lisa cosgrove

i've got one of these so you have my sympathy. my trainer who is a "problem" dog specialist said that first i had to come to terms with the fact that there is no known "cure" for this. having said that she said that, among other things (socialization, obedience, etc.), the way for me to get a handle on the situation was to learn how to read his body language and to react accordingly and develop really, really good timing. it has been two years since he bit someone and he has become a really nice, sociable dog to humans and other dogs, but i still have my eye on him ALL the time. in retrospect all the time, effort and most of all commitment were more than worth it, so if you get those moments where you say to yourself, "am i getting anywhere here?", you probably are. i literally asked my husband one day, "when did he get to be such a nice dog, and where was i?" best of luck.

for akdogdoc: is this incontinence an exception to the rule for spayed dogs or is it the common result of this procedure? (i've only had males.) i've often heard owners of females cite incontinence as a reason/excuse not to spay them and until now thought it was humbug.

i digress, but i just wanted to mention a comment i read from a rancher who was being interviewed about how effective his dogs are as compared to human personnel. "among other things, they don't go out partying and they show up to work on time--every day."

should the hips get lower and lower until the dog can barely crawl along on its back legs? here in germany we see so many gsds bred for this confirmation--it is painful to see how these dogs walk.