I'm ashamed to say I tried these methods.

This is a difficult post for me to write.  It hurts me deeply that I tried these methods on Sadie.  In the process of getting Sadie to stop biting me, I looked up several different methods online and tried each one of them to no avail.  Sadie wouldn't just bite me once or twice, her biting was a frenzy.  Like that of an abused animal fighting for its life.  She would jump at me with her teeth over and over.  It was horrifying and so scary and I didn't know what to do.  

So this what I tried:

The first video I saw was called "popping the grape."  You wrap the dog's lips around the top teeth and give a little squeeze.  It is suppose to imitate the dog biting themselves and they would learn to stop biting with this method.  Well, no one told Sadie that, she just bit me back in a frenzy.  

The next method was taking a hold of the dog's collar and making a fist.  Making a choke collar of sorts.  This didn't work either with Sadie, she kept biting me.  After a couple of times of this, it took a couple of months before I could touch her collar for any reason without her biting me.

Then I tried "popping" her leash. A quick tug or "pop" on the leash was suppose to work to stop the biting.  It didn't.  Sadie would just jump up at me with those firing teeth.  This method didn't last long either, but it took a month before she trusted me to use a leash again.  

Then there were the methods that were suppose to imitate the mother dog... like shaking of the scruff of the neck or using your hand in a claw shape and tapping the dog's rear hunch.  Or rolling her on her back to establish dominance.  These all sounded great in theory and safe, but not for Sadie.  More biting and more biting.  

I don't know how much of what Sadie went through was because of the breeders, coupled with being at the shelter, but she scared out of mind and hurting.  I finally ditched all the methods I had tried and went back to my original methods.  When she started biting, I put a toy in her mouth.  "They" claimed it was rewarding the dog for biting and learning to get what it wanted.  I did it with 12 puppies and never had a problem.  They quit biting with no problems or repercussions.  And while Sadie hasn't completely quit biting and she still jumps at me, it is nowhere what it used to be. Now when she starts to jump on me, I put my arm out to block her.  And it works.  German Shepherds are an extremely mouthy breed anyways.  That's why they make great police dogs with that predominate bite to catch the bad guys.  

I know a lot of Sadie's jumping and biting is mostly fear related.  Things can be going along great, when something will trigger her fear and she is all over me.  And while I may not know what that trigger is, we are working together to help her overcome her fears and anxiety.  The more trust I build with Sadie, the more stable she becomes.  It's a definite work in progress, for both of us.  She is doing better and better the older she gets.  Time, love and patience will do wonders for both of us.  

   

A trainer would fail me

Chevy eats home cooked food and about a year ago, I accidently gave Chevy some partially spoiled food for his meal.  He had some gastrointestinal issues for a few days and then was fine.  Except for one thing, after that incident he would only eat if I hand fed him.  And yes, that means for each meal for the past year and a half, I have hand fed him his meals.  Now, every once in a while he will eat on his own with me sitting next to him.  And every so often he will eat out of his bowl on his own, but these times are few and far in between. 

When this all started, I tried everything I could think of to get him to eat.  I gave him every different combination of food I could come up with. Served his food, warm, room temperature, and cold.  I even tried different bowls, thinking that he might not like his anymore.  All to no avail.  Chevy would only eat out of my hand.  

I also tried, when he wouldn't eat on his own, taking his morning meal away after a certain period of time, which worked.  He would eat his dinner no problem.  After a few days of that, I read that one meal for a senior dog wasn't a good idea.  So it was back to hand feeding.  It bothered me for a while, but it has become a bonding time.  And especially with Sadie here, his appetite has picked up.  I've never had a dog where food wasn't the most important thing in their lives, until we had Chevy.  

So, I may be doing it all wrong and I'm sure a trainer would tell me just that, but for Chevy and I it is the way we work together.  And as long as Chevy is eating, I could care less how he does it.  :)  

The German Shepherd is strong with this one (part 2)

So, we get Sadie home and all my fears that'd I'd heard about German Shepherds as a kid came true.  This 3-month old puppy is lunging and attacking me in the face.  I totally freaked out.  I didn't know what was happening, why it was happening or what to do about it.  I'd never had a dog play bitey face with my face.  In fact, I'd never been bitten by a dog with the exception of Brut, who grabbed my hand once over food and was totally my fault.  To say I was scared was an understatement.  To top it off she was doing the same thing to Chevy.  And Chevy being the mild mannered therapy dog who is taught to ignore everything just let her do it.  It seemed all the info I looked up on how to stop a puppy from jumping and nipping didn't work.  I don't know how many times I thought about taking Sadie back to the shelter.  I couldn't figure out how to get this behavior under any kind of control and I didn't know where it was coming from.  And I was terrified.  One time I cried all day long, Sadie licked my tears, but it didn't stop her from jumping and biting me.  The funny thing was when she wasn't attacking me, she was a really good puppy. 

After a couple weeks of being attacked, I began to realize Sadie was communicating with me with her attacks.  She needed to go outside or eat or sleep.  She didn't know how else to do it.  So I started working with her mostly by anticipating what she needed before she got to my face.  It was during her third week with us, we discovered she had two infections and hookworms.    Treating all these issues helped immensely with her attacking me, but it didn't stop it.  Sadie was a very anxious and scared puppy and teaching her be calm and feel safe was a challenge.   

I wasn't consciously thinking at the time that this was my childhood fears that I'd heard all those years, but it was somewhere in the back of my mind.  I was too busy trying to survive this nightmare and hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel.  But I was petrified.  I'm shaking just writing about it.  It was horrifying.  And I didn't see any end to Sadie's behavior.  Every method I looked up and tried didn't work or made things worse.  (I'll share those in another post)  After she was treated for her infections and hookworm, I discovered Sadie needed sleep.  She was so anxious and nervous that she was hardly sleeping.  So I began enforcing naps and this made a difference.  We were finally getting somewhere.  When Sadie would start getting bitey, I would put her in her crate so she could take a nap.  She never cried or whined, she had no problem with her crate, and would get some much needed rest.  I will also note that all of Sadie's biting was soft.  She did break my skin, but it was never hard. Never.  So that was a good sign that we were going to get through this period of her life.  And we have for the most part.  She still jumps, she is still mouthy, but she rarely gets in my face.  So, we are making progress and my fears have begun to diminish.  She really is an awesome dog.  Time and patience.  And lots and lots of love.  The recipe for success and for finally seeing the light at the end of that bitey tunnel.    

The German Shepherd is strong with this one (part 1)

Sadie is about half or more German Shepherd/ half Lab. and looks and acts mostly like a Shepherd.  

When I was a kid, I studied dog breeds and their characteristics.  I had my favorites and had dreams of having certain breeds of dogs when I grew up.  I always loved the large and giant breeds.  Back at that time there was a lot of talk about German Shepherds being aggressive dogs that would turn on their owners for what seemed no apparent reason at all.  I doubt that was the case, knowing what I know now, but as a kid I swore Shepherd's off my list of dogs to get.  These stories fueled my fear even into my adulthood.  I always thought Shepherds were beautiful dogs, and would love to have one, but that fear held me back.  

My first dog was a Shepherd/Lab mix that was a surprise and I had no choice over picking him out.  At that time in my life, I didn't really focus on the breeds in him.  He was just my dog, Jep.  And an excellent dog at that.  I loved him, he loved me and that was all that mattered.  

Fast forward to April of this year and I was scouring the shelters for a puppy, preferably a Husky mix, when I came across a 3 month old Husky/Shepherd mix puppy.  Thought he was the one.  Except I hesitated because of the Shepherd in him.  I kept going back to look online at him over the next month.  I eventually told Mark, "I don't want him.  I don't know anything about Shepherds and I haven't heard good things about them."  It was that old fear creeping up, even though I kept checking on him to see if he was still there.  When he was adopted, I cried. In my year and a half of looking at shelters, they hardly ever had puppies.  I thought I'd missed a great opportunity and I didn't know when or if one would come again.  

Then at the end of May, still combing the local shelters, that opportunity came again.  PUPPIES!  A entire litter!  I almost didn't care what kind they were.  They were PUPPIES!  And as it was, they were Shepherd/Lab and I was hooked from the moment I saw the breeds they were.  I felt drawn in for some reason that I couldn't explain and I had to see them.  Part of that attraction was from having my first dog, Jep.  I based his characteristics and placed them on these puppies I was about to meet.  Mark was not particularly thrilled about getting a puppy at this time, but followed my dream.  I called the shelter, they had a meet and greet the next day with the puppies.  OMD!  I was so excited and petrified it wasn't even funny.  WTF was I doing???  During the meet and greet, we only met the girls and Sadie was the only one I had contact with as I got to hold her.  And that's when I knew.  

During that week of waiting for approval, my fear took over.  The breed that scared me, Mark's hesitation, just losing the cats, and how Chevy would be.  I lost sleep over it.  I had a battle in my head day and night.  I almost called off the whole adoption.  I shared my fears with Mark, every day.  And the only thread I really hung onto was holding Sadie that day at the meet and greet and the silent promise I'd made to her.  Everything else about getting her was falling in place, in spite of my fears and gave me hope that it was still the right thing to do.  And in spite of myself and those childhood fears, I adopted a Shepherd/Lab mix we named Sadie, whom I couldn't love more. 

Part 2 coming soon.        

Sadie? Future Therapy Dog?

Since getting Sadie, we have run into a host of issues with her that has me combing the internet to find solutions.  All promising me to fix her problems and that their methods are the only one that works for this reason or another.  Well, in a moment of desperation about the second week we had her, I signed up for an online course of how to train your dog like a service dog.  I was thinking that since Chevy is a retired therapy/support dog and is so awesome, we could do that with Sadie.  That was a month ago, and we haven't gotten past the first week of the course.  There is nothing wrong with the course so far as I can tell, it's just that it is boring and Sadie only has an attention span of about 5 seconds.  lol  Sadie and I are learning the "watch" cue, where she looks into my eyes when I use the cue.  The training session is suppose to be 3 session of 10 reps.  I know I can break it down into smaller chunks, but honestly it is just boring.  Going over and over the same thing.  I am trying to find a way to make it fun and relevant to every day life by just throwing into every day things.  It is working better for her and for me, sprinkling the lessons throughout the day.  Better for both of our brains.  lol    

I have found that Sadie learns best when she does the behavior on her own and I mark it.  Instead of me trying to teach her what I want.  She has been using a lot of eye contact with me from the beginning, it is just a matter of fine tuning it to a command.  

So, we'll get there.  Maybe not in the time frame the course is designed for, but I am determined to follow through and have Sadie become trained like a service dog.  

Sadie's naptimes with separation anxiety

Sadie has separation anxiety and it effects her naptimes.  If I get up, she gets up.  So, in order for her to get her quality naps in, I sit with her while she naps.  I read how important naps are for puppies for brain and bone development, not to mention getting through the bitey stage.  If she doesn't get enough sleep, Sadie is a total hyper nipping brat who won't quit.  So while I would like to be selfish and get things done while she sleeps, I instead sit with her until she wakes up.  Obviously, this is something we will have to work on, but until then, my black beauty needs all the rest she can get with me by her side.  ♥

It is surreal and natural all at the same time

 Chevy and Sadie are both passed out from the extreme heat we are having.  I'm looking at them and looking at all the pictures we have of the 24 Paws of Love around the house.  20 years of the Paws, starting with Silver in 2003 and ending with Zappa in 2023.  That's a lot of years together and that's not even mentioning 20 years with the cats.  And then I see, Chevy and now Sadie and sometimes it is all so surreal to be in this place in our lives.  Sometimes I have an identity crisis, of not knowing who I am in this strange place with these two dogs.  It can be very strange to be moving on in life with the Paws on the wall and Chevy and Sadie in our home.  

On the flip side it seems very natural to have Chevy and Sadie as we have fallen into a rhythm and things are starting to smooth out with Sadie.  The whole taking care of them and catering to their needs and desires comes without thinking about it.  There is also all the love they shower us with.  Can't beat that!  Although, it doesn't change my love for the 24 Paws, it's just different.  It's good to have dogs again to love on.  Wouldn't change anything about it.  The 24 Paws were here when we needed them and now it is Chevy and Sadie's turn. 

  

My poor girl!

 We discovered over the course of these past 4 weeks with Sadie that she came to us with 2 different infections and hookworms.  My poor girl!  She was really suffering and we didn't know it.  It explains her behavior, especially with me.  She had been jumping and trying to nip me in the face and would not stop no matter what I did.  Thinking it was behavioral, I kept looking up how to stop a puppy from jumping and nipping, trying the methods and not getting any results.  It was like a horror show.  I thought I'd gotten another Brut and his aggression.  I was terrified.  Slowly I came to learn that when Sadie needed something, this was the behavior she would use to get what she was looking for.  It was so frustrating!  As soon as we noticed there was more going on and she started getting treatment, her whole demeanor changed.  She is still a nippy, jumpy puppy, but she has quit jumping in my face.  Not to mention the sleep she is finally getting.  She was hardly getting any sleep those first few weeks, as she would get up when I move.  And of course, now that she is sleeping deeply, her mood is so much softer.  

I had no idea, Sadie had these infections and her behavior mimicked that of aggression and I honestly didn't know if we could keep her, especially with her attacking Chevy.  Somewhere inside I knew there was a good girl, she had proven it.  And I was so scared and upset that I didn't know if I could handle another aggressive dog.  If it wasn't for the faith that a certain person at the animal shelter put in us and had spoken on our behalf, I may have given up.  And I'm so glad I didn't.  I wish we could've have discovered her infections sooner, but I'm just glad we found out when we did.  My poor girl!  She is one tough cookie, I'll tell you that much.  Thank God, she is getting better and better.  

If that wasn't enough, I saw Brut while in a dream-like state last night.  He was as clear as day just standing there looking at me.  I could almost touch him.  That was such a good sign, telling me everything would be OK.