My Problem

[kimberly1965]

stupid me, i posted this by mistake in the bird forum..lol
but i hope some of you can help me!
I have a problem that I really don't know how to deal with.
I have two little poodle shihtuzu dogs who have been nothing
but a joy. Keisha is 6 soon to be 7 and Jersey Girl is four.
They were easy to train and hardly ever do anything wrong.
Now, here is the problem. My husband brings home a
german shepherd puppy two months ago. He has always wanted
one and we all fell in Love with Bella. I am not use to big dogs.
But I treat her just like a baby, and baby her. She has
adapted well with the others. BUT she is so much Work!
We have her crate trained but when we let her outside, she
has this disgusting habit of going near the road or running into
the woods and bringing home dried up dead animals to chew on!
Is this normal? My other ladies would never do this, they
are to proper..ha ha.
I love Bella, I hate chastizing her, but I let her know that
I do not like it, I throw away the dead thing because If i bury
it she digs it up. Please.. help me.. is this normal or is she
barbaric? Thanks for all your help in the past.

[_Lisa_]

I love Bella, I hate chastizing her, but I let her know that
I do not like it, I throw away the dead thing because If i bury
it she digs it up. Please.. help me.. is this normal or is she
barbaric? Thanks for all your help in the past.

Chastising your dog is useless because dogs are not people & cannot understand reasoning. Set her up for success by making it impossible for her to go near the road or run into the woods or bring back dead animals. Fence in your yard (or a portion of your yard) that she can run freely in, or walk her on a leash when she is outside. Always supervise her while outside so she doesn't pick up any new bad behaviors, or continue with old ones.

Since you will be constantly supervising her outside you can say "No" in a firm voice if you catch her doing something you don't want her to do. Saying "No" firmly & removing the dog from the situation will work if you are 100% consistent.

[kimberly1965]

Thank you, I will try and do that,
i get so many diffrent people telling me diffrent things
to do. A friend of mine said to let her know your upset with
her. Tell her she is "bad" when she does something bad.
but is eating dead animals bad? i know its gross!
We have such a large yard, i never thought about a fence
because like i said, my other two dogs have never went near
the road and neither did Bella until two days ago. The road
is a good distance from our home. I thought about getting
one of those electric fences. I just thought we had the
perfect place for a large dog to run.. acres and acres
i love letting her out of her cage every morning and watching her
run through the feilds and rolling over in the grass,
a fence would give her limited space wouldn't it?
I wish there was a way she would just Not go near the road
at all. Why are some dogs interested in the road and some not?
I wonder.

[Husky06]

Some of my more drivey German Shepherds seem to chase birds, and other little small animals. It is gross, but it is instinct in a lot of dogs, just like wolves eat their prey. And also, I don't know what type of German Shepherd you have.....showline, working line, or what, but I know with mine at a certain age they start chasing cars back and forth that go down the road.....we have a fence. Most everyone I talked to used a shock collar for when their dogs started that. One of my younger dogs has recently started doing that. Is your pup chasing them? or just getting near the road? How old is your pup also?

[Malteluv]

Kimberly it is in the nature of the german shepherd to hunt and find things. They like to run and chase as well. You say you have a big yard, I say fantastic but as one person said, try to get it fenced in or just a portion of it. Now her is the hard part, since the dog is still a puppy you will need to train it just like you would any other dog and that will involve you going outside with her to run and play (she runs and play you watch carefully). Telling a dog they are being "bad" never ever worked for me so I don't recommend this but you taking the dead thing away and throwing it away does allow the dog to eventually realize that 1. either you are playing or 2. not to bring it to you. Try to take a toy outside with Bella and teach her the game of fetch. Depending on how well she is already trained to bring back things that she has fetched, then I would say to put her on a really long leash and get her started on the game of fetch but if she is already a pro at the game then enhance it by taking her favorite toy and let her fetch that. It might also be a good thing to include your two other dogs in the game and maybe incorporate three favorite toys, one for each dog. Good luck and let us know how this worked out.

[kimberly1965]

Bella is just now reaching five months old, and we have had
her since she was six weeks old.
She doesn't chase the cars, she runs up and grabs
roadkill off the road and brings it back to my deck
and chews on it. I didn't even know what she was chewing
on until i really looked at it one day. I stay outside with my dogs
when they are outside, but when she snuck up on the road,
i was hanging my clothes out on the clothesline, I turned around
and called her, and she came running off the road.
Its a pretty busy road, so now I really watch her better.
My husband says she is a working line. I don't know the difference
to be honest.
Thanks so much for your help. We really love Bella
and just want her safe.

[kimberly1965]

Oh Bella loves to play fetch and she caught on to that
quite a long time ago, just by watching the other two.
My little black dog is the fastest and seems to always
get the toy or stick before the Bella or Jersey,
so I try to have one on one time with all of them at
certain times of the day. I am 43 years old and I am going
back to school. But I have my summers off and I have been
spending a lot of time with them. During the rest of the year,
I am gone three days out of the week and play with them
in the evenings. But now, I have them 24/7. I like what you said
about hiding the carcas, i never thought about it, but that is right,
she has decided just not to bring it to me. She brings it to
other people but not me. Is she proud of the roadkill?
Thanks so much!!!

[Husky06]

Bella is just now reaching five months old, and we have had
her since she was six weeks old.
She doesn't chase the cars, she runs up and grabs
roadkill off the road and brings it back to my deck
and chews on it. I didn't even know what she was chewing
on until i really looked at it one day. I stay outside with my dogs
when they are outside, but when she snuck up on the road,
i was hanging my clothes out on the clothesline, I turned around
and called her, and she came running off the road.
Its a pretty busy road, so now I really watch her better.
My husband says she is a working line. I don't know the difference
to be honest.
Thanks so much for your help. We really love Bella
and just want her safe.

Hmm, working line Shepherds are usually black,sable, dark sable, or bi colored. Like my male Drago, if you look on the still growing post on the picture thing on this site.....He's a dark sable coloring. With German Shepherds there are American showline, German Showline, and German working lines. Not all working line dogs are drivey, but yours is getting close to the age when a lot of mine have started chasing cars.....Keep a watch out for that. Drago started it right around 6 months. One of my trainer friends told me when they chase it's either boredom, or prey drive.

Edit: I will also say, if she tries to chase cars, distractions only go so far on these dogs it seems. I don't know all about your female so I don't know about her drives or working abilities. I have trained Drago to not chase cars....on leash....but off leash he tends to do it a lot. All it takes is one loud motorcycle coming down the road. And then he goes back and forth, over and over. Sometimes I can get a bite tug or a ball out and he will go for it, but a lot of times the distractions are useless once hes set on the cars. Every trainer I talked to said to tell him No, when the car is coming and if he goes after it, use a shock collar. They also said be consistant though in you have to do it every time. Another trainer I talked to said that the dog wouldn't do it when she was outside, but once she stepped inside the dog would start at it again so she did it from inside the house and that solved it. Your dog is still too young for using that though.

[wishbone]

Your German Shepherd puppy really have a lot of energy. Find some gnaw toys for him to chew like Kongs and toy bones. It's their instinct to chase and hunt around, try to divert his hunting attitude with playing, walking, hiking and to his toys.