. We went through a collar, chain and halti. She reacted badly to all of these. I now have her on a harness and she is going well. She still pulls when she thinks we are going down on the grass and she will be let off, but away from there she is better. If I stop, she immediately comes back to heel.
If she is off the lead, there is pretty much no control. It is difficult to let her off because she is not too good with people and doesn't like children or dogs. So we are very careful about where and when she is loose. Luckily she can't tolerate too much exercise.
We haven't played rough with her since she was about 4 months and started to get aggressive. Each of the dog trainers said not to.
Because she has been so ill, training has never been a constant thing. Hopefully we are on the smooth road now, but I won't know for definate until her next blood test in a month.
Hayley.
By the way, unfortunately I am old enough to remember the Barbara Woodhouse series on the tv. :( :( :(
why is she so ill??
i play rough with my dog, from early age she knows im boss. but knows she can get away with more stuff cuz i'll let her.
when she was young i used to make a habbit of staring her out, first time she didn't like ti and looked at me "funny" but got round that quikly. if she tried to bite my hands i would grab hold of her lower jaw, (not to hurt her) but she didn't like it at all so quikly learnt not to do it. then after that we we played rough and she'd bite, i'd bite her back and soon got to know that i she was not to do it, cuz she didn't like it.
she still seems as if she is going to bite, not as in viscously goes for you but opens her mouth and reaches for your hand/wrist. but if you let her she just sits there and holds your hand in her mouth and feels your fingers with her teeth and is very gentle.
she only barks at stuff she knows is out of ordinarry, she grumbles if she sees someone at bottom of driveway and only barks when they enter the drive way. if its someone we know then she'll do her regular bark a few times come and see who ever is in the house, anmd then depending on how well she knows the person, will get them a present (usually one of her towls :rolleyes: ) if its someone she doesn't know she puts on her brave bark and don't mess with me then in a concerned and quik manner she comes to see us makes sure she has our attention then runs back to the door anhd barks nastily untill we tell her tis all right. thinking bout it she is a well behaved dog. she is extremely good with children and knows to be nice to peopel who don't like dogs.
we were on holiday once and she was only just a year old, and our holiday neighbour's youngest daughter couldn't have been older than 4 and was petrified of dogs. but saffie didn't like this and wanted to correct it so she put on her really soppy face and puppy dog eyes and lied flat down on her belly with her head slightly to one side and very slowly crawled toward the girl, if the girl acted more scared she stopped. but then the girl came toward her and then gently stroked saffie and then saffie relaxed a bit more and when the girl walked away a bit saffie came upto me all excited as if to say and boast "arn't i a good girl" then turned around and went back down on her belly and crawled back to the girl and nussled her shoe for more attention. after that day the girl liked dogs and even stroked a massive german shepard that at first i was wary of!!
oh other commands she knows are:
hold it, wait, hang on.
stop
gently
what do you want
where is it
look
there it is
there
over there
not there
she knows a hell of a lot thinking about it and is 5 this year i think.
Originally posted by Vipers
[B]why is she so ill??
She is a pedigree. :rolleyes:
Seriously though, she started being ill at 9 weeks old. Got worse until it was almost every week. Hence stopping training. She lost a load of weight. Had a gut biopsy at 7 months, nearly lost her while we were waiting for the results :( . she can't tolerate a certain protein. So now she is on a special sensitivity diet. German Shepherds are prone to digestive problems.
She started to put on weight and all was going well. Then August last year she had blood tests as she was drinking a lot, and we found out that she has kidney damage. Put her on a renal support diet which controlled the kidneys but over christmas she stopped being able to tolerate that.
So now she is on her old food and we have to wait for the next blood tests to see if there is any more damage being done to the kidneys.
Thanks god for insurance.
u insuraed ur dog! bu66er me! well looks like tis been worth while doing it for you.
sorry to here bout poorly doggy tho :( hope all is well tho. didn't know you cud get many probs witha german shep
was thinking of getting one at some point cuz they are soppy bu66ers but don't look it.
mates got a rotweiler german sheppard cross and is one of the most soppy dogs i know. altho she doesn't usually like men she's fine with me, every time i see her she has tomake a fuss of me and make me give her attention, think she just knows i have no fear of her or any dog( well almost any dog, like i said previosly, i bite back ;) :p :rolleyes: which they don't expect )
Put a 100 foot lead on and let it outside. There won't be anyone left to bark at......
:D :D :D
:D :D :D
She did come in useful this morning. Her guard command is 'go see'. I saw someone coming round delivering leaflets, so as he's walking up my neighbours drive, I tell Shelby 'go see', she jumps at the window barking. He doesn't bother coming here.:D :D :D
AshT_200
25-02-2003, 12:13
Originally posted by Vipers
hope all is well tho. didn't know you cud get many probs witha german shep
The better bred ones tend to have more problems. This is due to inbreeding. Check the family tree and you will see dogs listed more than once
Most pedigrees have certain weakness now. Good breeding seems to be really hard to find. Shepherds do have a lot of problems though.:( :(
Mike Martin
25-02-2003, 12:48
Oh! If play stopped when she upped the anti rather than you showing her who is actually in charge, guess who is the pack leader in your house. This probably hasn't been helped by all the attention she has got from being ill, which of course reinforces her dominant position in your pack.
When you play-fight a dog you have to growl, roll, etc exactly as their peers do and if you beat them into submission and they roll onto their back you shouldn't just stroke them, you have to press the advantage. For me this has always been biting their throat while growling. Sounds mad but it's always worked and I 've had varied breeds. (If you want to talk about mad pedigrees I had a "rescue" Afghan for 8 years, named Mark Anthony, he hated everyone and everything including me at first.) Vipers mentions another one, grabbing the jaw or muzzle and holding it beyond when the dog wants you to let go, it shows who's boss. Importantly it doesn't have to hurt just be uncomfortable and stop when you decide, not the dog.
It is a total power thing and as horrible as it may sound it is the only way to actually get control of your dog. Once you have proven that you are higher in the pack than the dog it will really listen to you. This is why a lot of people have to get rid of dogs when they have kids. They don't understand that the kid is new to the pack and the dog is therefore higher, which leads the dog to get jealous when the kid gets the fuss. My boy is great with Kahli cos he understands the pack rules and when she tries to strong it with him he just fights her and they both have great fun. They are roughly equivalent at the moment but she knows that she will answer to me if she gets out of line.
did you know that domesticated dogs are in a permanent state of infantilism.:p
dave_s13
25-02-2003, 14:20
yes
Mike,
We used to do all the rough playing when she was a puppy. The trouble was when she got to about 5 months she went through a very aggressive stage. She got really nasty and that is when we tried trainers and the behaviourist. She always gave in and we didn't stop until she concedded (spl??). We were told to stop playing rough, but the grabbing the jaw when she bit we have always done. As we did with the other 2.
Her aggressiveness stopped almost immediately after her op, so it was put down to the fact that she probably had pain and discomfort in her stomach which made her grumpy. Hell, it does for a lot of us.;)
She now still conceddes (???) when you play or whatever. She doesn't bite now except a nip in playing, but if you say oww (???) she comes to you with her head down and licks your hand as if to say 'I'm sorry'. She still has the occassional grumble when you make her get off the sofa. Her overall behaviour is not too bad. She is nervy and other dogs are a big problem, as is her barking. She comes away from the window when you tell her but the barking continues.
We have been a bit easy on her, but when you have a dog with ribs sticking out because she is so thin, it's hard to be too tough on her. :)
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