When your German Shepherd takes over your life

Brandy is a stunning 17 month old German Shepherd. A highly bred working dog with both parents used as guard dogs, she is motivated and intelligent. These same characteristics that make her a great example of her breed also make her a nightmare to live with in a domestic setting. The owners are experienced German Shepherd owners but one of them now has mobility issues and the other works away for part of every week. In the meantime, Brandy is ruling the house. She cannot be left alone because of her destructive behaviour. She has no respect for her owners, is on all the furniture, controlling their behaviour, mouthing and biting. Walks are unpleasurable; they are using a metal choke chain with a lead, which restrains but does not correct the dog.

Brandy is evidentially bored. Her behaviour combined with the owner’s mobility problems mean that she is having nowhere near enough exercise. She is under stimulated and that working brain is finding other ways to occupy itself.

Training Brandy

After assessing Brandy being handled by the owners, I took control. In the hands of an expert, she was a different dog. She walked calmly to heel after small corrections, almost glued to my leg. She has no basic commands but listened intently as I taught her to sit and wait. Her owner commented:

I can’t believe how much focus that dog has on you, she is hanging on your every word

The owners have a long journey ahead if they are going to bring Brandy into line but she could be a wonderful dog. If you have a highly motivated working dog, you have to stimulate it and train it as such from the start. If you don’t, the dog will dominate the household and then it’s back to basics with a large and headstrong adult dog.

Posted: May 30, 2019