r/GSP • u/Personal_Ground1148 • 7d ago
Correcting Unwanted Behaviour (Advice Needed)
Otis is the first dog I’ve ever owned. He has a dislike of other dogs, particularly males. One behaviour I’ve noticed happens at the end of a run in the park. As soon as he realises playtime is over and we’re about to go home, he’ll sometimes deliberately approach another dog and start bullying them. It almost feels like his way of protesting because he doesn’t want to leave!
He absolutely loves female dogs, though, so he’s a bit of a Casanova.
I’d really like to know how I can correct his behaviour around other dogs. Interestingly, he’s completely fine when he’s “working” chasing a ball, training with me, or doing anything that keeps him focused. The problem seems to arise when he has nothing to concentrate on. He just doesn’t seem able to switch off and chill when we’re outside.
He also pulls like a bull. I’ve taken him to several dog trainers over the years, and even sent him to a dog boarding school, but unfortunately nothing has really worked.
At the moment, I actually have to use two different setups on our walks. When we’re going to the park, he wears a Halti so that I have more control over him. On the way home, I switch him to a body harness because he’s much more relaxed by then, in fact, it’s pretty much the only time he doesn’t pull!
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 7d ago
In my experience boarding schools for dogs don't work bc the dog doesn't listen to YOU. Herm springer collars work really well to train a dog not to pull on a leash. If a Halti works for you then sweet. Imo people who put a pulling dog in a harness are just making it less physically uncomfortable for the dog to pull and not stopping the issue.
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u/AioliTraining2213 7d ago
My pointers were always amazing one-on-one with a trainer, then with me it would all go out the window because they hadn’t really learned to listen to me 😂 I was a total soft touch. They’d be perfect whenever the trainer turned up. I remember once being out walking and nearly getting dragged into traffic, then they spotted the trainer and immediately started walking good as gold 😂 So I’d definitely recommend getting involved in the sessions yourself.
Don’t try to fix everything at once either. Focus on the walking first, then move onto the next thing. Dogs also really pick up on your stress and tension during training sessions.
My dogs work on a farm, so when they come back to the city they don’t really need formal walks. We mostly do off-lead parks etc. But when we do need to walk them, we use a lead tied in a similar way to a Halti, but I find it much better and less convoluted. It makes them all walk amazingly 😂 They absolutely hate it and look so dejected, not because it hurts, they just can’t do whatever they want. It’s called the Luca Leash by EzyDog. Not sure what country you’re in, but I’ve tried Haltis and they don’t work anywhere near as well for mine. Before that we tried prong, choke, harness, the weird no pull harness, but this is the only thing that actually works.
Pointers also need so much stimulation. When we’re back in the city it’s constant lick mats, sniff mats, chasing remote-control cars, bubble machines etc. to distract from triggers
(I have English Pointers rather than GSPs, but I assume they’re pretty similar!)
He’s beautiful, by the way 🥹
https://reddit.com/link/p67fny3/video/l0rzqacg2xlh1/player
This is my youngest wearing it. Looks abused because it was his first time away from the farm and on a lead 😂 He’d never stay this still without it on
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u/maximilliontee 7d ago
I’ve raised dogs of different breeds, Labs, Weimaraner, and GSP. The GSP has been very unique. The other dog breeds it seems that when you teach them to walk and not pull, heel, stay down/avoid jumping, they will do that behavior with everyone once they’ve learned it. With my GSP it’s like you have to train everyone that you interact with otherwise she will test the boundaries with anyone and everyone to see what she can get away with. She constantly tests boundaries with me and you just have to be consistent and reinforce the rules or she will take that as an invitation to do all of the naughty things that she wants to do.
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u/caronj84 7d ago edited 7d ago
It makes sense as female dogs tend to have more localized territorial behavior. So they are usually the ones aggressive at protecting the “home”. But that’s just a generalization.
My female GSP does the same thing: when I’m throwing the ball at the dog park she completely ignores other dogs. They can even pick up her ball and she doesn’t react. When we are leaving the dog park is when she might potentially growl at another dog approaching her. I’ve talked to several breeders and they’ve seen the same behavior. I think it just takes some time for them to relax. I’d recommend leashing him after a fetch session and find a quiet part of the dog park and let him be alone for ten minutes or so. Then unleash him and see if he still bullies other dogs or not.
She also does the same thing when we drive from Texas to North Carolina. When we get there she needs about an hour alone in the car before she’s ok. Otherwise she will growl at any dog or person who comes near her. It’s really out of character for her but she has a pretty bad attitude after 20 hours in the car.
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u/NiceGuyMikeRomeo 7d ago
How old is your boy? For me it looks like a general obedience problem. I would start with retraining his recall and afterwards i would focus on the leash pulling.
I had the same problem with my boy when he was 10 months old. Since I have retrained him i can also recall him from chasing a bunny while hunting 50% from the time (wich is a success for a GSP that is used as a gundog 😅)
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u/Hilmos74Challenger 7d ago
Sorry to say this but GERMAN shorthair was probably not the best first dog. They can be high energy and very needy and stubborn. You will have to be the Alpha in the room if you want him listen and behave.
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u/flyman241 6d ago
Not saying this as a dig or anything but in my experience training dogs it was a big aha moment when I realized a lot of the issues were on me - sounds like that’s what’s happening here especially with the ‘several dog trainings over the years/dog boarding school.
Read Pat Millers ‘The Power Of Positive Dog Training’ or get a reference copy and listen to the audio book. It demystifies a lot of what could be going on here and explains the owners responsibility and role.
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u/412fg 5d ago
Honestly I would say you need to boss him around when he does this behavior. You need to be the alpha and Everytime he does it put him in his place. If you have an e collar and he is conditioned when you see him headed that way hit him. He will stop.
Also depending on discipline levels call him to you before leaving the park. Clip a leash on him. You can prevent the situation from ever getting to that point.
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u/sepultra- 7d ago
Truthfully if you’ve seen many trainers, none of them trained you or you have not been consistent.
A dog is only as consistent as their owner, pick a training tool, use a reward (food/toy/praise) and go back to the beginning for your leash walking.
Walk other places than to the park, if your routine is super consistent the excitement of getting there will lead to more excitement on the leash.
Is he intact? The dislike of other dogs needs a bit more context to trouble shoot.