General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSpeaking of German Shepard's
This is a rehab specifically for German Shepards, they post videos about progress.. its heartbreaking how animals end up there. I love this channel
On a Facebook group I follow, there is a German Shepherd in the Ukraine who was found literally frozen to the ice. The one who found that dog is rehabilitating him. That dog will always be small for his age, as he was chronically undernourished and neglected. Hes currently in leg braces, but is moving around ok.
And on that note, its time for me to take my beautiful girl on a walk. We are currently working on dog reactivity. Shes great with people. Pretty good with dogs, but I want her to ignore them unless I say its ok.
Rorey
(8,445 posts)My grandson and his mom have a German Shepherd who has always had issues. Apparently whoever had her before they got her kept her in a small enclosure all the time. She has always had an issue with turning circles, and she has always been super skinny, but veterinarians have never been able to figure out why. She's very sweet.
My ex-husband's cousin used to raise them, and one of his attacked me once, and since then I've been wary. It's hard to shake that feeling of fear when something like that happens. I didn't provoke her in any way. I really do love dogs, but I guess there was something about me that she didn't like. She was also an abused dog before he got her. Poor baby's ears were permanently down, and he thought it was because she was confined in a kennel too small.
ismnotwasm
(41,980 posts)They are almost wolf like in appearance and I think strike an almost instinctual fear in some people.
My husband has MS and when we take her out, we have her run back and forth between us, he is in his electric chair. I make sure the field is clear of people and dogs, although she ignores other people.
They other day, I let her go to run to him a shorter distance, and she saw a small kiddo on his bike, (she is attracted to wheels right now). I hasnt seen him. She veered off toward him, scaring the child, until she realized it was the wrong wheels. She recalls beautifully, but you better believe we spent around 15 minutes with that child and his family, to alleviate fear.
We had her sit, lay down etc., at the same time acknowledging that she looks scary.
Our dog actually likes kids, but shes big and could easily knock one over, so Im pretty careful.
LizBeth
(9,952 posts)and they had the dog do what you and you husband is doing.
ismnotwasm
(41,980 posts)I love her so much
LizBeth
(9,952 posts)I think it would be an excellent opportunity with a family like Biden how to proceed with this all in love and not blaming and shaming the dog but in developing.
I'm sorry to hear that your husband has MS. My sister-in-law also has it, and is having many challenges now.
We used to have a Chow/Shepherd mix. He definitely had aggression issues when we brought him into our home, but I'm more inclined to blame the Chow Chow part of him than the Shepherd, along with whatever kind of life he had before we got him. My then-husband used to take him out to an empty field every day for an hour to run off his energy.
When we first got him, I'm not ashamed to admit that I was afraid of him. I decided that I wasn't going to live like that, so I put a harness on him and took him to a park for a walk when I knew it wouldn't be too busy. That first day we pretty much had a stand-off with him insisting that we were going to go where he wanted to go, and me insisting that it wasn't going to happen. I never ever disciplined him with even so much as a raised voice. I just kept him on a VERY short leash with a tension. It was just amazing how quickly he learned that I was going to be the Alpha. Within a very short time he learned to follow directions without issue, and he got to have more leash. He turned out to be a pretty good dog for just us, but I always had to be extremely vigilant when anyone else was around.
ismnotwasm
(41,980 posts)Hes been fighting MS for 30 years. Our dog rides on his wheelchairshe loves it
LizBeth
(9,952 posts)thinking how far he has come in a few days. Been watching shows. There is one on Netflix now. Working with aggressive dogs and had a out of control Shepard. It is very cool.
ismnotwasm
(41,980 posts)We just got back from our walk/training. We did her running-recall thing we do, some off leash work, Im working on heel off leash. Shes not fond of it on leash lol.She was pretty good around other dogs today, mostly wants to play.