Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi
I have a five month old german sheperd, who has a problem with chasing shadows, his own and any other shadow that moves. At first we thought it was a cute puppy thing, but we can see its becomming a problem. Hes so obedient, and listens so well, but when he sees a shadow, he tunes up out to run after/watch it. Sometimes he gets so caught up with chasing his own shadow, that he runs into things pretty fast, and we're worried he might hurt himself. Basically, is this normal? And if not, how do we 'correct' it, because we're afriad he'll get hurt.

>>Hi
>>I have a five month old german sheperd, who has a problem with chasing shadows, his own and any other shadow that moves. At first we thought it was a cute puppy thing, but we can see its becomming a problem. Hes so obedient, and listens so well, but when he sees a shadow, he tunes up out to run after/watch it. Sometimes he gets so caught up with chasing his own shadow, that he runs into things pretty fast, and we're worried he might hurt himself. Basically, is this normal? And if not, how do we 'correct' it, because we're afriad he'll get hurt.

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Answered on the New Puppy message board.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

Thank you so much for your response about the shadows. We'll look into that ASAP for sure. Hes very bright, and pick up on thinkgs so fast, I'm sure he'll do fine with other mental stimulation, and my mom and i are off all summer to train him every day.

I love my little (or big) Indy just the way he is, the silver hair is kinda funky, and hes such a handsome boy. I totally understand about the hackles, he always puts them up when meeting bigger dogs, it does make him look a little intidating, but we know the big sofite he is.

>>Thank you so much for your response about the shadows. We'll look into that ASAP for sure. Hes very bright, and pick up on thinkgs so fast, I'm sure he'll do fine with other mental stimulation, and my mom and i are off all summer to train him every day.
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>>I love my little (or big) Indy just the way he is, the silver hair is kinda funky, and hes such a handsome boy. I totally understand about the hackles, he always puts them up when meeting bigger dogs, it does make him look a little intidating, but we know the big sofite he is.

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I had a young male dog whose hackles came up very easily, and he was headed for trouble, just "ran too hot" with his hormones and drives. We had him neutered at around a year, and one of the good changes was that the hackles did not rise to such slight things anymore, nor did they rise all the way down his back. I joke that he force-broke US to the retrieve, because he wanted his ball thrown over and over and over. He remained appropriately protective, but it took the edge off in a way that he really needed. Training helped humongously, too.

My female I mentioned who had "flames" down her back also got past that overreaction with training. I started moving away from her and calling her to me every time she would bark, before she could build up a good head of steam. Call the dog (make sure you can get him to come--training, long line, whatever stage you're at in the recall work), and when he gets to you, praise, pet (praise and touch shift him out of that high-adrenaline state that can lead to aggression), maybe give a food reward or a few tosses of his ball, then release.

If he goes back to barking, call again. This works not only for barking, but for any behavior you need to interrupt. It's just that with barking this is an intervention you can use every single time, while with things like chasing shadows you need to vary the interventions.

With the recall, every time you have to call him again because he went back to barking, keep the same upbeat attitude when he arrives and do the whole sequence--praise, pet, reward with food or game. At first I had to call my bad girl 7 times in a row! Then it was two for a long time. Now it's usually just one. The hackles quit coming up so easily, and she became more sane!

When a high-powered dog like this is young, you have your best opportunity to shape a good solid stable temperament. It will never be this easy again, because his body and instincts are going to get so much stronger than they are now. He's open to learning what he needs to learn to get along in the world he will need to live in--very adaptable at this age. Have fun with the training. Give him fun with it, and also help him to develop a real pride in his own ability to do the right thing. It's one of the most amazing genetic traits of the German Shepherd. They must be trained, but they make the most of training, too.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

I'e known two dogs like this. One turned out to be a pretty normal dog, but never stopped chasing shadows, and the other has some serious misfiring in brain. That second one was a Lab that was kept chained in a back yard isolated for way too many hours as he was growing up, until a wonderful family adopted him after he got to rescue. We were able to accomplish an incredible amount with positive training though.

I've always wondered if it wasn't some kind of chemical imbalance in the brain that couldn't have been managed better by diet. Switching the Lab to a diet with no corn, no sorghum and no by-products helped an enormous amount -- it was the first thing that we did. But it wasn't enough. So I've always wondered if a whey protein supplement, so the dog gets a full complement of good quality amino acids, would help. I'm sure a home-prepared diet would have helped, but neither owner tried that route.