Dutch Shepherd Forum

My opinion is that every single person and thing that he sees needs to be cookie machines. He already has a healthy level of defense, so now he needs a huge boost of confidence. Once he is mature enough to blend those things, he could end up being a great working dog. But right now, any validation of his suspicion is too early and will only encourage fear aggression.

Just my thoughts though.

Yeah, I'll let you know how he goes. I'm going to get him out in public some more and maybe do that. I've only had him for a week so I'm trying to figure out what exactly he likes eating. He hates milk bones but lives sugar things. I baked cookies and he was literally drooling over them and his ding dong was out as well. I think he loves food a tad much I'm taking him to my parents this weekend and we'll see how that goes. Maybe get a film up.

Thanks for the advice ++

Well I went for a walk last night and I finally got kota to huge my leg and look at me. He does it for about five six minutes and then takes off smelling and looking around. He started to pull on the leash and I just stopped and turn the other way and that seems to work really well. That entire night we walked with the leash loose(yay!). Few things that caught my attention.. he's very submissive. He'll start to lick me in the face and roll on his stomach and want me just to give him a rub down. I don't like the licking thing so I bump him to knock it off. I will rub his belly and he likes that. I started to crate him at night because he has not been behaving in the house. He chewed my carpet and then chewed a electrical wire and was shocked good. That night he never left me after that happen. So for his safety I just crate him during the day and at night. I feel bad about it but I'm hoping when he gets older he can have free range of the house. I spend five hours with him each day and he just loves being out of his crate because he can flip and play with his toys. Anyone else crate their dog?

He so new to life it's scary.. I jumped over a colvert last night and he watched me. Then he ran down the culvert and ran right into the hill?? He was all muddy and he just sat down(sadface). Other than that tracking is coming a long well. I have a empty toom in my house and I setup boxes all over and cups with treats in them. I load the room with treats and then I shut the door. He gets wicked excited so I wait till he's calm and then I open the door and he's sitting there waiting for my command. Soon as a say "go to work" he uses his nose and is looking all over the place. Went from 45 minutes to 29 minutes of finding the treats.. still needs to use his nose better as a few times his face goes right over some treats

Yes...crate him when you're not able to directly supervise him! It'll keep him from getting into trouble, or getting shocked from chewing electrical cords, and just prevent unwanted behavior from setting in at all. Eventually, he'll mature and earn the freedom of the house, gradually, probably by the time he's 18 mos to two years old, as long as you teach him how to behave when he's not crated and use the crate to keep him from getting into trouble when you can't supervise him.

As far as treats go, have you tried really good stuff like small pieces (think pea-sized or a bit bigger) of chicken, turkey, roast beef, cheese, stuff like that? They seem to love teriyaki anything (I will simmer cut up pieces of stew meat with a little coconut oil and tamari sauce, and Geyser loves it). I wouldn't use human sweets or cookies or stuff like that for training treats.

(So, when Christie says to make everyone he meets a "cookie machine," she doesn't literally mean human cookies...but yummy treats that are appropriate for dogs )

Thanks for the advice, he seems to be happy in his crate once he settles down.

As far as treats he really doesn't like roast beef. I bought an entire box of milk bones and he won't touch them. He looooooves these bacon jerky things so I cut them up and that does it for him. That or pedigree chewers. His all time favorite and he will literally do anything I ask him is peanut butter.

Looks like I just need patience, he's doing so good.

At 6 months sadie was defiantly crated when I couldn't watch her, Or she was on a leash/ long line and always in my sight. They will find something bad to do at that age. She still is mostly in my sight at 13 months. I would crate her for a while in the afternoons anyway to have some quiet time so she could nap and learn the crate wasnt a bad place.

Just some training treat ideas-

-Low sodium turkey hot dogs
-Small cubes of cheddar cheese
-Slices of string cheese
-Zukes Mini Naturals
-Tiny pieces of lunch meat

Those may get him more interested then Milk Bones. Much healthier, and higher value to most dogs.

turnnburn52984 wrote:Those may get him more interested then Milk Bones. Much healthier, and higher value to most dogs.

Plus...it's not a good idea to use anything crunchy that they have to chew up for training rewards (like milk bones or those kinds of cracker things). They can't think and chew at the same time ; they can swallow little bits of cheese and other proteins easily and keep their little brains engaged...

leih merigian wrote: Plus...it's not a good idea to use anything crunchy that they have to chew up for training rewards (like milk bones or those kinds of cracker things). They can't think and chew at the same time ; they can swallow little bits of cheese and other proteins easily and keep their little brains engaged...

All that chewing wastes precious time, and allows his mind to wander, and potentially loose track of YOU!


Sometimes I do use crunchy things w/ Koe (kibble, freeze dried raw)..... but he swallows whole anyhow.