Hyper dogs and running out of time
posted 2nd Feb
Our daughter is due in about eight weeks and we have a very wild hyper big dog and a hyper little dog that provokes rough housing and a well behaved big dog that joins in with the other dogs bad influence. They run jump and scrap all day, growling and barking and knocking around. We've been blinding ourselves to reality, but a fragile newbirn is coming and it's not worth risking her getting jumped on. She will have to be held at all times and bin a room with closed doors at all times. It's no way to raise a baby. We have a choice. We can spend the next weeks leading to her birth putting full effort into training and draining energy and trying to make them good calm dogs (Cesar millan says it is always possible) (they are under two yrs old) or we can surrender them, knowing that wild hyper misbehaved mix breeds will most likely get euthanized. I feel so much pressure and depression. Any advice or input is welcome. Btw we have a 2year old who gets knocked down a lot, so I can only imagine the danger a baby would be in. Dog experts, personal experience, anything, please help
quoteposted 2nd Feb
Buy a bag of dog treats and train them.
quoteposted 2nd Feb
Try training them first, you did take on the responibility of them. I have 2 dogs and a free running rabbit. When DD was a baby I was never able to leave her on the floor, a wrap came in handy
quoteposted 2nd Feb
I'm no help sorry, we ended up getting rid of ours. Nothing would help not even a spank.
quoteposted 2nd Feb
Apa pays no attention to where he throws his heavy body. I'm so afraid that he can jump on her. Well have to be on full alert at all times, no cuddling with the baby in the couch, no bumbo seat, just standing in defense mode or in a bedroom with the door shut.
We can't even fence him to play outside, he jumps it...
I feel like a failure, I adopted a tiny innocent puppy and let him grow up untrained..
I love him so much, I want to undo it...
quoteposted 2nd Feb
Start training now. We had 2 dogs before DS was born, one who was old and lazy (unfortunately she is gone now) and we had a younger much more rambunctious dog who loved jumping, especially when coming in the door and such. It honestly was not hard to train our dog.
Be consistent and firm with your training and give rewards when it is proper. Dogs want to be good, (and like Cesar says) they want a dominant leader. Maybe you can check with local pet stores to see if they have a training program you can get into or know of dog trainers in the area. Our biggest issue was the jumping which we would work on several times a day coming in and out of the door and repeated no jumping and would push him down, if he didn't jump he would get a treat. It didn't take took long before he got the jest of it.
quoteposted 2nd Feb
get to training...teach them (what my old neighbor used to call) "down or out" they learn to play laying down or they go outside. Spray bottles with water and designate rooms that they aren't allowed in...and every time the little one provokes the bigger one scold them, teach them that that is not good...if you start now you'll have a fairly well trained dog
it's not the energy of the dog it's the discipline they are taught.
we had a rottweiler who was super energetic, we took her to obedience classes and she was one of the most well behaved dogs I've ever seen..she would lay down and play and on top of that if she tried to run out of the yard you'd tell her to come and she'd stop dead in her tracks and come back.
quoteI have 2 kids & 1 angel baby & live in
Hawaiiposted 2nd Feb
Sometimes there is no non-jumping moment to reward, I mean he acts like a tornado, they all scramble all over the house together, Hachiko is calm unless dragged into play mode by the others (we had him before da was born) and sephis is too small to harm a baby he weighs like nothing, but apa we got when D's was 1.5 and he's heavy, hyper, and a wreck, idk where to begin. Nothing is impossible but he's the closest thing.
Any good books? Websites? Or specific tips, even a simple week by week plan?
Today he jumped on my belly. He changes fast, so you feel like you can relax because he's calm, and at the drop if a hat he starts freaking out.
Dh says he's just a German shepherd without a job. I guess he was bred to herd sheep so he needs a lot of physical and mental stimulation, I'd love ideas for that.... Long walks are a nightmare, we also need to leash train him, he pulls like heck
(He's mostly gsd but can't be full, he's too short)
quoteposted 3rd Feb
I would do dog training classes up until then, and save rehoming for last. But put up things on craigslist to find them good homes, not dump them at the pound if, worse comes to worse, they don't take to the training
quoteposted 5th Feb
My dogs are insane and still is. But they are only insane to adults. Calm and REAL calm when it comes to babies. Well calm to my 2 year old sister and 8 month old son. My sisters always laying on the floor. Same with DS. The dogs are crazy but they stop when they go near them. And they knock my sister down a few times but that's cause my sister makes no sound when she's walking or like when my dogs being distracted by me saying things or holding toys. He would back up and my sisters standing behind him and she just falls and sit in her butt and pull his tail to get back up. Then she just plays with her toys. My sister does everything to my dogs. They love her. She shares everything with them. They do the same back. I have 2 big dogs and 1 small one. My DS and sister was always alone with the dogs. Day 1 from when my sister was born. Same for DS. But that's just me! I know my dogs very well. Well enough to know they are little sweet mooshy big things near the babies.
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