Just brought home our Anatolian Shepherd last weekend and at barely 12 weeks this little guy could chew a hole through anything. I have already gone through so many chew toys and from what I read online basically all rawhides or antlers are a big no no. This leaves me exhausted by the end of the day. I have already taught him how to sit and seems to know the pee pee command. But man can he be stubborn. He also has shown some aggression to certain chews and has growled when I attempt to take them. I just sit by him and keep putting my hands all over his mouth and taking it and then giving it back. It seems to be helping. Does anyone have breed specific advice for training this guy before he gets huge? I have 5 kids and they adore him, but I need him to be socialized and ready to be out with the family. Any tips or helps I could use. Good thing he is so cute.
Hi! I have never heard of that kinda breed (Im going to Google it after this! lol) but it sounds like ur doing a good job with socializing him. I have 4 kiddos & a 1yr old Alaskan malamute & shes a handful! lol. I didn't have her as a wee pup (I bought her off a girl that never worked with this dog) so it was tough in the beginning to straighten her out. Shes come quite a ways tho. She'll growl & nip at my kids (they r 8yrs & under) so I have to correct the kids & tell Mila NO for nipping them. She does have a lil food aggression but she knows better than to growl at me when im near her food dish. I tell the kids to leave her be when shes eating. So with some work Mila will get better hopefully someone on here with more expertise can help ya out more!
We brought home an 1.5 year old Anatolian Shepherd/Australian Shepherd mix from the pound this month, and he has surprised us with his chewing! I have no experience with this breed, and it has been a lot of fun to see what Crusoe likes to get up to. My biggest hurtle (along with digging) has been his occasional roughness with our three children. He responds well to a spray bottle of water in that situation (I hide it behind my back), and I keep him on a leash for those training sessions. Have you heard of the book Think Like Your Dog and Enjoy the Rewards, by Diana Young? It's been very helpful for me.
I don't think you have much to worry about, I haven't met a pup yet that wasn't a little on the "bitey" side. Just remember to YELP! very very loud when you are playing with him and he bites a little too hard, the YELP! has to scare even him, so don't do a little cutesy yelp just because he's a pup. You'll want to be so loud that it makes him recoil right away with ears back, so you can connect the sound with his biting to hard. Putting your hands in his mouth and taking a chew toy or bone away and giving him it straight back is the right thing to do imo. My wife and I would do that for all our dogs, sometimes its good to have a hidden treat in your hand, then reach into his food bowl "while he is eating", just drop the treat in there. This way the act could mean a potential bonus for him, so he won't be so quick to protect his food when someone reaches into his bowl. Also make all the kids do this too, if its just you then it's only going to be you he will do it for. I made my son do this with my Huskies and Akita too. I tried to socialize my Akita with as much as I could, people and dogs. I walked her around Pet Smart every Saturday and Sunday plus puppy training school, there she would encounter tons of kids, adults and other dogs of all sizes. The only thing my dog does not understand is "babies", she never had any contact with toddler sized children, so when walking her if she see's a toddler, she stops walking, sits on the sidewalk and just muffle barks like, "what the hell is that?". Its not something I can rectify either because I can't exactly ask someone "hey can I test my Akita with your baby?". So if you have any family members with very small kids, get the puppy acquainted with how a baby looks and smells, take the mystery out of it. My Akita has superb temperament, but in all honesty I would be worried about very small children near her, she just doesn't understand them. She loves teenagers the most though, she dances (shaking her butt from left to right) as they approach her. For chew toys, the best I have found is the firemans hose toys, usually long snake like things, but man they are tough to rip I have a couple that have lasted nearly a year. Now can we have some puppy pics please?
Meet Lexi, ASD/GSD Cross. She is 3 and I have had her for just over 1 year. She was a complete head case from the minute I got her. She had no Walking on Lead skills, and would pull from the minute we left the house until we got home. If you are on face book, search for the Naughty But Nice group and get the 3 ebooks they offer, they are great. Lexi has gone from a complete nightmare to a brilliant companion, house dog and Assistance Dog, she picks up anything I drop and if I indicate items on the bottom Shelves in the supermarket, she can often pick up the correct item for me lol. Considering I have only been teaching her to be a=n assistance dog for about 6 months I think she is doing well.
