I don't post open threads often, and normally I give advice rarely do I ask for advice, and sometimes I personally believe that during a struggle training your dog, advice can help. Some of us "older" folks who have done training, feel we know enough how can anyone else help? We get frustrated, we get discouraged, we think we are failures, we question ourselves, why did it work for this dog but not that dog? Remember all dogs are different, even within the same breed. Remember, that even within the same breed every dog comes from different lines, every animal is unique and different just like us humans and the one size fits all attitude with training, behavior and yes feeding can not apply.

So this in part is a brag thread as much as a "I feel so incompetent" thread................pic of the girls sitting and watching my neighbors horse across the dirt road, taken about a month ago.



Miya my husky mix girl was for all intense and purposes well trained at 8-10 months old. She had every command down pat, I can and at that point could walk off leash with her and has a solid recall. She was the demon puppy from hell, and I worked day and night training her. I had people telling me what a great job I did with such a terrible husky, for most other people, they would have gave up on her, tied her to a tree and shove food to her with a stick for fear of being bit or fear of her damaging a persons home or just taking off and killing someones small critter. I can confidently say she will not take off, she will not kill a small critter, can be off leash with me supervising her, and thru management, she will not bite.

Fast forward, Miya is now almost 3 and I decide to get her a companion. I found a great breeder of working line gsds. Working lines have similar drives to a husky, yet have different "working" needs, a husky works best at pulling sleds, gsds work best at protection or helping their humans. My breeder seen the work I put into Miya and felt confident that Sofie would be a pretty easy transition for me. Now let me say, a there are huge benefits at getting a well bred puppy, no matter the breed. That there are serious advantages at getting a puppy at 10 weeks old vs 5 (which is my case I got Miya at 5 weeks and Sofie at 10 weeks, Sofie well bred Miya byb bred). In the gsd world, the same issues arises with puppies as seen in huskies, mouthy, gsd people call it land sharking, escape artists, food aggression, uncontrollable prey drive. Sound familiar.............

Sofie was totally opposite of Miya as a puppy. At 10 weeks old was trustworthy off leash, never mouthed me at all, never destroyed anything that didn't belong to her, trained as quickly as Miya in commands. BUT at 8 months old Sofie still didn't grasp the whole concept of stay, she would drop things when told if she wanted to, left things alone if she wanted to, totally selective hearing. I chalked it up to immaturity, large breed dogs vs medium breed dogs, maturity is slower. I can honestly tell y'all, I was frustrated, I felt like a failure, I doubted my training abilities, felt maybe Miya and I just had this incredible bond because she was just such a bad puppy. Sofie has a very submissive, soft personality compared to Miya. Disciplining Sofie was much more difficult, her world crumbled if I said eheh to her, with Miya it was a totally different response, she was more like bring it on human I will challenge and defy you. I could be firm, I could be over confident with Miya, not so much with Sofie.

I struggled with this for a year. I questioned if Miya rolled Sofie one too many times and gave her brain damage, lmao......Sofie will be 18 month old February 10. This past weekend, I seen my fully mature, yet very puppy like gsd. I took the girls out for a last romp of the day. We played and chased and had a good late afternoon. When a car died in front of our house on the highway side. Neither girl is allowed over in that area. I told them sit and stay, knowing full well Miya would, not so sure on Sofie, but I needed this test. For 5-10 minutes they did indeed sit and stayed. Then the driver got out of the car, and my heart raced, in my mind I said should I say nothing or tell them to go inside? I waited and Sofie started to take off towards the person. My heart sank, she failed, I quickly said Sofie stay, she stopped in her tracks, I told he let's go (my recall command) she came back to me, and said Sofie sit and stay, and she complied.

Although it was a partial success, a year ago similar situation happened, and Sofie ignored me completely and went to the stranger on the side of the road, she did come back to me after much argument between her and I, but to put it simply, I felt like a failure, gsds are supposed to please their humans not ignore like most huskies do. I had a husky in gsd clothing, and it was frustrating.

I had read that people who do sport work with their gsds like IPO do not even start to begin training until 18 months old, because of lack of maturity. I didn't pay attention to that, and well I wouldn't have felt so much like a failure had I just kept that in mind.

so yesterday evening, my husband went out to the mail box, yep on the highway side of our property, and he asked if he should take the girls, and I said well Miya will sit and stay but I bet Sofie wont, but why not test her. mind you it was dark out, we live in the country and the highway is a 75 mph highway. he placed them both in a sit and stay and both complied. Happy days, she learns, she is maturing. Rome wasn't built in a day. Your dog will not be fully trained in whatever you teach in a day. Have patience, have confidence, believe in yourself and in your dog.

I hope that at the very least, that who ever reads this will give reassurance that persistence and confidence will pay off, be consistent in your training. Slow and steady wins the race, don't be frustrated, all dogs learn at different rates and at different capacities.

Lol. Land sharking.

Lovely write up. And this doesn't only apply to different breeds. Even within the same breed you can have extreme differences like this. My dad grew up with a husky. They couldn't keep it home. It wouldn't listen. It would chase anything and walk up to anyone. He thought it was worthless. When I got my girl he warned me repeatedly. Don't do it. The breed is a pain. And to make things worse, I was rescuing someone else's mistakes by getting an older dog and not a clean slate puppy. Other than some dog issues she is perfect. She doesn't run away. She listens. She learns easy and she will stand her ground and protect me. My dad convinced himself all Huskies are like his childhood dog and it's not true. Each is unique so even if you had one as a kid you can't hold your current dog or future ones to that same expectation.

Jenn... that is so true. My very first Siberian puppy was a sweet, delicate love bug. She didn't live long. Very told my known bad breeder. My second... oh my, my second .. she was an independent, spunky, confident trouble maker. Her whole life. Yet she was the one who could walk off leash at heel and come when called. She was easily trained, but left alone... wallpaper came down, cushions exploded, garbage dispersed...Then came Ami...a big loveable oaf. Two daycares nicknamed him the gentle giant. Easy going, loves everybody and exceedingly independent, total imp. Knows his commands, complies when he wants to... at least until the ecollar helped him want to. And now Z'ev. Scared of his own shadow, very submissive, smart as a whip and believes the best defence is a good offence. We shall see how he unfolds.

Thank you Jenn and Amy.............Amy you know that Miya was trained with the e-collar, and I bought a second one for Sofie when she got older, but she never has had issue really with recall, well unless Miya is chasing her and then she would lose her mind and go around the house and Miya wont go around and would wait for Sofie to come back around, lol. Anyway.......it would have been used for the stay command, and things like that, but, she has too soft of a personality, too submissive, I felt it would crush her completely, and didn't want to lose her very adorable puppy attitude, and quite frankly for Miya being dominate it is best for Sofie to be submissive. The funny thing is, my husband bought me a gym whistle or rape whistle, whichever you want to call it. And be darned it works like the tone buzz of the e-collar for Sofie, Miya ignores it but Sofie instantly took to it and bounces back to me when blown like whatcha want mom. It is a challenge having such different dogs, but that challenge is so rewarding just as much.

I use a regular life-guard whistle to call the dogs in at night (or scare the bears away ) A couple of good blasts and they come running, happy as clams.

I like to use e-collar with very low stim to get the dogs' attention rather than as a correction, though that, too, has its place.