When did you know your GSD was going to be trouble?
Lol
Yup, we know what NO means but the words have no meaning to a dog until they associate them with something. Time to change it up, NO means let's play, Banana (or what word you want) means you are in trouble.
we found no to be in effective, maybe because he heard it so much as a puppy or because it's used too frequently in conversation. we do the aht-aht sound for naughty behavior he isn't ever allowed to do, and if hes doing something hes technically allowed to do but the time or place is inappropriate we use "all done".
We use “aught”. Our trainer told us that they hear the word “no” too often in every day language that it’s meaningless. Especially if you’ve got kids or toddlers that’s you’re always using one syllable words to talk with.
I’m pretty sure I knew my girl had a talent for getting in trouble about 1 week in, so she was 11 weeks old. She turns 3 yrs old next month and I love her dearly, she’s my very best friend and fiercest protector. There was (and still is) a ton of training happening. We train almost every day. She needs a strict schedule or she gets restless and upset. She has big anxiety. The thing I most wish I knew back then was that apparently you should never let your puppy cry it out. It teaches them basically that no one is going to come to comfort them, makes them more anxious, and then that can lead to anxious attachment and thus separation anxiety. I didn’t often let her cry it out, I slept on the floor by her kennel a lot in the beginning and put my hand through the bars which calmed her down..but now that I read that, i wish I had never let her cry it out not even once. If you sense you may have a bit of a trouble maker, get training soon from a reputable trainer that has lots of reviews you can read through.
someone wanted out.
My dog is the opposite, he wants in.
Mine did a similar. Tore off the door trim surrounding the front door trying to get to us. GSD separation anxiety is something.
When we came home shortly after adopting her. She had drug so many things through the doggie door into the backyard. A broom, small trash can, her toys etc
My pup did the same thing! She would bring her food bowl, blankets, pillows, the remote, anything and everything outside. Then she would bring in branches, dug up plants and outdoor pillows inside. It was a constant battle that I somehow miss.
That’s so funny. We were fortunate she didnt drag anything inside
She was trying to move you out and move herself in!! 😂😂😂
When she was the worst behaved in puppy school (according to my Wife NOT according to her and I 😝)
As soon as we got in the car. The kid threw up all over himself and screamed the whole time.
She just chewed off her harness. I think .. i think im in trouble.
spray anything you don't want chewed with lemon juice, worked for me.
She ate her rabies tag off of her collar. Ever since she still tries to eat objects that are not consumable even at the age of 4
When my other dog basically told her to "go away I'm sleeping" and she also took that as "play time"
This is my 7 month old puppy. The 4 year old dog yells at him when he's being annoying and he converts the yells into energy. Screams make him more powerful. I call it goblin mode.
The criminal himself.
When our first ~3 month old would chase his tail for literally 2 hours straight with no breaks. That dog ended up being so smart and so driven to work it was ridiculous what he would do when he got bored. Learned how to open doors, sneak around the house undetected, destroyed a vacuum cleaner, multiple crates, and seat belts, escaped from the car once, and would sometimes break out of the house to go see the neighbors. He also had a vocabulary of easily 50 words, knew every person in the house by name, and knew a handful of his favorite toys by name.
It was crazy how intelligent that dog was.
She jumped about 5 feet in the air to grab one of the socks hanging from the washing line and then dashed off round the garden with it. Repeatedly. I think she thought it was some kind of challenge I had set for her!
My boy is also obsessed with socks. Whenever he manages to get one, he struts around with his chest held high like he is so proud of himself
From the moment she walked in?
Right here
I was struggling to find a high value treat for mine as a puppy. Bought some hot dogs after hearing they were the miracle treat for tons of dogs, and gave her a chunk to see what she'd do...
She spit it out.
Almost vowed that that my next dog would be a lab after that.
Beef livers are a high value treat
It depends on the dog. Chicken hearts are what worked for mine.
mine has a chicken allergy.
I heard salmon does wonders for them.
her food is salmon based.
lol! That picture…
we had a suspicion every since we brought him home, but it got confirmed when we took him with us to visit the old house we inherited back at he climbed up this pile 💀 (i had to climb after him bc he refused to go down) later he also climbed an old coop and spent 3 hours watching us trying to find him
have to give it to him though – only pissed in the house once (the night we got him), learnt sit and lay the first day and only destroyed one magazine when we were late for his regular walk
My first one? When she broke out of her crate and shredded a goose down comforter.
My second one? After my first one broke out of her crate and shredded a goose down comforter.
When i met him and first thing he did was bite my sock off and hang from my pants lol
When I realized she was eating my flower bed instead of napping in it. She also likes to jump in the shower with my kids and track water around the whole house. Slipping and skidding around the house with wet paws and the zoomies is her favorite thing.
My GSD chewed up my glasses and my mom’s camera. He loved anything with a human scent. So although he stopped chewing up things, he would grab socks, underwear, hats, shoes until his last days.
Mine some how ripped up linoleum flooring, from the middle. Dunno how he did. He also punished me once for grabbing dinner by destroying my couch. Big ole doofus now who hardly does anything wrong. Besides jumping into garden beds
I read a quote once, "Remember that awesome german shepherd you had as a kid? Yeah, that dog was 8 years old"
Honestly my GSD mix is perfect. 7 months old, potty trained by 4 months, has never chewed anything, has shown zero resource guarding, food aggression, is so easily trained. Great with kids and other dogs, barely barks. She’s wonderful. As I’m typing this she’s trying to share her breakfast with my 7 year old border collie mix.
My husband has never liked GSD’s, he literally told me the other day because of her he is open to getting a purebred one down the line. I never ever thought he’d say that.
7 months? You have at least 3 more years of the unknown - good luck.
Oh I know, but this isn’t my first dog and I highly doubt she’s going to wake up one day and decide to completely change her personality and become bad.
My older dog was like this as a puppy, and the current puppy has been taking her cues from her since day one. She may go through a mischievous streak, she may not but I do not see her becoming destructive or developing bad habits (especially since I don’t work and my husband works 2 days a week).
Which I think is the real reason she’s so good too, is she gets exercise and attention and training constantly and is hardly ever left alone.
It’s not bad perse, but the mischievous side especially when there is human error. My soon to be 8yr old is perfect now, but I remember under 4yrs she had a rebellious side here and there - my fault of course! How dare I store paint cans in the dog room. She certainly ensured she attacked those cans good! Painted paw prints every where highly suggested she was the culprit over my other dog 🤣
They’re just quirky and there will be moments! Mine didn’t “mature” until she turned 4, then she all the sudden became a grown ass woman 🤷🏽♀️
That’s hilarious 💀
Honestly, I 100% agree with you on the human error. And I also know that the reason she’s so good is because someone is with her all the time, and my kids are a little older now so they help with training and obedience and giving her something to do.
I think she’s the universe’s way of saying sorry, because in my early 20s I was constantly stressed out with my two male dogs that had and I learned so much from my mistakes with them.
😂
Also, I never wanted a GSD, but have told my husband I think I want a purebred now
Mine is a little more than half GSD and then some husky and malamute mixed in. He recently turned 1 and he has been nothing but good. He learns commands quickly, has never destroyed anything, potty trained very young, has been loose in the house while we're gone since he was 9 months. It amazes me how good he is.
That’s what I’m saying!
Mine is really good too and she is allowed on furniture but when I tell her to get off she does the crack head derp face and tries to zoom or dead weight me and flip on her back 🤣
Btw this photo is hilarious. You caught him in chaos mode tearing the world apart
Before I got them. Lol.
When she walked in
Prior to picking him up I was at the breeders house watching him terrorize his litter mates, being a little type a, rabble rousing shithead at 6 weeks old.
She looked at me, raised her brow and said “You ready?”
I was lol, although there was a learning curve for sure.
he learned to sit on day one and potty trained in the first week. I knew then I was dealing with a dog that could outsmart me if he wanted to and I was right 🤣 he's trained me as much as I've trained him. pictured, him in my chair after stealing my spot
Right about here
Right about now 🤣 she was playing with her flirt pole and “went after” a neighbor walking their dog. Entirely friendly but tooooo friendly.
This is not just GSD’s. It’s being a puppy! Here’s what my Chihuahua did to my bedroom door with her razor sharp baby teeth.
When I got him
The moment he destroyed my room but I thought it was the cutest thing ever the way he looked at me with guilt
She ate my couch…
When he chewed a seatbelt in the back seat
When we got our GSD mix puppy, despite having a very weak bite she quickly shredded every single toy we bought for her that wasn't just dense rubber. We tried a toy that was very thick and dense, advertised as being impossible to destroy, and she shredded that too.
She also shredded her Kong leash. We ended up having to get a chain leash for her, since that's the only thing she doesn't try and chew 😅
He just turned 2 and ya he is a menace lol
The second I brought her home.
That’s no pupper, that’s a land shark 🦈 ❤️
Have teeth. Will chew.
Third day, he chased one of the cats through a window screen. On the third floor…
Cat’s fine.
When she broke out of her crate and ate our doormat
When she figured out pig Latin by nine months old. Previous two shepherds never figured it out and it was my go to code to hide words from them. Not this one. My smartest AND my naughtiest.
The second time he straight up looked into my eyes while eating his own poop and me firmly asserting NO!, again. He then did a rascal jump and zoomied off. 9weeks old.
Mine pulls everything into her crate to destroy it. I think my cat helps because I keep the area around the crates clean for this reason. Today, it was a hoodie. She managed to drag it through the wires without shredding it this time. She got ahold of one of my Scooby-Doo socks, and now it's a cleaning rag.
When she chewed through the power cords for our electric reclining sectional - we can no longer recline in any of the seats because there’s no manual recline option. She was 4mo old
When i met my dog, he was a puppy that one of my home hospice patients had just got for their son, who wasn’t taking care of the puppy. He was running around and jumping on everyone and tried to jump into my car when i left. He was rambunctious. And adorable. The patient told me she couldn’t take care of him and that she was taking him to the pound. I knew he was trouble but i couldn’t say no.
He tore apart two leather couches and chewed a massive hole in the wall as a puppy. He's 4 now and fine, but damn, those first 2 years are something, can't trust em at all
She came out of her harness and ran back into petsmart when we tried to leave
When he destroyed his stainless steel crate from the inside. That would also be the time he managed to move his crate through a doorway into another room and cost me $1,500 in emergency dental bills.
As soon as I said "yeah, we'll take him" lol
When she started to ressource guard the living room/couch/bed… I miss the days where torning up shit was our biggest trouble. 😔
He was so proud.
When he destroyed, not only his kennel but also the carpet underneath while I was dealing with a migraine. Honestly, I'm more impressed than upset...
The second he came into the door, he was on the countertops. It was enter house > beeline for kitchen > countertops.
He was close to eight months old before I could even take him on a car ride. He's my favorite little devil and I wouldn't trade him for the world lmao
The moment she was ‘career changed’ from becoming a guide dog. She was tired of being on a tie down and just wanted to catch her damn frisbee. It was immediate love. She was coated and needed eye drops, impeccable on a trail. BEST ATTRIBUTE, she loved to dance! She was my soul girl. NIKA rules 🐾🐾
Honestly? Never. She shit in the house a few times, but that was about it.
When his 3 month old self tried to bully his older sister into giving up her toy by air snapping in her face. He's very lucky she was patient with him.
Pups will be pups…!
About an hour after bringing him home from the animal shelter, he walks into our bedroom happily carrying something in his mouth. We were like, “Hey buddy, whatcha got there?”. It was the frozen chicken we left defrosting on the counter.
Literally the second I saw the volunteer bringing him out for a meet & greet @ 9 weeks old…
When they stole my heart and I can’t punish them and stay mad at them for long bc they’re too lovable and cute
When he jumped over my 7 foot fence to go play with the neighbors dog (aka his gf). Then they moved away and the problem stopped😂
Does anyone have my dogs mothers sonogram pictures? Is that even a thing?
If it is, then that’s when. In the womb, on the sonogram.
When his mum’s owner asked if we were sure we wanted “that one”. Prior to us visiting the first time he had been terrorising his siblings and was having a nap, which was common for him. Before he was 18 months old, we had estimated he cost us about £5k in damage to the house. 2 sofas, an arm chair, all of our dining room chairs, benches, bannisters, carpet, walls, radiator dials, the garden, countless dog beds, “indestructible toys” shoes, clothes, and general personal effects to name a few. I tell people he had ripped a black Kong open and they don’t believe me. He worked out how to get out of his crate and the only solution we could think of was to zip tie the doors shut but we knew he would find another way out and probably hurt himself so we never tried it. Big guy had big feelings and we weren’t helping him process those properly, despite our best efforts. He settled down when he was about 3 and now he’s so calm. As a result our house is very dog proof. Our girl was rescued at 14 weeks old (when he was about 5.5) and she hasn’t had a destructive streak. So either we learned from past mistakes or she was wired differently.
About 6mo old when she figured out how to open the patio door and doors with flat handles
When I went to the Breeder to put down a deposit. My tiny boy was dragging another puppy around by its ear because they were in the sunspot he wanted‼️
When he ate his own $100 bed from Costco. And all the foam filled patio furniture cushions. Boy has a taste for filling.
At what point would you think they wouldn’t do something ? Ours is the same . Good as gold then turns into a gsdrex for that brief moment . Once they give you the sorry eyes , all is forgiven !
The first day I brought my GSD he was 13 weeks old. I opened his food bag to five him his first meal I'm his new home and dude just dove straight in.
Few days after I brought him home, when started to feeling comfy/at home and bounded to me 😅
I had a GSD pup that we could just not get crate trained so we had to leave him out. He would tear up stuff, he knew it was wrong and would always act guilty when we came home. We discovered if we left cheap coasters around he would tear those up instead of furniture…something to think about a distraction chew. I know it’s not ideal but it could be a temporary stop gap
When she tore this up (only time she has destroyed something) I did the disappointed voice and said No! She heard let’s play and do some zoomies. I took this snap as she started to run and zoom.
She is very well behaved near perfect but man she thinks the word no means it is time to have fun. Melts me