Dutch Shepherd Forum

I have a one yr old Dutchie mix (Jake) who is incredibly smart and has an energy level I have never seen before. I have yet to find anything to tire him. I got some great advice here earlier that he needs mental as well as physical stimulation. However, he is a total nut case when he sees other dogs and I cannot take him to fly ball/agility or nosework classes until I can get this under control.

My big issues with him are

No sense of his size and barrels through my kids
Occasionally jumps
Annoys my older dogs and doesn't seem to get their clear signs they don't want to play. Yet he totally defers to them in the sense that if they are sleeping near his ball he will whine until I get up and get it for him. (he is twice their size)
Acts like a lunatic when he sees other dogs- lunges and barks like crazy. I had a trainer evaluate him and she said he is very clearly dying to play with the other dogs but he's so over the top that it makes the other dog defensive. She said just to keep him away from other dogs because he missed his socialization window by the time we got him. Um, thanks.
Annoys the kids by constantly harassing them to throw his ball

The last trainer I called is a big supporter of using an Ecollar. I've always heard terrible things about them so I am very hesitant. For now, a water bottle is pretty effective at stopping his annoying the kids and older dogs, but I would really like to get him to be around other dogs as he is sooooo smart and needs the mental stimulation of a class!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

ps part of this is I want to be able to get him tired enough to snuggle with me during the day. As of now the only snuggle time I get is around 2am when its time for bed he's finally a little chill. But the moment I start rubbing his cute little face he wakes up and wants to play again. lol

Sounds like you went to the wrong trainers... umm.. sounds like he’s got all the right tools he just needs some direction. First off, the ecollar should never be introduced until your dog understands what you want of him. Slapping an ecollar on him and correcting him every time he does something wrong is just going to frustrate Him and most likely cause more problems probably aggression. So Don’t do that.

Also sounds like he’s got some impulse control issues. Nothing that can’t be corrected with work. You need to teach him some commands and when you notice another dog coming quickly change his focus to something else before he has time to build up that urge to go play with that dog.

I would visit a few more trainers and go somewhere that has experience in working with working dog breeds and that also maybe specializes in some type of competitive dog sport whether it be IPO or mondioring or whatever it may be. They will be most helpful. If you’ve got time to work on this yourself (it’s a LOT of time) you can try davekroyer.com and subscribe to his videos for a monthly cost. They will help you understand how to teach your dog. Start with the basics, imprinting behaviors, barking, down, stay etc and move into engagement and heeling and stuff.

You’re not shit out of luck here. Sounds like you’ve got a good dog with all the right tools. Just needs some guidance to know what to do.

Sorry it took me so long to reply! I was sick for two months and then just had sinus surgery. I think you hit the nail on the head with impulse control issues. I joke he reminds me of my son with adhd.

Just tonight he went to get his ball next to my foot and left me with a little bleeding scrape. He never does anything maliciously.

He's shown no aggression although he has started to whine/bark when the dogs come near him chewing a bone. With a quick NO he stops and I take away the bone. And he catches on to things so quickly. After two or three times of a new routine and he's got it. Its with distraction we have trouble.

I am hoping to find a new trainer because i really want him to lean better social interactions so I can take him to nose work classes. He would be great at it! He loves to take anything and cover his ball with it and then go back and hunt it. lol

Thanks again!