Stubborn German Shepherd Part III

Well, the stubborn German Shepherd puppy, Bodie, is at it again.  I have never had such a stubborn dog!  German Shepherds are known for their trainability and intelligence.  That should mean that they are obedient, right?  Well, I wouldn’t use that description for Bodie.

He knows the basic commands alright but he doesn’t necessarily comply, especially when he has way too much energy.  There are times I will give him the “sit” command and I can just see him stop to think about it.  He stops what he was doing, pauses… acts as if he was going to sit but he will then just stand there staring.  You can tell he is trying to decide: “Does she really mean it?”

Sometimes he will obey and sometimes he will run off trying to get in trouble.  That is when I have found that doggie calisthenics works.  The treats come out, but he really has to work for them.  First, we start with pushups: “Sit.  Down.  Sit.  Down.  Sit.”  And then a treat.  A really long “Wait” with the treat temptingly out of reach.  “Come” from various areas in the house.  After a bit of that, he calms down and starts to listen again.

Stubborn German Shepherd Part II

Have I mentioned how stubborn Bodie can be?!?  I started a bad thing with him when we got him last summer.  It turned out that our new puppy had an intestinal infection that made him lethargic, and he did not have much of an appetite.  Medication took care of his infection, but he still had a very poor appetite.  In order to get him to eat better, I started adding a little something to his dog food at every meal - a little milk, a bit of bologna, a few table scraps, or something like that.  Well, instead of stimulating his appetite all it did was make Bodie even more finicky.  I freely admit that I was wrong, but what could we do?

My sweetie put her foot down, and decided on Monday that we would no longer doctor up his food.  Bodie is getting a really high quality (and expensive!) dry dog food.  She decided that if he didn't eat his dinner in a reasonable length of time, the dish would be picked up and he would have to wait for his next mealtime.  I promised not to feed him anything other than his regular food. 

Well, it turns out that Bodie is even more stubborn than my sweetie!  He didn't eat any dinner on Monday.  He didn't eat breakfast on Tuesday, and he refused to eat anything for dinner that night either.  After failing to get him to eat breakfast on Wednesday, we both felt we were stressing too much.  We gave in.  My sweetie got some canned dog food, and we are mixing a little of it with his dry food.  He is inhaling his meals!  Oh, what a stubborn puppy!

Stubborn German Shepherd Part I

Bodie is smart, but with a huge stubborn streak.  He is now ten and a half months old and it is almost impossible to play fetch with him.  He loves chasing a thrown toy and he brings it back at a run.  So what is the problem?  Well, that is it.  Bodie won't give the toy back.  You throw the toy, he chases it and brings it back.  Game of fetch is over.

We have tried several techniques and finally found one that works.  We need to play with two similar toys.  We throw the first one and when Bodie brings it back, we wave the second one until we have his attention.  Suddenly, the second one is much more desirable than the first and he drops that first toy.  Only then do we throw the second.  Finally we can play fetch until Bodie gets tired.

And a tired puppy is a good puppy!