Big problems with Diesel

clareabella

Diesel's behaviour lately has turned very badly Sad

He used to pounce on us a run round the living room barking but after shutting him out of the room each time he did it, he stopped doing it for a while. A few weeks ago he strted doing it again only things took a turn for thje worst this weekend when he decided to jump on Ash whilst he was lying on the sofa and kept nipping his arm. I got up to pull him off but her jumped up me leaving a huge scratch down my side, as i jumped out the way ( because it hurt Mad

) he took his chance and jumped up and bit my hand Sad

We managed to get him out of the room but we had to drag him out, he was still trying to bite us. After an hour we let him back in and he settled down all night.

Today he started again, jumping all over Ash and trying to nip anyone that got in the way. I just don't know what to do with him as this is getting realy bad now. We are trying to save up for one 2 one training but with the car breaking down every week Evil or Very Mad

and the vets bills we have had lately it's just not happening. We can't continue like this anymore as we are worried that he may hurt Damien ( our 3 year old son) if he happens to get in the way.

I don't want to rehome him as that will be passing on his problems to someone else but at the same time there just isn't many options Sad

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jabbro

sorry you are having this problem...I had the same with Phoebe...she ended up biting us 6 times...the last time I nearly lost my eye...she had to be put to sleep Crying or Very sad

I hope that you can come up with something that will solve the problem for all of you. Good Luck!
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Dog: Katie
Rabbit: Buffy and Georgie

Twig

What breed is he? I suggest you post on a dog forum and see what advice you can get for free. Does he get a reaction when he nips? If so, thats why he is doing it, when my dog was too rough I got up and without ANY eye contact or ANY talking then stood and totally ignored her by turning my back and walked out of the room then left her for 5-10 minutes. She soon got the idea and hasn't been nippy since.

Hcollie85

Is he nutured?
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clareabella

He is a German Shepherd. Nothing we do works with him, we have tried ignoring him but he just continues doing it and in then ends up hurting one of us. I have tried the German Shepherd forum but they said to get a trainer in but at £60 just for a consultation and then ridiculous costs thereafter we simply can't afford it. Sad

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Hcollie85

Why dont you try and getting advice from a dog trainer from dog borstal
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clareabella

poppydog83

We are having a similar ish problem with sparky and ignoring him doesnt help things it makes it alot worse. I think that having sparky neutered made his behaviour slightly worse.
I tried to get advice from lynne davies (is it her on dog borstal) anyway she sent an email back saying that she would prefer to meet the dog first before giving out advice and if i remember correctly her first in your home consultation fee was nearly £150!!!
We dont want to rehome sparky because like you said it will be passing his problems on to someone else. But the rehoming centre we have gone to have a positive outlook on it. And have said they will try their best to rehome him with people who have the time to spend with him and train him,if not we dont want to have to make the worst decision possible

clareabella

It seems we have the same situation then hun Sad

He has been like it for a while and i guess i just keep crossing my fingers hoping it would go away with a bit of encouragement but i saw reality when he bit me.

He started again tonight but didn't do it for long. What i dont get though is that it starts out of nowhere. We would just be sitting down and diesel will be settled on the floor then he just suddenly gets up and starts behaving badly. He bent my finger back yesterday and my OH said he will just let him off his lead next time and let him run off ( he wouldn't do that, he was just realy angry.) He can be fine some days and then turns into a monster again.
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poppydog83

its the same here,he can be fine one day then the next he will be bad. Although i must admit the bad days r becoming more and more frequent

Twig

What food is he on and how much does he get out? They are highly intelligent and energetic dogs as you know and I know of several people who've had problems with collies who were feed to much high energy food and not getting out enough leading to behavioral problems.

clareabella

We are feeding him Bakers with tinned food at the moment ( that's what he was used to so i guess we just never changed it).

As for exercise he gets plenty, well an hour a day as thats all he is allowed due to having problems with his pads. He will play up even when he is all puffed out from his walks. Like i mentioned before it just seems to come out of nowhere, nothing triggers him off as far as we can see. Today he has been as good as gold, yet tommorow he could play up again.
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Fizz

What a worry for you. It sounds like Diesel thinks he is your pack leader. You need to re-establish yourself as leader. I am curently trying to do this with my dog. It is hard work but I am getting some results. Good luck!

hev_gsd

with out totaly know the situation,it sounds like tyipacal gsd play!

id change his food over as soon as,bakers is like giving your child mcdonalds everyday,yes you can get the basic nutritional needs from it but it also has loads crap in it.

why cant he be walked for longer? kia suffers from soft pad where her pads will go red raw and blister if she is walked to long on hard ground but we work around it and she always gets at the least a two hour walk a day about an hour of that is free running,she doesnt have one two hour walk i walk her in the morning and early evening because if she just has one walk a day her behaviour changed dramaticaly
i wouldnt get one to one training,id find a good local dog trainer and go to normal classes every week,like collies gsd also need a job, why dont you try teaching him a new things get your son envoled to.
its really does sound like tyipical gsd play where he runs round and nips, like a mad half hour sort of thing.

if you work off all that pent up energy by working his body and his mind then im sure he will stop doing it.if kia isnt walked for long enough then she does this just the same.
i remember you saying ages ago that you found it difficult to walk him because he pulls loads.is he still hard to walk? how old is he?
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My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am!

Twig

I agree with the above, Bakers is a real crappy food, packed full of colours, bound to contribue to hyperactivity! Also, one hour isn't really sufficient for a dog of his size, it sounds like hes so full of energy he is becoming nippy, frustrated and aggressive. The same happened to my friend with a border collie and its kept in the garage most of its life as a result! Shocked

Maybe get involved in a local obience/agility training group? Although I know ith big dogs you have to be careful with agility by making sure their hips are in good order. With dogs like GSDs its important to remember they need mental and physical stimulation, so really you need to work out a way to fulfil both. Good luck, really hope he settles down! Very Happy