… Well I moved in with my bf since he’s got a job now so we can get a bigger place and a ladys husband left her and left his shepherd with her and so I decided 2 adopt her since she said she dosent care for the breed well anyways my bf decided 2 get 2 kittens and my shepherd wants to eat them we have 2 keep the kittens in a room and she waits outside the door we tried to muzzle her and she still is determined 2 eat them. He loves his kittens but I love my dog and don’t wana give up on her this time. Sorry so long any suggestions. Thank you!
THE ANSWER
how old is the dog?
then you put the gsd on a leash, and get her to sit. keep her on you left and in a seated position. if you can’t do this in other situations where there is a compelling distraction, get that down first and then return to this. the key to the success of this thing is control of her attention. if you don’t have that you can’t do anything about this situation and you should consider placing one of the species before someone gets hurt.
Once you do and you can keep her calm, pick up the gentler of the two kittens and while holding it with the scruff and at the belly present his/her butt to the dog’s nose. Give the dog a second (really a second, if you linger too long the whole thing will change into a cage fight) to sniff it and then take the kitten away and secure it in another room. Don’t reward or congratulate the dog. Do this three or four times a day until it starts to get easier. I don’t like using a muzzle for this kind of work because it puts the dog in a shitty mood already, which doesn’t help things.
let us know how it goes.
…
Kiela
I‘m sure this isn’t the only problem their having with this dog, but like many of us they just assume it has to be that way and keep their bar pretty low. Ultimately, this kind of a situation will diminish if they get some better communication in place. German Shepherd dogs aren’t really designed for that brand of crazy so building a better relationship and settling her would probably change her tune significantly.
Good luck to them. and the kitties.
I had a great experience the other day. I’m so excited about it that I want to post the result here.
I did a consultation with an extended family and their two new Australian Shepherd brothers. The two boys couldn’t be more different; one being easy going and slightly aloof and the other timid, suspicious and slightly threatening. The people were great. There were three of them and they were all engaging and interesting.
What happened that was so interesting to me was that one of the women in the family kept repeating the same question to me, ” What do we do?” and, “So, how does this apply to the dog?” and, “What is the training part?” And I kept answering her in the most literal and respectful way that I could. I would say, “Well, the first piece is to teach you self-operation so that when you go to do it with Leo you’ll know what to look for.” And she didn’t understand what i was talking about so I offered to show her. I said that the first part to learn of self-operation was less about something I could describe but more about an experience to be had. She kept giving me cues to continue with my “explanation” but the reality was that what I was talking about was not already a part of her experience.
But that’s the thing that was so cool. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wanted to be able to translate better so that she could really grasp what i was talking about. And it was in thinking about how to deliver this stuff in a way that made sense to people who weren’t calling me for a personal evolution that i came up with it:
Relaxed dogs behave better.
In order to relax you dog you have to be relaxed, not just on your terms but in a way that a dog will recognize.
By being the person that relaxes your dog, you become Mom-dog to them.
Dogs listen to Mom-dog better than anyone else.
So, the first step is to learn the language of relaxation so you can make it easier for your dog to learn from you.
And with that I am going to go and relax.
