LAUREL OCONNOR

My 2.5 year female German Shepherd has never worn a halter. When we try to get one one she starts some pretty serious fear biting. She has never actually bitten us but I think would if we persisted. We have continued with the pinch collar as this is the only tool we have that mitigates the pulling at all. Any suggestions ?

Thanks so so much. This all makes sense and I really appreciate the simple step by step instructions. She is really such a well behaved and calm dog the majority of the time. We love her so much and can tell that she really wants to “be good” but just cannot control herself in some situations so I am so happy to know now how to help her. We will start implementing the steps you provided and let you know as we progress. I am totally committed to taking whatever pace gets her and us there. Today I did your Leave training with her and she got it after one try. I will continue with that 4 or five times a day for the next few days before I move on to the Take training. It was kind of funny because I could tell she was looking at me thinking hmmmm what is this now, what kind of game is my Mom trying now!

Elizabeth is a two year old German Shepherd. This is a behaviour that has gotten progressively worse over the last six months. There have been two changes in this time. The first is that our other dog a male Great Pyrenees died. The other is that due to an injury my husband was walking her instead of me. I have done three in person training sessions with Elizabeth. She is very smart and knows all the basic commands and how to heel. Exception is if she sees another dog or perhaps a rabbit on the walk. In those cases she barks and lunges and attempts to drag us. So that is a problem. However the main problem is that as soon as she sees or hears the leash she goes crazy. She barks she jumps she bites at our clothing and has bitten us doing that by mistake. She starts this teeth chattering and you can tell she is in the red zone and focusing on nothing but getting that leash in her teeth and not letting go. We have tried pushing her away yelling putting her in her kennel for a period but it is always a literal battle. When she finally sits her teeth are still chattering and as soon as we get out the door she starts jumping again and trying to get the leash. A couple of times she has jumped up and actually hurt herself doing that. We use a choke collar but not a pincher and a material leash with a short metal section. We really want to be able to walk her without fear of torn clothing or being pushed over. Help,