It's been some pretty eventful days. I am not sure where to start, maybe at the beginning.
After one of our hikes (dogs and me) I came back home, let Indra out of the car (she was already leashed) when a lady and her dog came around the corner. Indra immediately took off, stopped a couple of meters in front of them and started barking. She wasn't going to bite or attack, she's simply a very young dog going through a phase. I am not excusing her behavior, I know it was my fault that the leash ran through my hands. However, young dogs are completely unpredictable and as much as training they have received they are not reliable at all. Sometimes they will run off and sometimes you are not fast enough so we have to pay attention and try to prevent these things from happening but sometimes you can pay as much as attention you want, it still happens that a young dog runs off even though it shouldn't happen in the first place. I, for sure, won't let it happen again! I will not let her fool me again!
If you have a young dog you will experience that at one point they become rowdy and test their boundaries. They will make themselves big and make a lot of noise. They will try to dodge you when they are off leash and it takes a lot of patience not to go off on them because they are like "Heeey, I don't need my mommie anymore and it's sooo much fun out here, I don't wanna go back inside yet!" or "HAHAHA I AM FASTER THAN YOU!!! TRY TO CATCH ME... IF YOU CAN..."
Situations like that can happen to anyone and it shows that puppies are just not reliable and that it can happen to the best of us. Not that I am one of the best but I know where my limits are. What didn't help was that the lady started yelling at us (which I can understand to some extend) which made it worse, so for the first time I had to physically correct Indra which sometimes is necessary and this was the moment to do it, no I did not hit her in the face or anything like that.
A day later my sister was awarded with the "kombinierte goldene Reitabzeichen" for her hard work in both, advanced classical dressage and advanced jumping. This is something every competing rider is waiting for. The moment where he's getting the golden badge pinned on his jacket. It's a very emotional moment and I was so proud to witness that moment. She deserved it. She has worked so hard, doesn't matter how hot or cold it was, she was always out training and riding the horses, heck she even suffered from frostbites on her legs despite the thermal riding gear.
So I figured that I could do both. I could go to the horse trial where my sister competed and was awarded with the golden badge and take Indra for some more socialization. When I got there we walked by a Swiss Shepherd (Americans know them as white German Shepherds) and she wanted to go off on him right away. I did not let her. She was corrected right there and then. Next dog that walked by we had the same issue. She wanted to show that dog how big and great she is and I saw how she made herself bigger and wanted to start barking at him. It took one correction and she stopped. For the rest of the trial she did not try once to go off on any other dog again. She wasn't scared of any person, of all the noise and horses. Overall she did great. However, since she is a puppy she is just not reliable. Just because she behaved (after two corrections) at the trial doesn't mean she's not trying to go off on another dog the very next day.
After one of our hikes (dogs and me) I came back home, let Indra out of the car (she was already leashed) when a lady and her dog came around the corner. Indra immediately took off, stopped a couple of meters in front of them and started barking. She wasn't going to bite or attack, she's simply a very young dog going through a phase. I am not excusing her behavior, I know it was my fault that the leash ran through my hands. However, young dogs are completely unpredictable and as much as training they have received they are not reliable at all. Sometimes they will run off and sometimes you are not fast enough so we have to pay attention and try to prevent these things from happening but sometimes you can pay as much as attention you want, it still happens that a young dog runs off even though it shouldn't happen in the first place. I, for sure, won't let it happen again! I will not let her fool me again!
If you have a young dog you will experience that at one point they become rowdy and test their boundaries. They will make themselves big and make a lot of noise. They will try to dodge you when they are off leash and it takes a lot of patience not to go off on them because they are like "Heeey, I don't need my mommie anymore and it's sooo much fun out here, I don't wanna go back inside yet!" or "HAHAHA I AM FASTER THAN YOU!!! TRY TO CATCH ME... IF YOU CAN..."
Situations like that can happen to anyone and it shows that puppies are just not reliable and that it can happen to the best of us. Not that I am one of the best but I know where my limits are. What didn't help was that the lady started yelling at us (which I can understand to some extend) which made it worse, so for the first time I had to physically correct Indra which sometimes is necessary and this was the moment to do it, no I did not hit her in the face or anything like that.
A day later my sister was awarded with the "kombinierte goldene Reitabzeichen" for her hard work in both, advanced classical dressage and advanced jumping. This is something every competing rider is waiting for. The moment where he's getting the golden badge pinned on his jacket. It's a very emotional moment and I was so proud to witness that moment. She deserved it. She has worked so hard, doesn't matter how hot or cold it was, she was always out training and riding the horses, heck she even suffered from frostbites on her legs despite the thermal riding gear.
So I figured that I could do both. I could go to the horse trial where my sister competed and was awarded with the golden badge and take Indra for some more socialization. When I got there we walked by a Swiss Shepherd (Americans know them as white German Shepherds) and she wanted to go off on him right away. I did not let her. She was corrected right there and then. Next dog that walked by we had the same issue. She wanted to show that dog how big and great she is and I saw how she made herself bigger and wanted to start barking at him. It took one correction and she stopped. For the rest of the trial she did not try once to go off on any other dog again. She wasn't scared of any person, of all the noise and horses. Overall she did great. However, since she is a puppy she is just not reliable. Just because she behaved (after two corrections) at the trial doesn't mean she's not trying to go off on another dog the very next day.
This is a critical stage. If I am not going to be consequent and persistent with her training and would let her get away with it, it could turn into a real problem and we all know that we don't ever want to have a dog that is going off on other dogs just because we haven't done anything about it.
Yesterday I got a call about a JRT that has been kicked by a horse. That same JRT killed a kitten. It turned into a huge debate whether or not it was the owners fault or if there is seriously something wrong with that dog.
Some people believe that it is okay for small dogs to go after cats and that it's in their blood because they are terriers. I call that Double Standard!
Just because it is a terrier doesn't mean that it is okay to either attack people or kittens or horses or any other living being but because it is a cute small dog people are jumping to his defense. If you would replace that dog with a German Shepherd, Rottweiler or Pitbull people would react completely different. They'd probably applaud the horse that it defended itself but because it's a small dog they are like "Aaaaw... poor JRT!"
When that Lady started yelling at us because Indra took off barking I was completely surprised that she didn't care that it was a young dog and not an adult aggressive dog. The same people that said "Aaaaw poor Jackie" said that it was completely okay for the Lady to yell at us because she's a big dog and a lot of people couldn't tell the difference between a young and an adult dog.
Really? How hard is it to differ a young dog from an adult dog? Especially if you have owned dogs all your life you should be able to tell the difference. I bet you, if Indra was a JRT or another small breed people would have been like "Aaaw, cute puppy, let him do his thing..." and if Indra was the one killing the kitten and getting kicked by a horse they'd be like "She deserved it, what a mean dog!"
However, Indra is a little over 6 months old German Shepherd, if she'd go off and kill a kitten than there'd be seriously something wrong with her or I did a horrible job raising that puppy!
Another thing I don't understand is that people think that it is okay that small dogs are going off at babies. Take a good look at this video and again, replace the Chihuahua with a German Shepherd or Rottweiler.
THIS IS NOT FUNNY!
You think he'd let a Shepherd or Rottweiler do that to his baby? I bet you if that was a Rottweiler he'd be demanding his head rolling.
It's his fault in the first place for letting that child crawl into the dogs bed. The dog shows how uncomfortable he is with the Babies doing. So why do you let the baby go that far? Why do you let the baby provoke the dog until it's going off? If that was a large dog and the baby would do what it is doing to the Chihuahua and that dog would go off and snap at the baby, possibly causing an injury, I guarantee you that dog would be put to sleep but because it's a Chihuahua it is such a cute mean little dog.
I can't believe how much double standard is out there regarding dogs.
Yesterday I got a call about a JRT that has been kicked by a horse. That same JRT killed a kitten. It turned into a huge debate whether or not it was the owners fault or if there is seriously something wrong with that dog.
Some people believe that it is okay for small dogs to go after cats and that it's in their blood because they are terriers. I call that Double Standard!
Just because it is a terrier doesn't mean that it is okay to either attack people or kittens or horses or any other living being but because it is a cute small dog people are jumping to his defense. If you would replace that dog with a German Shepherd, Rottweiler or Pitbull people would react completely different. They'd probably applaud the horse that it defended itself but because it's a small dog they are like "Aaaaw... poor JRT!"
When that Lady started yelling at us because Indra took off barking I was completely surprised that she didn't care that it was a young dog and not an adult aggressive dog. The same people that said "Aaaaw poor Jackie" said that it was completely okay for the Lady to yell at us because she's a big dog and a lot of people couldn't tell the difference between a young and an adult dog.
Really? How hard is it to differ a young dog from an adult dog? Especially if you have owned dogs all your life you should be able to tell the difference. I bet you, if Indra was a JRT or another small breed people would have been like "Aaaw, cute puppy, let him do his thing..." and if Indra was the one killing the kitten and getting kicked by a horse they'd be like "She deserved it, what a mean dog!"
However, Indra is a little over 6 months old German Shepherd, if she'd go off and kill a kitten than there'd be seriously something wrong with her or I did a horrible job raising that puppy!
Another thing I don't understand is that people think that it is okay that small dogs are going off at babies. Take a good look at this video and again, replace the Chihuahua with a German Shepherd or Rottweiler.
THIS IS NOT FUNNY!
You think he'd let a Shepherd or Rottweiler do that to his baby? I bet you if that was a Rottweiler he'd be demanding his head rolling.
It's his fault in the first place for letting that child crawl into the dogs bed. The dog shows how uncomfortable he is with the Babies doing. So why do you let the baby go that far? Why do you let the baby provoke the dog until it's going off? If that was a large dog and the baby would do what it is doing to the Chihuahua and that dog would go off and snap at the baby, possibly causing an injury, I guarantee you that dog would be put to sleep but because it's a Chihuahua it is such a cute mean little dog.
I can't believe how much double standard is out there regarding dogs.
5 comments:
I don't even know where to start with all of this.. except completely agree with you.. smaller dog standards especially!
I am having the same hard headed issues with my puppy but he's a puppy and still learning.. he is corrected when appropriate and that's that.. but a small dog just gets picked up and loved on!
Congrats for your sister!! That's sounds well deserved and wonderful!
We try to tell people this all the time, since we have a German Shepherd and Pit Bull that are as sweet as can be.
Also, I've heard a lot of names for our white german shepherd, but Swiss Shepherd is a new one on me, so thanks for the info.
Thanks, she really enjoys it. She's been in four different newspapers and now they even want to write about her in one of the most popular horse magazines of Germany too. Damn that girl is reaching for the stars and I hope she can grab them. She deserves it.
@Brandon: in Germany the white GSD was not accepted as a GSD because it was not within the standard so the only way to get it recognized as a breed was to get it recognized (that was in 2003) as the Switzerland Shepherd also known as the Berger Blanc Suisse via the FCI.
I agree with you that the baby should have never been allowed to get that close to the dog,but also no dog of mine is ever allowed to growl or snap at a kid,no matter what.My kids were taught from an early age to leave the dogs alone and my dogs would have gotten punished if they ever growled or snapped at my kids.Totally unacceptable.
A sister of a friend of mine has a pekignese and that dog snapped at my daughter(she was like 1 1/2 yrs) when she walked by him(dog was on the couch).I grabbed that dog and put it in his place,right on the floor and popped its muzzle,my friends sister got all pissy but oh well.Another sore subject when they treat little ankle biters as babies instead of dogs.shakingmyhead.
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