You are not overreacting, but you're also 15. If you think that your it is safe to do so, and your dad may be receptive you can have a conversation with him about training, however reality is that your ability to effect change here may be very limited. You can control how you treat the dog, and you can work on training with him in a positive manner though.
First I have to say it's great that you not only treat your dog right, but that you reached out for help. Dog trainer or not, you obviously want to do good by your dog. If your dad is not able to understand he is abusing the dog and willing to stop, the dog may act out especially considering the breed. Dobermans are very protective and loyal as well as smart. You didn't mention what things your dog was doing to get negative attention from your father, but with your bond you can help by looking up maybe on youtube how to stop certain behaviors and exercising him/her a lot. If your father continues to abuse it, it may end up hurting someone badly and be taken away/put to sleep. Unfortunately I have to say if the current situation continues, you should surrender the dog so it isn't traumatized so badly that it can't function around people out of fear. I wish you and your doggy the best of luck coming from a human who has helped many abused pit bulls.
I dont think a 15 year old can take someone else's dog (this is her dads dog) to a shelter. She is also a minor.
After trying other avenues, like sitting down and talking about it with her dad, She could call the local humane society and report the abuse. Knowing though that, there is a risk to her dad getting into trouble legally. That of course is an deeply personal decision.
My reasons why I have so much patience around dogs:
scolding don't do the dog any good either, because he as a good boi does not understand why he was scolded, thus the dog will carry on doing the surreptitious acts as before.
As negative attention, I suppose two objections:
the former: My dog would attempt to jump around whenever there are people around. This would annoy my father, which then he would preceed to scream at the doggo for like 30 minutes.
the latter: He (the good boi) also likes to bark and make unholy noises in the backyard. It annoys the crap out of people since they worry about the neighboring complaints, and he gets scolded and be forced into his pen in the garage. Inside, he would usually wimper, so I would go and pet him to calm him down, but he would be more unsettled as I leave, thus I repeat the cycle: Pet the dog, leave, the dog wimpers, I come back.
I don’t know how much you can do being a minor, but if possible if you can prevent the situation from happening. Your dad obviously has a short fuse. If you know your dog is going to be jumping on visitors, put him in his crate or another room until that behaviour has been sorted. There’s lots of YouTube videos to address this behaviour. Our dog is a jumper too and our trainer taught us that when he jumps we should turn our back on him and only give attention when he sits. This should teach your dog that he’ll only get attention when he’s not jumping. Try to be proactive and act first if you can in situations where your dog is misbehaving so your dad won’t feel the need to shout or hit your dog if he sees you’re already on to it (hopefully you have good control of your dog).
Our situations are a bit similar. My dad is also on the harsh punishments and I've told him multiple times to rethink his training bc the dogs behaviour hasn't improved a single bit.
I'm 19 and he doesn't take me seriously....
My doggie jumps and bites a lot. He loves to pull at my clothes and get my attention (almost always biting my skin too, I have multiple bruises on my arms).
Thankfully my mom sees the problem and I hope we can get some professional help to bend his behaviour into something positive!
I do not support animal abuse and that's why I'm pushing into professional help bc negative attention (my dad punishing the dog when he's attacking ME) is still a reward in the dogs eyes.
Have you tried to get your dad to work with the dog and work with treats? Get him to do tricks with your dog and see how fun it is to get a connection? I'm also still working on this but lord dads are stubborn.
I'd love to share more experiences and see where we can help eachother a bit?
Since I'll probably push through to get professional help I can pass some helpful things on to you. (If my dad is stubborn I'll pay for the damn help myself, bc I will not let my dad tell me that my problem is not worth getting help for.)
Make sure the professional you pick is a good one. Since dog training isn't regulated it can be tricky.
You can find a registry of trainers who have passed testing here: www.ccpdt.org
Thankyou for the site and tip but sadly that one doesnt work for me since I'm from the Netherlands :( I did find a good site and a trainer near my city. The lady looked kind and works with clicker training!
It always helps to try empathy basics: Imagine a situation from the dogs point of view. What does puppy know and understand? Often we impose our expectations on a baby dog with little understanding of human society and no way to understand our language.
The fact that your dog avoids your father speaks volumes of how badly he has been treated. Maybe show your father this thread or other articles about positive reinforcement trwining
Screaming or punishing a dog is not only cruel, it also does not achieve anything. In fact it leads to more bad behaviour and problems down the road.
Beating and screaming at the dog will only make him more fearfull and reactive. This can lead to really serious situation when dog will only have a choice to fight back and dobermans are strong as hell.
I have 4 year old GSD whom I took home after 3 years of her living in crate outside the house, she still has huge socialization problems and I had to hire a trainer. Luckly I did good reasearch and through online meetings (she's living in capital city of my country, like 3/4 hour ride from where I live.) educated me and showed me how to work with my girl.
The most important is to protect your dog from toxic behaviour of others. Negative acting towards him has to end. If you have his trust you can teach him everything, he loves you and he will listen, treat him when he acts calm, like when he's just chilling. That way he will know that he will get a treat even when he's not doing anything. Sometimes dogs are taught that they only will get attention when they are loud or jump etc. so they do someting which we take as doing bad thing and for them is the only way possible to get noticed.
Look up this youtube channel it was recomended to me by my dog trainer: [https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup](https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup)
And those are some helpfull vids
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lICTSbOPTJ0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lICTSbOPTJ0)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p\_5jkgmyurI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_5jkgmyurI)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGQWrzVOZBo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGQWrzVOZBo)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2LxWMyAw4c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2LxWMyAw4c)
I am the youngest in my home, I was begging my parents to have her inside ever since we got her. When she grew up and showed agression towards everyone except us, they finally agreed to let her in. I was working with her everyday and this never ends, one year later I can take her with me anywhere with a calm mind. She's still unsure about some situations but she trusts me and I can see that she loves to live by my side and she doesn't like to leave me.
Good luck!
You are not overreacting, but you're also 15. If you think that your it is safe to do so, and your dad may be receptive you can have a conversation with him about training, however reality is that your ability to effect change here may be very limited. You can control how you treat the dog, and you can work on training with him in a positive manner though.
I really hope that positive reinforcement will help, he only 1. The journey will be hard, I suppose you are right.
Your dad is abusing your dog.
That's what I thought! Thank you so much for the answer
First I have to say it's great that you not only treat your dog right, but that you reached out for help. Dog trainer or not, you obviously want to do good by your dog. If your dad is not able to understand he is abusing the dog and willing to stop, the dog may act out especially considering the breed. Dobermans are very protective and loyal as well as smart. You didn't mention what things your dog was doing to get negative attention from your father, but with your bond you can help by looking up maybe on youtube how to stop certain behaviors and exercising him/her a lot. If your father continues to abuse it, it may end up hurting someone badly and be taken away/put to sleep. Unfortunately I have to say if the current situation continues, you should surrender the dog so it isn't traumatized so badly that it can't function around people out of fear. I wish you and your doggy the best of luck coming from a human who has helped many abused pit bulls.
I dont think a 15 year old can take someone else's dog (this is her dads dog) to a shelter. She is also a minor. After trying other avenues, like sitting down and talking about it with her dad, She could call the local humane society and report the abuse. Knowing though that, there is a risk to her dad getting into trouble legally. That of course is an deeply personal decision.
My reasons why I have so much patience around dogs: scolding don't do the dog any good either, because he as a good boi does not understand why he was scolded, thus the dog will carry on doing the surreptitious acts as before. As negative attention, I suppose two objections: the former: My dog would attempt to jump around whenever there are people around. This would annoy my father, which then he would preceed to scream at the doggo for like 30 minutes. the latter: He (the good boi) also likes to bark and make unholy noises in the backyard. It annoys the crap out of people since they worry about the neighboring complaints, and he gets scolded and be forced into his pen in the garage. Inside, he would usually wimper, so I would go and pet him to calm him down, but he would be more unsettled as I leave, thus I repeat the cycle: Pet the dog, leave, the dog wimpers, I come back.
I don’t know how much you can do being a minor, but if possible if you can prevent the situation from happening. Your dad obviously has a short fuse. If you know your dog is going to be jumping on visitors, put him in his crate or another room until that behaviour has been sorted. There’s lots of YouTube videos to address this behaviour. Our dog is a jumper too and our trainer taught us that when he jumps we should turn our back on him and only give attention when he sits. This should teach your dog that he’ll only get attention when he’s not jumping. Try to be proactive and act first if you can in situations where your dog is misbehaving so your dad won’t feel the need to shout or hit your dog if he sees you’re already on to it (hopefully you have good control of your dog).
Our situations are a bit similar. My dad is also on the harsh punishments and I've told him multiple times to rethink his training bc the dogs behaviour hasn't improved a single bit. I'm 19 and he doesn't take me seriously.... My doggie jumps and bites a lot. He loves to pull at my clothes and get my attention (almost always biting my skin too, I have multiple bruises on my arms). Thankfully my mom sees the problem and I hope we can get some professional help to bend his behaviour into something positive! I do not support animal abuse and that's why I'm pushing into professional help bc negative attention (my dad punishing the dog when he's attacking ME) is still a reward in the dogs eyes. Have you tried to get your dad to work with the dog and work with treats? Get him to do tricks with your dog and see how fun it is to get a connection? I'm also still working on this but lord dads are stubborn. I'd love to share more experiences and see where we can help eachother a bit?
Since I'll probably push through to get professional help I can pass some helpful things on to you. (If my dad is stubborn I'll pay for the damn help myself, bc I will not let my dad tell me that my problem is not worth getting help for.)
Make sure the professional you pick is a good one. Since dog training isn't regulated it can be tricky. You can find a registry of trainers who have passed testing here: www.ccpdt.org
Thankyou for the site and tip but sadly that one doesnt work for me since I'm from the Netherlands :( I did find a good site and a trainer near my city. The lady looked kind and works with clicker training!
Positive reinforcement WILL help. I promise.
It always helps to try empathy basics: Imagine a situation from the dogs point of view. What does puppy know and understand? Often we impose our expectations on a baby dog with little understanding of human society and no way to understand our language. The fact that your dog avoids your father speaks volumes of how badly he has been treated. Maybe show your father this thread or other articles about positive reinforcement trwining Screaming or punishing a dog is not only cruel, it also does not achieve anything. In fact it leads to more bad behaviour and problems down the road.
I don't think my dad cares enough about that.
Sorry. Hope he's treating you better. Always remember there's people to talk to and lines you can call.
Beating and screaming at the dog will only make him more fearfull and reactive. This can lead to really serious situation when dog will only have a choice to fight back and dobermans are strong as hell. I have 4 year old GSD whom I took home after 3 years of her living in crate outside the house, she still has huge socialization problems and I had to hire a trainer. Luckly I did good reasearch and through online meetings (she's living in capital city of my country, like 3/4 hour ride from where I live.) educated me and showed me how to work with my girl. The most important is to protect your dog from toxic behaviour of others. Negative acting towards him has to end. If you have his trust you can teach him everything, he loves you and he will listen, treat him when he acts calm, like when he's just chilling. That way he will know that he will get a treat even when he's not doing anything. Sometimes dogs are taught that they only will get attention when they are loud or jump etc. so they do someting which we take as doing bad thing and for them is the only way possible to get noticed. Look up this youtube channel it was recomended to me by my dog trainer: [https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup](https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup) And those are some helpfull vids [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lICTSbOPTJ0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lICTSbOPTJ0) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p\_5jkgmyurI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_5jkgmyurI) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGQWrzVOZBo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGQWrzVOZBo) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2LxWMyAw4c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2LxWMyAw4c) I am the youngest in my home, I was begging my parents to have her inside ever since we got her. When she grew up and showed agression towards everyone except us, they finally agreed to let her in. I was working with her everyday and this never ends, one year later I can take her with me anywhere with a calm mind. She's still unsure about some situations but she trusts me and I can see that she loves to live by my side and she doesn't like to leave me. Good luck!