Galway Dog Behaviourist

peewee1512

Hi all,

Need help with my GSD (German Shepherd), my little fella is 5 months old and is very extremely aggressive with other dogs (apart from my 1 year old Jack Russell , who was attacking my up until a few weeks ago). I have tried to socialise him but he is going crazy to attack other dogs (dogs and bitches). I need to nip this in the bud now whilst he is still young so any advice or recommendations would be very grateful.

Thank you

Paddyfield

I just sent you a Private Message. There is a gut in town called Mike who trains dogs and specialises in German Sheppards. I sent you his number.

Good luck.

Blueprint

Please make sure whoever you get uses only positive reinforcement, as I have heard some horror stories about young dogs being ruined for life by "trainers" using too harsh methods on them.

peewee1512

Absolutely, would never hurt my boys or let anyone hurt them. Some people would disagree but thats my view.

Paddyfield

Mike O'Brien is assertive but kind with dogs. Anyone else interested, send me a PM and i will give you his number.

DBB

I might ring this Mike fellow and ask him how to train a dog to "understand right from wrong", as his website claims? I wasn't aware that dogs were capable of this level of cognitive ability.

OP, there is a girl in Galway who has trained with the world renowned San Francisco SPCA Training Academy, which was set up by the wonderful dog-friendly dog behaviourist Jean Donaldson. I have heard very good reports about this girl, and she is more than capable of helping you with this problem, ethically and without forcing your dog into scary situations.
Link to contact details: http://galway.info/business-directory.html?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=71&sobi2Id=364

This isn't a training issue, it's a behavioural issue, and you'll need someone who is trained in dealing with behavioural issues.
Good luck with your GSD, you're absolutely right to deal with this now, asap. It is likely that his reaction is fear-based, so a behaviourist will work with you on helping him to feel more positive around other dogs. It is really common for a dog to live happily with another dog at home, but to be really poor with dogs out and about. It's all about novelty: your GSD knows your terrier, who is familiar to him. But he may be inexperienced in dealing with dogs he doesn't know? This tends to result in the sort of behaviour you're seeing now. It's very much a gently gently approach that's needed, so anybody advocating the use of choke chains, "corrections", or highly outdated talk of being "pack leader" needs to be avoided at all costs, and I'm glad you're keen to make sure your dogs aren't mishandled or harshly treated. There's simply no need to train any dog using harsh methods. Your instincts are spot on!
Good luck!

RubyGirl

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/How-to-Get-the-Best-out-of-Your-Dog/114098231994493?sk=info

You could try this guy aswell, have'nt used him myself but he does work with the GSPCA and seems to very good.

Discodog

The girl mentioned in DBB's post is Tara & she is brilliant - I keep hearing so many good reports.

You can also contact her via this link:

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She is clearly a real dog lover & that would be the first qualification that I would want to see in any trainer. Personally I would avoid someone who specialises in certain breeds.

Just to add that once the initial problem is sorted Tara runs classes in Galway to reinforce the socialisation.

Tranceypoo

I would thirdly & personally recommend Tara (not sure that's good grammer but you get the gist!)

drongal

Paddyfield wrote: »

Mike O'Brien is assertive but kind with dogs. Anyone else interested, send me a PM and i will give you his number.

Agree, Mike is very good, as well as other trainers from http://www.galwaydogclub.com.

magentas

Having experience with both trainers mentioned here, I would definately recommend Tara. Her methods are much better...modern, advanced and she only uses positive reinforcements on a treats based rewards system as opposed to choke chains and physically reprimanding dogs. She is fully qualified, well respected and is very much so a dog lover.

Best of luck with the training:)