Canine help

[pmajka]

Friend of mine just saved a German Shepard...less than a year old.

How does he stop it from digging holes in his yard?

[SlowToady]

Positive reinforcement. Give it a shock or "love" pat or loud, stern voice commanding "NO!" when he finds it digging holes.

Dogs MUST be taught/disciplined while they are young, and it MUST be CONSISTENT. If you don't want them doing something, you can't let it slide part of the time and then get pissed and kick it the other times.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

teach it who is boss. YOU are the alpha male. Make sure the dog knows it. a good smack on the ass and it will learn quick. It bites you, you bite him back

[wludavid]

Originally posted by SlowToady
Positive reinforcement. Give it a shock or "love" pat or loud, stern voice commanding "NO!" when he finds it digging holes.

I don't mean to be picky, but you're describing negative reinforcement. Both positive (the carrot) and negative (the stick) reinforcement should be used. You have to punish and be stern when the dog is doing something wrong, but you also have to give the dog something else to do (come, heel, sit, etc) and then praise and sometimes give a treat when he does something right.

I also recommend a training table. It allows you to build trust with the dog. Dogs are natural followers IF you demonstrate that you're the boss and can be trusted not to have the dog do something that will endanger it.

[greglepore]

There is an excellent Shepherd web page- www.germanshepherds.com - it can be a little over the top, but the behavior pages are very good.

The whole alpha thing is controversial. Sheps do respond to a pack structure, but "alpha" isn't necessarily a good behaviorial model.

I have a rescue shep. Most of them have some issues, if only from being in the rescue, as Shep's are very, very loyal dogs and the changing environment will exacerbate any problems they have.

They will bond very strongly with someone, and in almost all cases, merely having that person express stern displeasure is as effective as a "smack on the ass". Despite their reputation as a tough-ass dog, sheps respond to approval/disapproval very strongly, but you need to have the dog's trust and loyalty first. No offense to Jared, but his approach isn't likely to work with most shepherds, and might lead to a problem dog.

One of the problems with breaking behaviors is that you have to correct the dog while he's doing it. Dogs are intelligent animals, but aside housebreaking, they rarely will respond to punishment doled out after the fact.

Digging is often a sign of boredom or some other issue.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by pmajka
Friend of mine just saved a German Shepard...less than a year old.

How does he stop it from digging holes in his yard?

When my German Wirehair was a pup she did that. I bought a half dozen cement pavers, the 12x12 size. When she dug at a spot, I put down a paver there. Eventually, she stopped digging. Took a month or two.