Meet Leo

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MercerFamily
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Tell us about yourself: My husband and I live in Carbondale, Colorado. We just recently adopted Leo from a rescue shelter. He is currently 11 weeks old.

Meet Leo

Post by MercerFamily »

Hi. My husband and I recently adopted a puppy form the shelter. They told us it was a Belgian Malnois, but I couldn't find any of that breed with a brindle coat online. As far as I can tell, it's a DS mix of some sort. He had two brothers. One was larger with a golden coat and dark face. The other was smaller with a brindle coat. Leo seems to fit the temperament that is being discussed on this fourm and I am thankful it is here!

We adopted Leo as we were looking for a pet companion. As I research more I know that is will be necessary to put in a lot of time with this guy! He is currently doing really well with his kennel and has only had one accident inside, which was our fault. In fact, this dog is so smart, I'm positive any misbehavior is on us humans!
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centrop67
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Re: Meet Leo

Post by centrop67 »

Welcome to the forum. Keep the pictures coming.
MercerFamily wrote:In fact, this dog is so smart, I'm positive any misbehavior is on us humans!
Yup :wtg:
Michael
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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers
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Dutchringgirl
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Re: Meet Leo

Post by Dutchringgirl »

There can be fawn DS. There are a ton of threads on that.

he is super cute
Lisa, Thalie CGC & Sadie, Cookie the Basset, CT
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aje_762
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Re: Meet Leo

Post by aje_762 »

Hi MercerFamily,

Congratulations on your handsome happy little guy. You're right, they are (scary) smart. Remember he needs an outlet for physical and mental activity. Or he'll make super helpful "jobs" for himself like collect everyone's socks, shoes... or Mom's bras out of the laundry basket.... {face palm}. This forum is a great resource. Research, read, ask questions.

If he's anything like my guy crate games and nose work games are a fun place to start.

Oh good luck and moaaaarrrr pics please.
-Gunner and Family
MercerFamily
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Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:43 am
Tell us about yourself: My husband and I live in Carbondale, Colorado. We just recently adopted Leo from a rescue shelter. He is currently 11 weeks old.

Re: Meet Leo

Post by MercerFamily »

Thank you for the congratulations. On Wednesday we will have had him for 2 weeks! We really love him and although we are not the center of his universe, he is the center of ours. We are working on socializing him and letting him experience everything from children, scooters, goats, the river... Right now our biggest challenge is figuring out what Leo is telling us he needs as well as being clear with Leo what my we need. I am looking into working with a trainer who has experience with shepherds, including Dutch Shepherds.

I've used the search feature on the forum to look up more information on leash training, but didn't quite find what I am looking for. I will describe what's happening and if there is information in another thread, just let me know.

Leo does well getting his collar and leash on. By "well" I mean I believe we have created a positive association with the collar and leash through treats and letting him wear collar and leash when we are playing, or around the house. When we exit the house, we make an effort to be the first ones out of the door. We also are trying to keep the leash close and show Leo that he needs to walk next to us. I don't think it's effective.

1. Leo pulls and wants to go ahead of us.
How do I find a balance between letting him get his energy out and walking "with us"?

2. He bites his leash. I try to ignore it. Sometimes he will start jumping and biting me. He has also done this with my husband. I know I'm not supposed to pull away but it's pretty painful and then, of course, when I pull away he wants more. Now he will grab the leash and growl and is showing a little more aggression.
Do I let go of the leash? Walk away?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts!


Rochelle, Franklin and Leo
MercerFamily
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Tell us about yourself: My husband and I live in Carbondale, Colorado. We just recently adopted Leo from a rescue shelter. He is currently 11 weeks old.

Re: Meet Leo

Post by MercerFamily »

Another picture :)
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Dutchringgirl
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Location: Ct, USA

Re: Meet Leo

Post by Dutchringgirl »

at this age he should be living with his collar and leash on and be attached to you at all times, except when in the crate. This way you can get him before he does anything he is not supposed to do and you will avoid this leash and collar stuff.

Work on "look" he is to look at you until you release him. At this age, it wont be for very long but work on it all of the time and just keep it short. Doors, he is to sit and look at you and wait to go out. Sometimes it is hard to go out the door with him behind you but as long as he does not jet out in front.

How is his sit/ stay? that will be a huge factor in having him wait to go though the door.

Put him in a sit, stay......... you go , if he moves, go put him back to the same spot, sit ,stay, you go, if he moves, you go put him back, rinse and repeat until he gets it.

Heal, that takes lot of work and training, he may not get that as quick as you want. this is where a trainer and lots and lots of practice come in. Keep the leash short so his shoulder is at your leg. Have a heal command so he knows when you say that word, he is to go to your leg.

If the leash is always on, he wont have anxiety about it being put on, so this may help with the biting of the leash.

A trainer and lessons will help with all of this
Lisa, Thalie CGC & Sadie, Cookie the Basset, CT
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MercerFamily
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Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:43 am
Tell us about yourself: My husband and I live in Carbondale, Colorado. We just recently adopted Leo from a rescue shelter. He is currently 11 weeks old.

Re: Meet Leo

Post by MercerFamily »

Okay, thank you. I will keep him on leash and collar, unless he is in his crate. I will also work on "look". "Sit" we seem to have pretty well, and "stay" is a work in progress.

In your opinion, what is the best remedy for biting? Redirecting (or does this make him think he is getting a toy?), "yelping", (or is he just getting my attention), holding his mouth shut, or walking away. I've tried them all.

Again, going to work with a trainer for more support.
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Dutchringgirl
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Location: Ct, USA

Re: Meet Leo

Post by Dutchringgirl »

when is he biting, what are you doing when he bites. What happens before he bites, that leads up to him biting. what are you doing right before he bites.
Lisa, Thalie CGC & Sadie, Cookie the Basset, CT
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MercerFamily
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Tell us about yourself: My husband and I live in Carbondale, Colorado. We just recently adopted Leo from a rescue shelter. He is currently 11 weeks old.

Re: Meet Leo

Post by MercerFamily »

It was when we were on the leash. He had been fine for a while, but once we got to the park, (no one was there) he began jumping up and biting on the leash. I also brought a toy to distract him, but I'm not sure if that just made things worse.
MercerFamily
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Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:43 am
Tell us about yourself: My husband and I live in Carbondale, Colorado. We just recently adopted Leo from a rescue shelter. He is currently 11 weeks old.

Re: Meet Leo

Post by MercerFamily »

He also started going after my ankles in the house today.
ICE
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Re: Meet Leo

Post by ICE »

While I agree with training with your pup, please remember he is a baby. If I read the post right he is just barely 3 months old? He has a ton of energy, play with him. When he bites at you redirect him to bite the toy and play tug with him. Same if he bites at the leash. When ICE was a pup I carried homemade braided fleece tugs everywhere.
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MercerFamily
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Tell us about yourself: My husband and I live in Carbondale, Colorado. We just recently adopted Leo from a rescue shelter. He is currently 11 weeks old.

Re: Meet Leo

Post by MercerFamily »

Yes, barely 3 months. I do need to remind myself of that! Thank you for the encouragement and advice! I am going to make some fleece tugs today.
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Dutchringgirl
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Tell us about yourself: I am a mom of 6 life forces - 2 kids and 3 dogs 1 hamster. I live in Ct. I have trained Ringsport and Agility and have 2 DS, one 15 and 7 and a Basset Hound Cookie who is 2
Location: Ct, USA

Re: Meet Leo

Post by Dutchringgirl »

Oh, He is a baby.
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MercerFamily
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Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 12:43 am
Tell us about yourself: My husband and I live in Carbondale, Colorado. We just recently adopted Leo from a rescue shelter. He is currently 11 weeks old.

Re: Meet Leo

Post by MercerFamily »

Found the river :)
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RobMcLagan
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Re: Meet Leo

Post by RobMcLagan »

How adorable
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Re: Meet Leo

Post by TheVII »

From my limited experience I can with 100% agree with Dutchringgirl. Mox is about to turn 7 months she's on the leash unless she's in a crate. And will probably remain so a while longer.

Further, based on our experience find a good trainer. Mox had a bitting issue (tried to bite hands). It's hard for people who do not see your dog to say it's a breed mouthy thing or a real problem. We had a problem, we attributed it to the breed, and were fairly successful at redirecting it, but it wasn't fixing it. The trainer showed us how to correct, what to expect etc. After addressing the intentional biting we rarely get bit even during the game of tug. Every single Saturday we drive 20 miles each way, because a good trainer is worth it. We were able address the biting issue during Moxie's evaluation session before we even started training.

We got Mox at around 3 months as well. She's about 7 as I mentioned earlier but she's still a baby. Taking a pup like that outside for first few times he'd be curious and overwhelmed with new things. Get him a harness and let him explore and pull for now, you don't want him to end up with collapsed trachea. (We settled on ruffwear harness and roamer Bungee leash, the Bungee part really prevented sudden lunges from being a problem) Early on we focused on food and very gradually expanding our area of walks and training. Our interaction with other dogs is limited to our training sessions, where the kind of dogs Mox interacts with is controlled and is further limited to training around others dogs, and not actually playing with them yet.

Mox was on harness outside (she loved to chew on harnes and leashes too) until about 5.5-6 months, during that time we worked on our focus and heel while avoiding venturing far into new territory. At about 5.5 months we introduced a prong collar based on the trainer's advise, but we still had harness on her for about a month, and actually used two leashes, the longer for prong shorter waist leash for harness.

A few words of encouragement, we got our girl at 3 months like your guy, my gf never had a dog before in her life, it took time but we are now known as "the well behaved dog" in the neighborhood. Our journey is far from over, so be patient keep on at it and Leo will probably be a dog that will return your time invested 10 fold.
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