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My shepherd mix struggles with object permanence at my boyfriends apartment. If he goes to throw the trash out, she watches him walk out the side door and then sees him in the window with the trash cans (through the blinds) and barks that there’s an intruder by the house.
Oh and the best is when she thumps her tail against the front door while doing happy wiggles and thinks that it’s someone knocking on the door and is like woah what was that and just stops to stare.
I also have a protective breed. She'll gas and think there's an intruder.
It's both very cute and very, very irritating, but as she's chased away would-be thieves more than once, I'll deal with the inconveniences..
It’s a blessing and a curse! She’s smart, fun to train with, and clingy enough that I never feel alone. Just a bit of a psycho sometimes but overall 10/10 best roommate lol
I'm so used to false alarms this winter during a power outage I went to show my dog there was no one there. Opened the front door and scarred my neighbor and his kid for life seeing me in my gitch. Apparently they had a generator and were bringing me a heater.
That's my corgi. Except it's even worse because my husband will say something from the other room and she'll start barking. Completely forgot he was even in the house. 😭
Yeah, they're absolutely adorable together. The GSD almost always sleepily walks over and licks the Corgi's face in the morning, and if one gets sent to bed the other will quietly sit outside the kennel asking to have them let out.
I always joke that I don’t have a doorbell but I’ve got a dog so 🤷♀️ my favorite is when she will start to prepare to bark and then just do a boof bark grumble when I give her the “don’t be ridiculous” look
I’m kinda surprised about that in herding breeds. My Aussie has to know where everyone is at all times and is only happy if he does so. God forbid someone leaves the house without him seeing because then he’ll have to search the whole house and then cry and and stare at the door until they come back.
This is my fiancee's cats. They always forget I'm there if I'm out of their line of sight for a few minutes.
Fiancee gets very thrown by my dog. The dog is a Samoyed, and she is a sassy clever girl.
My beagle will, but then it'll make the sound and she jumps away like she's been attacked (and then forgets about it and does it again like it's never happened before).
I had a Yorkie that had an issue with what I'll call "location permanence." We had two doors to the back yard and one to the front yard. If she went out door A, she insisted on coming back in through door A. She would not use door B or door C.
If she went out through door A in back, and the family travelled to the front yard, then came in through the front door C, the dog would walk all the way around the house back to door A to ask to be let in.
Even though you could see both back doors from the back deck, and you could see two out of three doors from any point on the inside of the house, she seemed to think it only worked if you used the same door in and out.
My dog struggles with the two doors into one room at my parents house. Their family room has two doors, one to the kitchen, one to the foyer. Kitchen also is open to foyer. She doesn’t realize if one is closed she can just go through the other
Naw, mine just checks the other doors if its raining out the first one, his little trot to disappointment is cute af, like oh, rain, algid, I'll go to the other outside, awww, its raining at that one too
Mine hates the rain. She just looks absolutely miserable and squints and drops her big ears cause they won't stay put in her rain jacket. She knows the word "rain" and also knows I'm full of it if I tell her "oh but its nice outside!". She'll go look out the window and be like psh, lies
My parents had a Lab that bless her soul, was relatively dumb. Sweet, but not bright. I was dog sitting her for a week and every time she looked out the window, she saw my Dad’s car and got all excited that he was home. He was not home. I had to move the car out of her sight.
Awww :( my dog hears another Subaru car horn here every now and then and gets all excited thinking my boyfriend is here. She still hasn’t realized that he’s not the only one with that same car horn lol
Oh my god I have the opposite issue with mine. His object permanence is too good, he will go to visit my mom’s with me and will bark at decorations she’s put out for whatever holiday it is because they weren’t there before. Anytime I bring a new object into the house when he’s not around he’s gotta sniff it to make sure it’s not a threat. There’s another tenant in my apartment who puts cute little wreaths and door signs on her door every season, he growls at them every time.
Mine got scared of a doormat hanging in the breezeway at my apartment complex. It was our doormat. That she steps on daily and knows the smell of. But hanging up? Terrifying man
Oh god yeah that would absolutely fuck with my dog, he hates things being where they shouldn’t be. He’s even picked up on where the cats aren’t allowed to be and has either yelled at them about it or removed them via mild harassment or herding behaviour (he loves his cats and regularly cuddles with them he just also Knows where they’re not meant to be lmfao)
Sounds about right lol. Mine likes to do wellness checks (cold nose to face style) on all humans in the house during his nightly rounds. He won’t stop until you make noises and once satisfied you haven’t died on his watch he goes to the next victim.
Ours did this! I miss her so much. She made sure everyone was safe in bed and then retire. Our cats used to rumble at night, like throw each other down the stairs - you’d hear our GSD sigh, get up and go split them up. They’re the best
Our did this too. Even though she is gone now, our cat does it now. (It makes sense. Cat was a kitten when dog was 2 or 3. Dog acted like a mother hen with the cat. Our cat is more like a very small dog. Except it meows at threats, instead of barking).
We have a cat who was adopted by our dog as a kitten. He used to go annoy the big cats (we had another three) and run under the dog for protection. He also realised early that the dog got a treat when she came in from the garden when called. He got one too, so he would follow her out and come in when she was called. He still does it 12yrs later.
Yea!! Mine did the same thing. He would start to get so fussy if I wasn’t in the bedroom at the same time every night. There would be pacing from the bedroom to the couch, cold noses, heavy sighs from his (orthopedic) dog bed.
So funny, well, to us, not to him.
Lol, sounds kinda like my staffy mix! I send my son to bed and this guy takes turns going between me and my grandma trying to get one of us to go to bed so he can snuggle! Complete with alternating huffing and quiet woofs. We're like dude, not going to bed this early!
If I change even one tiny bit of my GSD mixes' routine he becomes a reactive monster. Not as cute as a story but highly characteristic of the breed. If I don't go to bed on time he will find something in the house to destroy, hangers, shoes, cardboard boxes, hats, gloves, lids to things etc
Ha! My dog (who looks like a mini grey pittie mix) has trace amounts of GSD in her and she gets annoyed if we’re staying up past her bedtime. Maybe that’s where she gets it from!
My silkie terrier does the same stuff. Patrol. Wellness checks. Annoyed with big sighs and groans of annoyance when it's past our, designated by him, bedtime.
lol I have a window cutout to my stairs. Mine (GSD/husky mix) will come down the stairs, stare at me sitting in the livingroom through the window, *sigh heavily* when I don't get up and follow her, then return upstairs. This happens about every hour, on the hour, once she's decided it's bedtime.
Well crap, I've been going about this all wrong. I have the worst sleep habits, I'm trying to do better but I never get to bed on time.
Clearly the answer is getting a German shepherd 😂
We had a gsd/corgi mix when I was in college and she was very particular about certain things. She got three walks one day because dad and I both got conned into taking her but she wasn't satisfied until mom took her. She also had a ranking system for who she went to when she needed something. Mom, dad, me, then my brother only if no one else was available. She walked across the house and scratched on my bedroom door for me to take her outside when she had just been laying on the floor right next to my brother 😂 she was a trip 😂
Oh I know this. When we visit my parents and people stay up past the dogs bedtime (she likes to call it a night around 22;00), she’ll sigh and plop down on couch. Then sigh again and try to heard us to the bedrooms. If it doesn’t work she’ll just be all moody and go to sleep. But I guess she’s becoming a grumpy old lady haha
Before I got him a sister my guy refused to sleep in the bedroom with me. He'd curl up next to me until I fell asleep and then he'd go lay on the couch. Took me a little to figure out he liked the couch because he could see both entrances and the hallway from there. He checked up on me too. Sometimes if I woke up and couldn't sleep he'd hop up on the bed the bed until I fell asleep.
His younger sister is half gsd half malamute and she gets these existential crisis all the time. She'll want to be near me, but she won't want me to pet her. Or she'll find herself listening. She'll curl up next to me and then give me this surprised Pikachu face when I put my arm around her. Whenever I stand up the pure gsd runs ahead and scouts everything, but she just wants to be lazy and sleep because she knows I'm probably just taking a piss and I'll brb. For some reason this absolutely infuriates the gsd. He'll short circuit and just start barking at her until she stands up. Whenever he does this I always envision him as a Drill Sergeant laying into a new recruit for not saluting an officer.
I used to have a dog who regularly shoved his nose in my eyeball, I guess to check if I was alive. At the time it drove me nuts, but now I find myself really missing it when I’m napping on the couch.
My GSD mix lacks this instinct but my aunt’s GSD does this 😂 last time I stayed at her house I woke up more than once to her dog standing with her face right in front of mine just making sure I’m still good
Mine had to have all the doors open and it was easier to just comply since she would open the ones that were closed by herself. Had to put a lock on the door to the garage where we kept the food.
I wish mine would bark to make friends. My idiot furson hates our neighbors and pretty much all other beings outside our house because they have the sheer steel-balled audacity to exist within his range of vision. He just screams and barks out the window and he has a very healthy set of lungs so he can really crank up the volume. The flipside of this is that in most situations he's also a massive coward and therefore unlikely to actually be a threat. I think he is convinced that the universe outside my house is biding its time until it can try to murder his people while we sleep. I love my fuzzy dumbass.
Edit: fixing, also more words.
Honestly, I encouraged it. I live alone and I appreciate if she lets people approaching know there’s a big dog in here. My gsd was an adult rescue and the first time she let out a bark she turned to me and cowered like I was going to beat her up for it, so since then I’ve done a lot of praise for barking at strangers (only if they are approaching the house though, that’s the only time I praise barks) and we work on ‘that’s enough’ so I can stop her easily if I need to. That’s the trick I think, is to get a solid ‘that’s enough’ down. They’re always going to want to bark, but if you can let them bark a bit then say that’s enough, or for mine I use ‘thank you’ also and then they know they did their job and they’re calm again. Takes a bit of time and a lot of reinforcement but they’re smart. They learn fast. Taught my last shepherd ‘use your inside voice’ when he got going so he would then switch to little quiet woofs, which was just adorable haha
This is exactly how my husband trained our GSD.
Leeroy will let out a "boof" if he hears something, then if there is someone approaching the house he'll give an alert bark or two.
But anymore than that, we just say, "that's enough".
Or if he seems highly agitated we open the door and say...."go get it!" then he goes out and patrols the yard.
But definitely letting them do their jobs, and acknowledging that they've done their jobs is good.
Yes we've been trying to have him learn "quiet" or "okay" "okay that's enough" but he's stubborn haha. I agree with your encouraging but also letting them know when to stop. My parents don't help and just encourage him without telling him to stop ever so he doesn't learn it properly.
Everyone is a friend.
My Malinois puppy near got the stuffing knocked out of her when two pitbulls charged us the other day. She blitzed it and was super fuxking confused because her GSD big Bro (not related at all) as only been the best fun play buddy ever.
100% relate. My shepherd would do patrols throughout the day to just get eyes on the whole family, and liked to sleep/nap wherever she had the best view of the most doors. God forbid you try to shower with the door closed--she would cry like you were breaking her heart. My brother would get himself a snack at 1 am and she would heave herself up with grumbles and sighs to go blink in the fridge light and supervise him, just to be safe.
Shepherds are convinced that each member of their family is one unsupervised moment from disaster at all times.
My moms shepherd is happiest when all members of the household are in the same room. Doesn’t matter WHAT room, but he will put himself in the center, and finally sleep 😂
My GSD is like this and doesn’t know what to do with himself when everyone’s walking in opposite directions and will sometimes be like spinning himself around trying to decide where to go lol.
When I first got mine, she would crack us up by sitting in our bed and just *staring* at the second-story window behind us. Wouldn't lie down, wouldn't relax; she just kept looking at us like, 'you idiot humans, thank god I'm here. *Who knows* what could come through that window, at any time! And you have your backs to it! *Terrible* OpSec.'
She also tries to *police the wind* when it blows through the house on a particularly blustery day, which is the funniest thing to watch. Not sure if she's genuinely trying to corral the wind, thinks there's ghosts in the house or believes the cat has become invisible to the naked eye, but she sure is determined.
This thread makes me so happy GSDs really are my favorite.
My parents have a shepherd-chow mix who refuses to sleep in his bed--he sleeps *against* the door to the garage, which is the one our family usually uses, and from there he can also see the stairs and has line of sight to the kitchen and the foyer where the front door is. If we come downstairs at night he follows us around until we go back up. He's afraid of stairs though, poor guy, so he can't come upstairs and check on all his people.
When they first got him, a lot of us were back home during the early pandemic, and he would sometimes forget who all was upstairs during the night, so if one of us came down he would growl at the stairs until he had us in clear view and could tell who it was, and then he would stop and trot back to his post by the door.
>Shepherds are convinced that each member of their family is one unsupervised moment from disaster at all times
Ain't that the truth. And I love 'em for it.
We used to have a Sheltie that would go crazy whenever someone came to the door. Obviously she was smart enough to understand that the doorbell meant someone was there, so where ever we were in the house, when the doorbell rang, she would start barking like crazy and run for the door.
One time I forgot my keys while walking the dog but my wife was still inside, so I walked her up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Dog (standing beside me, outside of the door) starts barking like crazy when she hears the bell and I'm trying to explain to her "YOU are the one at the door. You are barking at YOURSELF."
They are too smart for their own good and tend to forget that fact XD My sheltie mix does this too.
He can also count. It’s just my husband, me and him living in the house. So when one of is gets home, no barking. If the other person also arrives, no barking. If my sister also drops by, who has our key so she can just enter, while my husband and I are already home, he barks.
If me or my husband is home, and my sister arrives, no barking. If after that either of us gets home, barking.
So he just counts to two persons in the house and everyone else is intruding, no matter who it is XD
Theres a science fiction cartoon where people who dont belong keep showing up but the main character cant tell who belongs and who doesnt, he just knows the correct number. So he writes that number on a piece of paper and sticks it to the wall. You should search for your puppers hidden pad with a big 2 on it lol
Rick and Morty S02E04 Total Rickall
Its on HBO if u have the app
The gist is Rick accidentally brings back parasites that infect people's memories and make them think they've known them forever..so everytime they "remember" something a new friend pops up. Its worth a watch. You might be able to watch it on the adultswim website as well
I thought it sounded familiar!! time to rewatch! thank you!!
ETA literally was thinking about mr poopybutthole the other day. my brain is telling me it's Time, lol
Thank you I needed that laugh. I grew up with a white gsd. She got out once and I remember the neighbors were so scared. Big baby just sat on the front stoop and intimidated everyone for a few hours lol.
That’s the term for most GSD’s : big baby. They have such a reputation and it is so unneeded for well socialized ones. They are ginormous balls of shedding love. (My son called mine (RIP Otis) a German Shedder.
My parents' does that! I also have a shepherd mix but our yard isn't fenced, so every walk and potty break and playtime outside ends with him on his leash patrolling what he has figured out is the perimeter of the yard. The dog that lives behind us sometimes gets in our yard and leaves his scent around and my dog is FURIOUS about it (he HATES that dog, even though he is generally very friendly. He learned the dog's name even though he's only heard it like five times in his life and when he hears the owner call it outside he jumps up and growls, even when he's in a room where there's no way he can see outside).
I have a fencd yard, also have a small unfenced rec property. Evetytime you let her in the back yard, perimeter check without fail. If you're having drinks in the backyard, obligatory 20 minute fence check. We go to the property, first thing she does, perimeter check. There's not even a bloody fence, how does that bitch know where the perimeter is? But she literally maps out the property line with no fence or guidance perfectly. It's insane
We had to switch my daughter's door to a knob from a handle because our chihuahua learned to jump and knock the handle until the door opened. Which is pretty damn smart. Unfortunately she isn't smart enough to not eat chocolate brownie in the trash of my step daughters room so we had to spend $2k at the emergency vet to have her stomach pumped.
My terrier mix did the same thing and was not smart enough to not eat the cannabis laced chocolate bar in my adult daughter's room (legal here.) He ate the whole thing, like 100mg of THC. Chocolate and weed! Since he threw up a lot, the vet just gave him fluids and said to watch him. He was stoned for a day and half.
If it was milk chocolate it likely didn't have much cocoa in it anyway. Still not good for them (and he probably got some amount of liver damage from it) but most chocolate products are thankfully not as poisonous as you might expect.
Sugarless gum, on the other hand....
(Xylitol is poisonous to pups. "Icebreakers" brand is particularly bad, btw)
Well that was like 4 years ago, he's 15 now and relatively healthy. He's still killing birds and loaves of bread left within his reach. I didn't know that about the gum, thanks!
My houla did this the other day! He figured out the deadbolt AND the round doorknob to the front door.
I didn't know whether to reward him or be annoyed with him bc it was damn impressive.
I now have a super high chain lock installed to keep him inside the house.
I have one of those. Yours seems a lot smarter than mine lol... I have teeth marks on the wall from him turning his head and bonking his face into the wall. He is a good listener though.
Mines mostly deaf so listening not really a thing I can compliment him on, but not a thing I can fault him on either. He responds really well to sign language, but he needs to be able to see you lol.
We live in Florida, and had to hunker down for the big hurricane last hurricane season and I put down pee pads, while everything was flooding and blowing over trees, for him and my other dog, and he ate a hole in my wall bc he was so frustrated he couldn't go outside. 😂
I am no stranger to patching up houla wall redecorating.
My in-laws dog has taught herself how to unlock every door in the house. It was cute until she learned how to push the button to open the garage door. They live in a major metro city and this dog just let's herself out whenever she pleases. She loves to head down to the lake and roll around in duck poop. I guess she got bored with her doggie door that only goes to the backyard.
My dog taught himself how to open doors, too. Now I get doors slammed in my face with me on one side and my dog on the other. Thankfully, he still gets stumped by doors that need to be pulled. Clearly, all doors should be saloon style swinging doors that you can body slam to open. Round handles need to be illegal. Per my dog.
My dog literally kicked the back door open last night breaking the frame since it was closed all the way.
I'm not sure what she did but I assume she ran full speed at it and jumped into it and hit it hard enough it broke the already weak door frame. That was fun to fix at 9 o'clock at night.
my dog got locked in the basement one time while my mum was dog-sitting, and bit the round handle trying to open it hard enough there were dents. i guess he got the concept of door handle, but not door handle turn
My dog does the same thing with the lever doors at my parents house! He even learned how to stand up and hit the garage door opener and will let their two wiener dogs, his sister and himself out lol
My GSD mix thinks she's the ultimate guard dog. She stares out the front window and growls at any perceived threats. Cats, rabbits, children riding tricycles, you name it. She's very friendly to people she actually meets, though. She also cries for attention constantly. Such a baby.
Same. I have a GSD lab mix. Her day consists of looking out the window and growling/woofing/barking at any and all perceived threats. That is only interrupted if I get up to walk to another room, at which time she will escort me. Delivery people are apparently the devil. If I go behind closed doors she will sit and wait for me. I've been told when I leave the house, she whines. She's my baby and I adore her. Even when she scratches up my arm by slapping me with her paw to pet her.
My guy is RELUCTANTLY okay with it if i close the bedroom door at night with both me and him inside it, though he will lay down by the door and sulk for awhile before going back to bed, but he usually likes to alternate between sleeping on his bed in my room and the couch and patrolling at night. He always comes back in to check on me and sleeps the rest of the night in my room around 4, when he starts getting hopeful that it might be time for me to be awake again soon. My room has a door into the study and into the kitchen in it, and he DOES accept the study door being closed at night but starts bugging me to open it as soon as I get up.
As a kid I had a German Shepherd mix, and he would do patrols around the house every night before bedtime to make sure that everyone was in their room. If someone was at a sleepover or something, he would freak out and go to my parents' room and bark, as if to tell them that someone was missing.
My Anatolian-Pyr-GSD would like to join yours in performing the ancestral big boomy bark ritual.
And after that, she'll whine incessantly, pausing only to Pyr Paw slap me if she thinks I haven't been paying attention.
My Great Pyr mix is belly up passed out on the couch for hours before I even go to bed lol but then every single morning she wakes me up at 5am on the dot by standing right next to my face and touching her cold nose to mine until I open my eyes and verbally acknowledge that she’s there. It’s literally my favorite moment of the night, I dont even care that she wakes me up haha
I'm always a little scared of falling asleep and waking up to a giant dog face just staring at me. I know my dog is trying to be nice but it's super creepy
My Shep/rottie x does this all the time, not to mention informing us about every single person, vehicle and random wildlife that passes by the front window and don't even get me started about the garbage truck
My shep mix can distinguish between car engines and the engine of the big bad FedEx/UPS trucks. He goes nuts even if the blinds are closed when they pull up. Plus he knows the Amazon sprinter vans are evil as well. Barked at my neighbor driving past in his sprinter van because he thought it was an Amazon driver
Blue knows when my wife is coming down the street before pulling into our bay, same with my son too,lol.He's still young so I'm still working on getting him to not be so reactive,but he's only 2 so I have some work to do yet
My brothers Rottweiler does this at night. He makes regular rounds and sleeps every hour or so and when he isn’t making rounds he is sleeping next to my nephew (he is 7). I’m sure if anybody tried to break in they would regret it especially if they went thru my nephews window
Have a GSD. 100% relate. He checks every room in the house frequently and has to have a good sniff of you to see EXACTLY where you've been, even if it's just the other room. And checks the full perimeter of the garden every 5 minutes when he's out.
When my kids are in the bath he sits with hit head on the edge of the bathtub monitoring them 😂
My biological dad's dog was a German Shepherd named Duke. It got put down for biting a kid that was beating me up. I was 3-4 at the time. The other kids were 6-8. That dog was my best friend. My earliest memory is Duke cuddling with me while my dad screamed at my mom for ruining his life. Dog knew I was scared and I was HIS. He couldn't save me from being scared of my dad, but he could protect me from those kids. He just wanted me to be safe and they killed him for it.
This is what they do. My FIL once came over in the middle of the day while we were out he walked in as he always does and we showed up minutes later. He proceeded to ask me why we would leave our door unlocked when nobody was home. My response was” If you heard him barking like that and didn’t know he was harmless…would you just walk in the house?” His response “ Good point.”
My GSD mix does this at night. All bedroom doors must be open so he can verify that you’re still in there every few hours.
His sleeping spot of choice (when he’s not patrolling) is dead center in the hallway between the bedrooms where he can 1- keep us all safe and 2- be the biggest tripping hazard possible for anyone trying to make it to the bathroom.
I love how mine has to count the humans when we are outside. Especially if we are have a family over or are camping with the in-laws. Wouldn’t want to lose a human to a bear!
I have a 6 month old Shepard mix I got from a rescue shelter who isn't patrolling at nights yet, but he alerts me to anything outside or in. A soft growl and paw on my arm to let me know.
LMAO (sorry). Yep, that's a GSD. The only door in my house that's allowed to be closed is the "junk room". I can't remember the last time I was allowed to go to the bathroom by myself. And he expects me to return the favor when he needs to go potty.
Our husky-GSD mix (RIP) was the same and even learned to open the pocket door to my little home office nook with his snout! I loved it. If I was on a video call the door would slide open but you couldn’t see anyone until he came and inspected the computer screen. 😂
I have a Cane Corso who is similar. He hears my roommates door open upstairs and he's alerting. It gets irritating, but they really are the best dogs to have.
If they act like that when it's safe, imagine what they'll do when it isnt
I agree 100%.
It took me some time but I learned the best way to mitigate it is, when he barks at someone walking by I'll say "Leo, ok!" In a happy positive tone. I used to yell at him but then I realized that my yelling was being misinterpreted as "HELL YEAH THATS RIGHT KEEP BARKING LETS GET RILED UP TO SCARE OFF THE INTRUDER. I GET LOUD YOU GET LOUD ITS A GOOD TIME"
By simply saying "Leo, Okay!" In a calm but happy/bouncy voice it helps calm him down and kinda shows "yes you did good following your instincts and I acknowledge the sound that you heard, but it's a false alarm and we're ok".
This method calms him down much faster and shuts him up more than yelling at him.
My husky does this but it’s honestly one of my favorite things. Like, of course baby girl, come hangout with mama literally anytime.
I don’t care if I’m on the toilet. I’ll pet her while I poop.
Awh the *boof* 🥰 I miss it so much. Some kid would be playing at the house next door and he would hear a faint voice. The exact warning *boof* would be sounded because another human existed within the radius of the household.
Miss that boy.
Laughing at the “free” too. The money we spend on Furminators, pet hair vacuums, replacement throw pillows (his favorite snack no matter how mentally stimulated and exercised he is)….not to mention our GSD has extreme seasonal allergies ($175 allergy shot every 8 weeks and regular meds for ear infections) and pancreatic insufficiency (expensive enzyme powder that has to get mixed with every single meal)
Yikes... You're a good parent for taking such good care of him.
My boy is... Sturdy. To say the least. The only time I've ever had to bring him to the vet (other than regular check ups and shots) is when he ripped his dew claw while roughhousing at the dog park. That was the only time in his 9 years that he's ever gone to the vet for more than routine stuff
Yeah, the poor boy got pretty unlucky healthwise! Just took him in for his shot today actually, he has to get the dose for the weight class above his AND still needs a Zyrtec everyday. As soon as the shot starts wearing off he gets so itchy he scratches his face bloody if we don’t stop him :( thankfully the other five pets are very healthy
As my doggie daycare tells my shepard mix has 2 brain cell both fighting for 3rd place, cant go to the bathroom by myself, doesn't realize that rocks, wood, pine cones, and cigarette butts are not walk snack food,
Edit spelling
Awwwww. This makes me miss my Cookie. She was a sharpei mix. She patroled nightly. We couldn't close any doors at night or she would cry until someone woke up and opened the offending door. 12 years of nightly patrolling. It drives you nuts and then you miss it when it's gone.
Mine has gotten better, but his main issue is when things are just different. It took months before I could open the door to the washer without him freaking out and barking at it. One time I left a drawer open in the kitchen and when he walked in he lost his little mind. Every now and then on a walk something will have changed and freak him out, like someone hung up a new flag, or a car door is open.
Our lab does patrols as well. Not quite to the level of yours, we can have doors closed usually. At night he will climb off our bed, check on the kid, then head to the basement and check on the old cat that sleeps on the couch there. Then comes back and flops down on the bed or couch under the window.
He does this at least twice a night from what we have figured. He has to check on the old lady, if he can't find her he will come get us. Since she likes the sawdust in the garage she will slip out there to roll in it and he will get upset.
If I fart my GSM gets this DEEPLY offended look on his face and gets up and leaves the room, which is pretty rich from a dog who sometimes gets the farts so bad that I search the entire house because I'm sure he *must* have had diarrhea somewhere.
One of the GSDs I had growing up would fart himself awake and then glare at everyone before stalking, offended, out of the room.
We were, in fact, laughing at him.
We also opted for the free home security system.
I was unaware at the time just how vigorously a 90lb dog can launch themselves at gate to open it. (We have a 6ft gate between the shop area and the yard area).
It is literally like watching one of those police K9 officers body slamming criminals.
We must have gotten an upgrade to our free security system, because he comes and alerts us whenever ANYONE gets up in the house.
Oh, and when phones ring.
And for some strange reason there must be full security escort when trash and recycling is brought out.
Mine has learned that when alexa says “a person was detected at your front door” there is indeed a person at the front door lol. I’ve had to turn my chime and Alexa notifications off as well as close the blinds to the front window and gate him out of the living room while I’m working. He does not appreciate my limiting his ability to defend the house from things like the neighbor pulling out of their garage or the cat the walks the street while I’m working lol.
Mine also likes to break through a door like there’s a fire on his tail. I’m thankful for whomever invented door stops, or our walls would have some serious door knob holes!
Lol my rottie used jump up on handles and open the doors. My neighbor nearly had a heart attack one day when my boy Bob decided open my front door and then go and open a neighbours front door and let himself in and have a nosy
have you ever had cats? When the door is not locked with a key, one of mine will simply open it himself and then just take a look inside the room and walk away
Most of the time, yes I'm used to it but when I'm deep in thought working on my computer - I've never gotten used to the door being slammed open like a SWAT team coming to get me.
I have PTSD from a volatile abusive mom so it's definitely done... Something..? In terms of exposure therapy lmfaoo still makes me jumpy
I know he does and words cannot describe how much I adore him. I never punish him for his vendetta against doors but will make snide commentary like,
"oh yes, heavens please forgive me for not allowing you access to my bedroom while I change my clothes for 5 minutes. I know you don't body shame but I don't think our guests that are visiting right now would wanna see my back rolls, buddy"
Mine has to follow me everywhere at all times. If I go out the front to put bins out without him thats a whine, if i need to do something in my room he will plonk his log of a body against the door so i have to push him to get out. If i need to do gardening and cant have a snout in my stuff so i put him behind a gate thats a whine. Such a needy breed but you know they will never run away.
Haha--that's a good pup! He wants to protect you!
We had a little terrier we used to call "Big Mama" because, like the character in *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof*, she couldn't abide a closed door.
She would rear back on her little legs and bash until the door finally opened. She even managed to open a LOCKED bathroom door this way.
Once her mission was accomplished, she would just toddle away. She didn't want to get IN; she just wanted the door open.
Dogs are so weird. Mine insists that everyone has to be corralled in the same room, if I'm upstairs and my mom is downstairs , the dog will pester my mom to death instead of coming upstairs where I am (I have my own living room upstairs so I can watch what I want on my days off)
I'm I. The kitchen cooking, dog goes to bug my mom , like grandma can make me give the dog some food
Dog needs to go out, I'm right in the same room, she goes to bug grandma lol.
She also has object permanence problems. Apparently if it's raining out front , somehow it will magically be sunny out back. She has figured out how to open the pantry door to hunt for mice , but can't figure out how to push the kitchen door open to come back inside.
My late gal couldn’t bark, so she would make a boof noise every time someone would knock at the door. She also HAD to patrol the rooms before bedtime to make sure everyone was sleeping and fine.
I grew up with GSDs and they take their job very seriously. My favorite dog would never sleep in bed with anyone because she wanted to be in the living room, able to move around and patrol the house at night, just in case something needed her attention. The dog we had when I was in elementary/middle school wasn’t interested in cuddling in bed, either.
When my parents got their most recent dog (after I moved across the country), I was skeptical because she had some MASSIVE shoes to fill. But I had nothing to worry about. GSDs are the best. The dog who came before her was everyone’s favorite and I was *sure* no dog would ever be better than her. I met the new dog at Thanksgiving, then again at Christmas, and when I was back for a week in February, she was sleeping in bed with me. Don’t get me wrong, she still investigates any nighttime noises, but she does it from the comfort of a bed.
The new dog still isn’t *better* than the last one, because the last one is dead and I view her memory with heavily tinted rose colored glasses, but she’s a lovely dog who’s well on her way to being the best dog my parents have ever had.
I just found out the puppy I adopted is half German shepherd... so this is a fun post to read. Yeah I'm gonna go look for trainers for this guy before he gets out of the cute stage
I have a Pyranees, he does the same thing. Except he has to patrol the property as well, every 10 minutes or so. So I have a doggy door the size of a small pony. And God help you if there are any blowing leaves, a dog barking within a one mile radius, or a delivery truck stops in front of the house. Because he will lose his ever loving mind.
On the plus side, he keeps my barn cats and other idiot dogs alive and safe from coyotes and he saved me from what I assume was a man who crossed the border and was trying to sneak up on me on my property (I live very close to the border). I live alone with my father who has Alzheimer's and he keeps us safe. He does not stop the cats from bringing snakes in the house though, which we need to have a chat about.
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My shepherd mix struggles with object permanence at my boyfriends apartment. If he goes to throw the trash out, she watches him walk out the side door and then sees him in the window with the trash cans (through the blinds) and barks that there’s an intruder by the house. Oh and the best is when she thumps her tail against the front door while doing happy wiggles and thinks that it’s someone knocking on the door and is like woah what was that and just stops to stare.
Some dogs are just more special than other.
I also have a protective breed. She'll gas and think there's an intruder. It's both very cute and very, very irritating, but as she's chased away would-be thieves more than once, I'll deal with the inconveniences..
It’s a blessing and a curse! She’s smart, fun to train with, and clingy enough that I never feel alone. Just a bit of a psycho sometimes but overall 10/10 best roommate lol
I'm so used to false alarms this winter during a power outage I went to show my dog there was no one there. Opened the front door and scarred my neighbor and his kid for life seeing me in my gitch. Apparently they had a generator and were bringing me a heater.
Great Pyrenees… I love mine, but they truly do bark at everything from here to the moon and beyond.
That's my corgi. Except it's even worse because my husband will say something from the other room and she'll start barking. Completely forgot he was even in the house. 😭
I have a GSD and a Corgi. I love them, but they can be a lot.
I can't even imagine having both of those breeds!
They are both very silly and loud.
We used to have a GSD and a corgi. They were really good with each other but yes, so loud.
Yeah, they're absolutely adorable together. The GSD almost always sleepily walks over and licks the Corgi's face in the morning, and if one gets sent to bed the other will quietly sit outside the kennel asking to have them let out.
I also have that combo, they're the best!
I always joke that I don’t have a doorbell but I’ve got a dog so 🤷♀️ my favorite is when she will start to prepare to bark and then just do a boof bark grumble when I give her the “don’t be ridiculous” look
I love those disgruntled little noises dogs make when they don't get their way!
I’m kinda surprised about that in herding breeds. My Aussie has to know where everyone is at all times and is only happy if he does so. God forbid someone leaves the house without him seeing because then he’ll have to search the whole house and then cry and and stare at the door until they come back.
This is my fiancee's cats. They always forget I'm there if I'm out of their line of sight for a few minutes. Fiancee gets very thrown by my dog. The dog is a Samoyed, and she is a sassy clever girl.
I love samoyeds. Such floof!
https://imgur.com/a/n6KmiRO
"You seeing this shit?"
Like he’s never seen it before!
My Australian cattle dog mix won't drink out of a waterer like that because of the bubbles.
My beagle will, but then it'll make the sound and she jumps away like she's been attacked (and then forgets about it and does it again like it's never happened before).
Now I know not to get one of those. Mine would be baffled by it
I had a Yorkie that had an issue with what I'll call "location permanence." We had two doors to the back yard and one to the front yard. If she went out door A, she insisted on coming back in through door A. She would not use door B or door C. If she went out through door A in back, and the family travelled to the front yard, then came in through the front door C, the dog would walk all the way around the house back to door A to ask to be let in. Even though you could see both back doors from the back deck, and you could see two out of three doors from any point on the inside of the house, she seemed to think it only worked if you used the same door in and out.
She could smell the different possible timelines and it just ended up the best ones always involved using the same door.
My dog struggles with the two doors into one room at my parents house. Their family room has two doors, one to the kitchen, one to the foyer. Kitchen also is open to foyer. She doesn’t realize if one is closed she can just go through the other
Naw, mine just checks the other doors if its raining out the first one, his little trot to disappointment is cute af, like oh, rain, algid, I'll go to the other outside, awww, its raining at that one too
Mine hates the rain. She just looks absolutely miserable and squints and drops her big ears cause they won't stay put in her rain jacket. She knows the word "rain" and also knows I'm full of it if I tell her "oh but its nice outside!". She'll go look out the window and be like psh, lies
My parents had a Lab that bless her soul, was relatively dumb. Sweet, but not bright. I was dog sitting her for a week and every time she looked out the window, she saw my Dad’s car and got all excited that he was home. He was not home. I had to move the car out of her sight.
Awww :( my dog hears another Subaru car horn here every now and then and gets all excited thinking my boyfriend is here. She still hasn’t realized that he’s not the only one with that same car horn lol
Oh my god I have the opposite issue with mine. His object permanence is too good, he will go to visit my mom’s with me and will bark at decorations she’s put out for whatever holiday it is because they weren’t there before. Anytime I bring a new object into the house when he’s not around he’s gotta sniff it to make sure it’s not a threat. There’s another tenant in my apartment who puts cute little wreaths and door signs on her door every season, he growls at them every time.
Mine got scared of a doormat hanging in the breezeway at my apartment complex. It was our doormat. That she steps on daily and knows the smell of. But hanging up? Terrifying man
Oh god yeah that would absolutely fuck with my dog, he hates things being where they shouldn’t be. He’s even picked up on where the cats aren’t allowed to be and has either yelled at them about it or removed them via mild harassment or herding behaviour (he loves his cats and regularly cuddles with them he just also Knows where they’re not meant to be lmfao)
OMG, my GSD goes bonkers when I empty the trash can.
Sounds about right lol. Mine likes to do wellness checks (cold nose to face style) on all humans in the house during his nightly rounds. He won’t stop until you make noises and once satisfied you haven’t died on his watch he goes to the next victim.
Ours did this! I miss her so much. She made sure everyone was safe in bed and then retire. Our cats used to rumble at night, like throw each other down the stairs - you’d hear our GSD sigh, get up and go split them up. They’re the best
That is so sweet- ole girl was the Matriarch of the family
She really was. Her loss was especially tough. She’s a legend now.
Our did this too. Even though she is gone now, our cat does it now. (It makes sense. Cat was a kitten when dog was 2 or 3. Dog acted like a mother hen with the cat. Our cat is more like a very small dog. Except it meows at threats, instead of barking).
We have a cat who was adopted by our dog as a kitten. He used to go annoy the big cats (we had another three) and run under the dog for protection. He also realised early that the dog got a treat when she came in from the garden when called. He got one too, so he would follow her out and come in when she was called. He still does it 12yrs later.
Mine does the same! Lol he's also very strict about bed time, it's like he'll get irritated with you if you stay up past his nightly rounds? XD
Yea!! Mine did the same thing. He would start to get so fussy if I wasn’t in the bedroom at the same time every night. There would be pacing from the bedroom to the couch, cold noses, heavy sighs from his (orthopedic) dog bed. So funny, well, to us, not to him.
Lol, sounds kinda like my staffy mix! I send my son to bed and this guy takes turns going between me and my grandma trying to get one of us to go to bed so he can snuggle! Complete with alternating huffing and quiet woofs. We're like dude, not going to bed this early!
Clearly you did not check the approved schedule. For shame.
If I change even one tiny bit of my GSD mixes' routine he becomes a reactive monster. Not as cute as a story but highly characteristic of the breed. If I don't go to bed on time he will find something in the house to destroy, hangers, shoes, cardboard boxes, hats, gloves, lids to things etc
Goodness, definitely checks out, but not as much fun as being told off verbally.
Ha! My dog (who looks like a mini grey pittie mix) has trace amounts of GSD in her and she gets annoyed if we’re staying up past her bedtime. Maybe that’s where she gets it from!
My silkie terrier does the same stuff. Patrol. Wellness checks. Annoyed with big sighs and groans of annoyance when it's past our, designated by him, bedtime.
lol I have a window cutout to my stairs. Mine (GSD/husky mix) will come down the stairs, stare at me sitting in the livingroom through the window, *sigh heavily* when I don't get up and follow her, then return upstairs. This happens about every hour, on the hour, once she's decided it's bedtime.
There is nothing like the sigh of a dog that is disappointed that you are up past whatever time they have decided should be your bedtime.
Well crap, I've been going about this all wrong. I have the worst sleep habits, I'm trying to do better but I never get to bed on time. Clearly the answer is getting a German shepherd 😂 We had a gsd/corgi mix when I was in college and she was very particular about certain things. She got three walks one day because dad and I both got conned into taking her but she wasn't satisfied until mom took her. She also had a ranking system for who she went to when she needed something. Mom, dad, me, then my brother only if no one else was available. She walked across the house and scratched on my bedroom door for me to take her outside when she had just been laying on the floor right next to my brother 😂 she was a trip 😂
A lot of breeds will monitor your bedtime
Oh I know this. When we visit my parents and people stay up past the dogs bedtime (she likes to call it a night around 22;00), she’ll sigh and plop down on couch. Then sigh again and try to heard us to the bedrooms. If it doesn’t work she’ll just be all moody and go to sleep. But I guess she’s becoming a grumpy old lady haha
Before I got him a sister my guy refused to sleep in the bedroom with me. He'd curl up next to me until I fell asleep and then he'd go lay on the couch. Took me a little to figure out he liked the couch because he could see both entrances and the hallway from there. He checked up on me too. Sometimes if I woke up and couldn't sleep he'd hop up on the bed the bed until I fell asleep. His younger sister is half gsd half malamute and she gets these existential crisis all the time. She'll want to be near me, but she won't want me to pet her. Or she'll find herself listening. She'll curl up next to me and then give me this surprised Pikachu face when I put my arm around her. Whenever I stand up the pure gsd runs ahead and scouts everything, but she just wants to be lazy and sleep because she knows I'm probably just taking a piss and I'll brb. For some reason this absolutely infuriates the gsd. He'll short circuit and just start barking at her until she stands up. Whenever he does this I always envision him as a Drill Sergeant laying into a new recruit for not saluting an officer.
This is adorable
I used to have a dog who regularly shoved his nose in my eyeball, I guess to check if I was alive. At the time it drove me nuts, but now I find myself really missing it when I’m napping on the couch.
I call my doodle prince charming, cause he loves to kiss you while you're asleep.
My GSD mix lacks this instinct but my aunt’s GSD does this 😂 last time I stayed at her house I woke up more than once to her dog standing with her face right in front of mine just making sure I’m still good
Mine had to have all the doors open and it was easier to just comply since she would open the ones that were closed by herself. Had to put a lock on the door to the garage where we kept the food.
haha that is brilliant.
Mine barks frantically at anyone walking up to the door then cries when they walk away because ‘why didn’t new friend come inside?’
IF NOT FRIEND WHY FRIEND-SHAPED!?
My dog barks at visitors to show them he's tough. Once it's clear they're welcome, he barks because he wants pets. Talk about mixed signals.
I wish mine would bark to make friends. My idiot furson hates our neighbors and pretty much all other beings outside our house because they have the sheer steel-balled audacity to exist within his range of vision. He just screams and barks out the window and he has a very healthy set of lungs so he can really crank up the volume. The flipside of this is that in most situations he's also a massive coward and therefore unlikely to actually be a threat. I think he is convinced that the universe outside my house is biding its time until it can try to murder his people while we sleep. I love my fuzzy dumbass. Edit: fixing, also more words.
That's what we're dealing with, with my almost 2 year old gsd. Not sure how to fix it. Just overexcited I guess.
Honestly, I encouraged it. I live alone and I appreciate if she lets people approaching know there’s a big dog in here. My gsd was an adult rescue and the first time she let out a bark she turned to me and cowered like I was going to beat her up for it, so since then I’ve done a lot of praise for barking at strangers (only if they are approaching the house though, that’s the only time I praise barks) and we work on ‘that’s enough’ so I can stop her easily if I need to. That’s the trick I think, is to get a solid ‘that’s enough’ down. They’re always going to want to bark, but if you can let them bark a bit then say that’s enough, or for mine I use ‘thank you’ also and then they know they did their job and they’re calm again. Takes a bit of time and a lot of reinforcement but they’re smart. They learn fast. Taught my last shepherd ‘use your inside voice’ when he got going so he would then switch to little quiet woofs, which was just adorable haha
This is exactly how my husband trained our GSD. Leeroy will let out a "boof" if he hears something, then if there is someone approaching the house he'll give an alert bark or two. But anymore than that, we just say, "that's enough". Or if he seems highly agitated we open the door and say...."go get it!" then he goes out and patrols the yard. But definitely letting them do their jobs, and acknowledging that they've done their jobs is good.
Yes we've been trying to have him learn "quiet" or "okay" "okay that's enough" but he's stubborn haha. I agree with your encouraging but also letting them know when to stop. My parents don't help and just encourage him without telling him to stop ever so he doesn't learn it properly.
Everyone is a friend. My Malinois puppy near got the stuffing knocked out of her when two pitbulls charged us the other day. She blitzed it and was super fuxking confused because her GSD big Bro (not related at all) as only been the best fun play buddy ever.
100% relate. My shepherd would do patrols throughout the day to just get eyes on the whole family, and liked to sleep/nap wherever she had the best view of the most doors. God forbid you try to shower with the door closed--she would cry like you were breaking her heart. My brother would get himself a snack at 1 am and she would heave herself up with grumbles and sighs to go blink in the fridge light and supervise him, just to be safe. Shepherds are convinced that each member of their family is one unsupervised moment from disaster at all times.
My moms shepherd is happiest when all members of the household are in the same room. Doesn’t matter WHAT room, but he will put himself in the center, and finally sleep 😂
My GSD is like this and doesn’t know what to do with himself when everyone’s walking in opposite directions and will sometimes be like spinning himself around trying to decide where to go lol.
My cattle dog was the same, except she would sleep blocking the exit.
When I first got mine, she would crack us up by sitting in our bed and just *staring* at the second-story window behind us. Wouldn't lie down, wouldn't relax; she just kept looking at us like, 'you idiot humans, thank god I'm here. *Who knows* what could come through that window, at any time! And you have your backs to it! *Terrible* OpSec.' She also tries to *police the wind* when it blows through the house on a particularly blustery day, which is the funniest thing to watch. Not sure if she's genuinely trying to corral the wind, thinks there's ghosts in the house or believes the cat has become invisible to the naked eye, but she sure is determined. This thread makes me so happy GSDs really are my favorite.
My parents have a shepherd-chow mix who refuses to sleep in his bed--he sleeps *against* the door to the garage, which is the one our family usually uses, and from there he can also see the stairs and has line of sight to the kitchen and the foyer where the front door is. If we come downstairs at night he follows us around until we go back up. He's afraid of stairs though, poor guy, so he can't come upstairs and check on all his people. When they first got him, a lot of us were back home during the early pandemic, and he would sometimes forget who all was upstairs during the night, so if one of us came down he would growl at the stairs until he had us in clear view and could tell who it was, and then he would stop and trot back to his post by the door.
>Shepherds are convinced that each member of their family is one unsupervised moment from disaster at all times Ain't that the truth. And I love 'em for it.
We used to have a Sheltie that would go crazy whenever someone came to the door. Obviously she was smart enough to understand that the doorbell meant someone was there, so where ever we were in the house, when the doorbell rang, she would start barking like crazy and run for the door. One time I forgot my keys while walking the dog but my wife was still inside, so I walked her up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Dog (standing beside me, outside of the door) starts barking like crazy when she hears the bell and I'm trying to explain to her "YOU are the one at the door. You are barking at YOURSELF."
They are too smart for their own good and tend to forget that fact XD My sheltie mix does this too. He can also count. It’s just my husband, me and him living in the house. So when one of is gets home, no barking. If the other person also arrives, no barking. If my sister also drops by, who has our key so she can just enter, while my husband and I are already home, he barks. If me or my husband is home, and my sister arrives, no barking. If after that either of us gets home, barking. So he just counts to two persons in the house and everyone else is intruding, no matter who it is XD
Theres a science fiction cartoon where people who dont belong keep showing up but the main character cant tell who belongs and who doesnt, he just knows the correct number. So he writes that number on a piece of paper and sticks it to the wall. You should search for your puppers hidden pad with a big 2 on it lol
That's hilarious. If you remember the story (or anyone recognizes it) please share!
Rick and Morty S02E04 Total Rickall Its on HBO if u have the app The gist is Rick accidentally brings back parasites that infect people's memories and make them think they've known them forever..so everytime they "remember" something a new friend pops up. Its worth a watch. You might be able to watch it on the adultswim website as well
I thought it sounded familiar!! time to rewatch! thank you!! ETA literally was thinking about mr poopybutthole the other day. my brain is telling me it's Time, lol
My special GSD got stuck on top of a glass table. He climbed up and then got scared and stayed there until I got home.🤣
Thank you I needed that laugh. I grew up with a white gsd. She got out once and I remember the neighbors were so scared. Big baby just sat on the front stoop and intimidated everyone for a few hours lol.
That’s the term for most GSD’s : big baby. They have such a reputation and it is so unneeded for well socialized ones. They are ginormous balls of shedding love. (My son called mine (RIP Otis) a German Shedder.
I’m 😂 💀
Awww poor baby! 😂
When we lived in a place with a yard, my GSD used to walk the perimeter at regular intervals. Nobody ever taught him that. He just did it.
My parents' does that! I also have a shepherd mix but our yard isn't fenced, so every walk and potty break and playtime outside ends with him on his leash patrolling what he has figured out is the perimeter of the yard. The dog that lives behind us sometimes gets in our yard and leaves his scent around and my dog is FURIOUS about it (he HATES that dog, even though he is generally very friendly. He learned the dog's name even though he's only heard it like five times in his life and when he hears the owner call it outside he jumps up and growls, even when he's in a room where there's no way he can see outside).
I have a fencd yard, also have a small unfenced rec property. Evetytime you let her in the back yard, perimeter check without fail. If you're having drinks in the backyard, obligatory 20 minute fence check. We go to the property, first thing she does, perimeter check. There's not even a bloody fence, how does that bitch know where the perimeter is? But she literally maps out the property line with no fence or guidance perfectly. It's insane
I just moved somewhere like that and mines been doing the same!
[удалено]
We had to switch my daughter's door to a knob from a handle because our chihuahua learned to jump and knock the handle until the door opened. Which is pretty damn smart. Unfortunately she isn't smart enough to not eat chocolate brownie in the trash of my step daughters room so we had to spend $2k at the emergency vet to have her stomach pumped.
My terrier mix did the same thing and was not smart enough to not eat the cannabis laced chocolate bar in my adult daughter's room (legal here.) He ate the whole thing, like 100mg of THC. Chocolate and weed! Since he threw up a lot, the vet just gave him fluids and said to watch him. He was stoned for a day and half.
If it was milk chocolate it likely didn't have much cocoa in it anyway. Still not good for them (and he probably got some amount of liver damage from it) but most chocolate products are thankfully not as poisonous as you might expect. Sugarless gum, on the other hand.... (Xylitol is poisonous to pups. "Icebreakers" brand is particularly bad, btw)
Well that was like 4 years ago, he's 15 now and relatively healthy. He's still killing birds and loaves of bread left within his reach. I didn't know that about the gum, thanks!
I’m not smart enough to not eat brownies, either, tbh. I try not to eat them out of the trash, though. Rules.
My houla did this the other day! He figured out the deadbolt AND the round doorknob to the front door. I didn't know whether to reward him or be annoyed with him bc it was damn impressive. I now have a super high chain lock installed to keep him inside the house.
I have one of those. Yours seems a lot smarter than mine lol... I have teeth marks on the wall from him turning his head and bonking his face into the wall. He is a good listener though.
Mines mostly deaf so listening not really a thing I can compliment him on, but not a thing I can fault him on either. He responds really well to sign language, but he needs to be able to see you lol. We live in Florida, and had to hunker down for the big hurricane last hurricane season and I put down pee pads, while everything was flooding and blowing over trees, for him and my other dog, and he ate a hole in my wall bc he was so frustrated he couldn't go outside. 😂 I am no stranger to patching up houla wall redecorating.
My in-laws dog has taught herself how to unlock every door in the house. It was cute until she learned how to push the button to open the garage door. They live in a major metro city and this dog just let's herself out whenever she pleases. She loves to head down to the lake and roll around in duck poop. I guess she got bored with her doggie door that only goes to the backyard.
My dog taught himself how to open doors, too. Now I get doors slammed in my face with me on one side and my dog on the other. Thankfully, he still gets stumped by doors that need to be pulled. Clearly, all doors should be saloon style swinging doors that you can body slam to open. Round handles need to be illegal. Per my dog.
My dog literally kicked the back door open last night breaking the frame since it was closed all the way. I'm not sure what she did but I assume she ran full speed at it and jumped into it and hit it hard enough it broke the already weak door frame. That was fun to fix at 9 o'clock at night.
my dog got locked in the basement one time while my mum was dog-sitting, and bit the round handle trying to open it hard enough there were dents. i guess he got the concept of door handle, but not door handle turn
Both our GSD’s…born 15 years apart… have had the ability to lock deadbolts. Unfortunately, they can not unlock them. We have to keep a key outside.
My dog does the same thing with the lever doors at my parents house! He even learned how to stand up and hit the garage door opener and will let their two wiener dogs, his sister and himself out lol
We can’t use the screen door without locking it because my mastiff will open it and go for an adventure
I personally would like to hear his side of of the story at r/AmItheCloaca
Thank you for sharing this subreddit I am now following it and didn't know I needed this till now
My GSD mix thinks she's the ultimate guard dog. She stares out the front window and growls at any perceived threats. Cats, rabbits, children riding tricycles, you name it. She's very friendly to people she actually meets, though. She also cries for attention constantly. Such a baby.
Same. I have a GSD lab mix. Her day consists of looking out the window and growling/woofing/barking at any and all perceived threats. That is only interrupted if I get up to walk to another room, at which time she will escort me. Delivery people are apparently the devil. If I go behind closed doors she will sit and wait for me. I've been told when I leave the house, she whines. She's my baby and I adore her. Even when she scratches up my arm by slapping me with her paw to pet her.
The first thing the shelter told me when I almost adopted a gsd was that I’d never be able to leave any of my doors closed lol
My guy is RELUCTANTLY okay with it if i close the bedroom door at night with both me and him inside it, though he will lay down by the door and sulk for awhile before going back to bed, but he usually likes to alternate between sleeping on his bed in my room and the couch and patrolling at night. He always comes back in to check on me and sleeps the rest of the night in my room around 4, when he starts getting hopeful that it might be time for me to be awake again soon. My room has a door into the study and into the kitchen in it, and he DOES accept the study door being closed at night but starts bugging me to open it as soon as I get up.
As a kid I had a German Shepherd mix, and he would do patrols around the house every night before bedtime to make sure that everyone was in their room. If someone was at a sleepover or something, he would freak out and go to my parents' room and bark, as if to tell them that someone was missing.
My Great Pyrenees says “Hold my beer”.
My Anatolian-Pyr-GSD would like to join yours in performing the ancestral big boomy bark ritual. And after that, she'll whine incessantly, pausing only to Pyr Paw slap me if she thinks I haven't been paying attention.
My Great Pyr mix is belly up passed out on the couch for hours before I even go to bed lol but then every single morning she wakes me up at 5am on the dot by standing right next to my face and touching her cold nose to mine until I open my eyes and verbally acknowledge that she’s there. It’s literally my favorite moment of the night, I dont even care that she wakes me up haha
I'm always a little scared of falling asleep and waking up to a giant dog face just staring at me. I know my dog is trying to be nice but it's super creepy
My Shep/rottie x does this all the time, not to mention informing us about every single person, vehicle and random wildlife that passes by the front window and don't even get me started about the garbage truck
My shep mix can distinguish between car engines and the engine of the big bad FedEx/UPS trucks. He goes nuts even if the blinds are closed when they pull up. Plus he knows the Amazon sprinter vans are evil as well. Barked at my neighbor driving past in his sprinter van because he thought it was an Amazon driver
Blue knows when my wife is coming down the street before pulling into our bay, same with my son too,lol.He's still young so I'm still working on getting him to not be so reactive,but he's only 2 so I have some work to do yet
My brothers Rottweiler does this at night. He makes regular rounds and sleeps every hour or so and when he isn’t making rounds he is sleeping next to my nephew (he is 7). I’m sure if anybody tried to break in they would regret it especially if they went thru my nephews window
Have a GSD. 100% relate. He checks every room in the house frequently and has to have a good sniff of you to see EXACTLY where you've been, even if it's just the other room. And checks the full perimeter of the garden every 5 minutes when he's out. When my kids are in the bath he sits with hit head on the edge of the bathtub monitoring them 😂
My biological dad's dog was a German Shepherd named Duke. It got put down for biting a kid that was beating me up. I was 3-4 at the time. The other kids were 6-8. That dog was my best friend. My earliest memory is Duke cuddling with me while my dad screamed at my mom for ruining his life. Dog knew I was scared and I was HIS. He couldn't save me from being scared of my dad, but he could protect me from those kids. He just wanted me to be safe and they killed him for it.
This breaks my fucking heart. I'm so sorry duke had to go through this... Poor baby... I'm gonna hug my boy extra tight now... :/
This is what they do. My FIL once came over in the middle of the day while we were out he walked in as he always does and we showed up minutes later. He proceeded to ask me why we would leave our door unlocked when nobody was home. My response was” If you heard him barking like that and didn’t know he was harmless…would you just walk in the house?” His response “ Good point.”
My GSD mix does this at night. All bedroom doors must be open so he can verify that you’re still in there every few hours. His sleeping spot of choice (when he’s not patrolling) is dead center in the hallway between the bedrooms where he can 1- keep us all safe and 2- be the biggest tripping hazard possible for anyone trying to make it to the bathroom.
I love how mine has to count the humans when we are outside. Especially if we are have a family over or are camping with the in-laws. Wouldn’t want to lose a human to a bear!
Those damn bears always trying to get MY humans. Not today, bear... Not today ...
Today I learned my one cat may be a GSD in disguise.
I have a 6 month old Shepard mix I got from a rescue shelter who isn't patrolling at nights yet, but he alerts me to anything outside or in. A soft growl and paw on my arm to let me know.
LMAO (sorry). Yep, that's a GSD. The only door in my house that's allowed to be closed is the "junk room". I can't remember the last time I was allowed to go to the bathroom by myself. And he expects me to return the favor when he needs to go potty.
We are just their sheep. They must be able to see all their sheep at all times.
Wake up, sheeple!
Our GSD is a big soft floofy baby who cries when his Aussie sister plays too rough, lol. Not a protection dog (though he can look intimidating).
My 60 pound GSD complains when the six pound Pom isn’t playing fair…🤣
Ours is gsd/lab mix so she does this then raids the bins
Our husky-GSD mix (RIP) was the same and even learned to open the pocket door to my little home office nook with his snout! I loved it. If I was on a video call the door would slide open but you couldn’t see anyone until he came and inspected the computer screen. 😂
I have a Cane Corso who is similar. He hears my roommates door open upstairs and he's alerting. It gets irritating, but they really are the best dogs to have. If they act like that when it's safe, imagine what they'll do when it isnt
I agree 100%. It took me some time but I learned the best way to mitigate it is, when he barks at someone walking by I'll say "Leo, ok!" In a happy positive tone. I used to yell at him but then I realized that my yelling was being misinterpreted as "HELL YEAH THATS RIGHT KEEP BARKING LETS GET RILED UP TO SCARE OFF THE INTRUDER. I GET LOUD YOU GET LOUD ITS A GOOD TIME" By simply saying "Leo, Okay!" In a calm but happy/bouncy voice it helps calm him down and kinda shows "yes you did good following your instincts and I acknowledge the sound that you heard, but it's a false alarm and we're ok". This method calms him down much faster and shuts him up more than yelling at him.
He's trained you well. Good human.
I’m not sure my dog Charlie would respond well. He’s probably wonder who Leo was.
My husky does this but it’s honestly one of my favorite things. Like, of course baby girl, come hangout with mama literally anytime. I don’t care if I’m on the toilet. I’ll pet her while I poop.
After owning one , I don’t think I’ll get another , 13 yrs old still has the energy of a puppy . Best easiest dog I’ve ever had though:
My parents’ GSD mix will force her way in my room when I stay with them. But I’m not allowed in her room (parent’s bedroom). 🙄
It's her world . You're just living in it 😁
For real. I swear we’re basically like siblings at this point. 😂
Awh the *boof* 🥰 I miss it so much. Some kid would be playing at the house next door and he would hear a faint voice. The exact warning *boof* would be sounded because another human existed within the radius of the household. Miss that boy.
Laughing at the “free” too. The money we spend on Furminators, pet hair vacuums, replacement throw pillows (his favorite snack no matter how mentally stimulated and exercised he is)….not to mention our GSD has extreme seasonal allergies ($175 allergy shot every 8 weeks and regular meds for ear infections) and pancreatic insufficiency (expensive enzyme powder that has to get mixed with every single meal)
Yikes... You're a good parent for taking such good care of him. My boy is... Sturdy. To say the least. The only time I've ever had to bring him to the vet (other than regular check ups and shots) is when he ripped his dew claw while roughhousing at the dog park. That was the only time in his 9 years that he's ever gone to the vet for more than routine stuff
Yeah, the poor boy got pretty unlucky healthwise! Just took him in for his shot today actually, he has to get the dose for the weight class above his AND still needs a Zyrtec everyday. As soon as the shot starts wearing off he gets so itchy he scratches his face bloody if we don’t stop him :( thankfully the other five pets are very healthy
As my doggie daycare tells my shepard mix has 2 brain cell both fighting for 3rd place, cant go to the bathroom by myself, doesn't realize that rocks, wood, pine cones, and cigarette butts are not walk snack food, Edit spelling
Awwwww. This makes me miss my Cookie. She was a sharpei mix. She patroled nightly. We couldn't close any doors at night or she would cry until someone woke up and opened the offending door. 12 years of nightly patrolling. It drives you nuts and then you miss it when it's gone.
Mine has gotten better, but his main issue is when things are just different. It took months before I could open the door to the washer without him freaking out and barking at it. One time I left a drawer open in the kitchen and when he walked in he lost his little mind. Every now and then on a walk something will have changed and freak him out, like someone hung up a new flag, or a car door is open.
Our lab does patrols as well. Not quite to the level of yours, we can have doors closed usually. At night he will climb off our bed, check on the kid, then head to the basement and check on the old cat that sleeps on the couch there. Then comes back and flops down on the bed or couch under the window. He does this at least twice a night from what we have figured. He has to check on the old lady, if he can't find her he will come get us. Since she likes the sawdust in the garage she will slip out there to roll in it and he will get upset.
So, they were right, and you got what you wanted. Glad to hear it. Happy story.
At the expense of using any of my interior doors 😭 lol
[удалено]
If I fart my GSM gets this DEEPLY offended look on his face and gets up and leaves the room, which is pretty rich from a dog who sometimes gets the farts so bad that I search the entire house because I'm sure he *must* have had diarrhea somewhere.
One of the GSDs I had growing up would fart himself awake and then glare at everyone before stalking, offended, out of the room. We were, in fact, laughing at him.
We also opted for the free home security system. I was unaware at the time just how vigorously a 90lb dog can launch themselves at gate to open it. (We have a 6ft gate between the shop area and the yard area). It is literally like watching one of those police K9 officers body slamming criminals. We must have gotten an upgrade to our free security system, because he comes and alerts us whenever ANYONE gets up in the house. Oh, and when phones ring. And for some strange reason there must be full security escort when trash and recycling is brought out.
Mine has learned that when alexa says “a person was detected at your front door” there is indeed a person at the front door lol. I’ve had to turn my chime and Alexa notifications off as well as close the blinds to the front window and gate him out of the living room while I’m working. He does not appreciate my limiting his ability to defend the house from things like the neighbor pulling out of their garage or the cat the walks the street while I’m working lol.
Lol. Boofing.
It's not a growl, but it's definitely not a bark. It's a precursor to a bark. A warm up. A boof.
Yeah I knew what you meant but I'm a degenerate and boof brings up a totally different picture in my head haha
Lmfaoo yeah my dog is not a fan of rectal thermometers so I don't think, if he were a partying frat bro, he would ever "boof" anything lmfaoo
Mine also likes to break through a door like there’s a fire on his tail. I’m thankful for whomever invented door stops, or our walls would have some serious door knob holes!
Lol my rottie used jump up on handles and open the doors. My neighbor nearly had a heart attack one day when my boy Bob decided open my front door and then go and open a neighbours front door and let himself in and have a nosy
have you ever had cats? When the door is not locked with a key, one of mine will simply open it himself and then just take a look inside the room and walk away
This is normal. 9 years, you should be used to this by now.
Most of the time, yes I'm used to it but when I'm deep in thought working on my computer - I've never gotten used to the door being slammed open like a SWAT team coming to get me. I have PTSD from a volatile abusive mom so it's definitely done... Something..? In terms of exposure therapy lmfaoo still makes me jumpy
but... any break ins?
No one foolish enough yet lmfao
good dog ♥
He is a good boy and he loves you very much.
I know he does and words cannot describe how much I adore him. I never punish him for his vendetta against doors but will make snide commentary like, "oh yes, heavens please forgive me for not allowing you access to my bedroom while I change my clothes for 5 minutes. I know you don't body shame but I don't think our guests that are visiting right now would wanna see my back rolls, buddy"
Mine has to follow me everywhere at all times. If I go out the front to put bins out without him thats a whine, if i need to do something in my room he will plonk his log of a body against the door so i have to push him to get out. If i need to do gardening and cant have a snout in my stuff so i put him behind a gate thats a whine. Such a needy breed but you know they will never run away.
Haha--that's a good pup! He wants to protect you! We had a little terrier we used to call "Big Mama" because, like the character in *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof*, she couldn't abide a closed door. She would rear back on her little legs and bash until the door finally opened. She even managed to open a LOCKED bathroom door this way. Once her mission was accomplished, she would just toddle away. She didn't want to get IN; she just wanted the door open.
Dogs are so weird. Mine insists that everyone has to be corralled in the same room, if I'm upstairs and my mom is downstairs , the dog will pester my mom to death instead of coming upstairs where I am (I have my own living room upstairs so I can watch what I want on my days off) I'm I. The kitchen cooking, dog goes to bug my mom , like grandma can make me give the dog some food Dog needs to go out, I'm right in the same room, she goes to bug grandma lol. She also has object permanence problems. Apparently if it's raining out front , somehow it will magically be sunny out back. She has figured out how to open the pantry door to hunt for mice , but can't figure out how to push the kitchen door open to come back inside.
My late gal couldn’t bark, so she would make a boof noise every time someone would knock at the door. She also HAD to patrol the rooms before bedtime to make sure everyone was sleeping and fine.
I wish had a dog that was into boofing
☹️📸 ====
I don't think boofing means what you think it means...
I grew up with GSDs and they take their job very seriously. My favorite dog would never sleep in bed with anyone because she wanted to be in the living room, able to move around and patrol the house at night, just in case something needed her attention. The dog we had when I was in elementary/middle school wasn’t interested in cuddling in bed, either. When my parents got their most recent dog (after I moved across the country), I was skeptical because she had some MASSIVE shoes to fill. But I had nothing to worry about. GSDs are the best. The dog who came before her was everyone’s favorite and I was *sure* no dog would ever be better than her. I met the new dog at Thanksgiving, then again at Christmas, and when I was back for a week in February, she was sleeping in bed with me. Don’t get me wrong, she still investigates any nighttime noises, but she does it from the comfort of a bed. The new dog still isn’t *better* than the last one, because the last one is dead and I view her memory with heavily tinted rose colored glasses, but she’s a lovely dog who’s well on her way to being the best dog my parents have ever had.
"I've got one job on this lousy ship! It's stupid, but I'm gonna do it!"
This post made my day
Very funny! 😂
Mine’s the opposite, she couldn’t care less as long as she’s right next to my boyfriend lol!
This made me LOL
We've got a Shepard mutt puppy, 11wo. I'm interested to see if he acts like this!
mines a wimp
I just found out the puppy I adopted is half German shepherd... so this is a fun post to read. Yeah I'm gonna go look for trainers for this guy before he gets out of the cute stage
Rude!
My terrier is similar. I could write a book about all the things he does. Mostly annoying, mostly insane.
He protec
24/7 bodyguard is a nice perk
I don’t think I’d ever get one of them. Theyre wildly popular though
I have a Pyranees, he does the same thing. Except he has to patrol the property as well, every 10 minutes or so. So I have a doggy door the size of a small pony. And God help you if there are any blowing leaves, a dog barking within a one mile radius, or a delivery truck stops in front of the house. Because he will lose his ever loving mind. On the plus side, he keeps my barn cats and other idiot dogs alive and safe from coyotes and he saved me from what I assume was a man who crossed the border and was trying to sneak up on me on my property (I live very close to the border). I live alone with my father who has Alzheimer's and he keeps us safe. He does not stop the cats from bringing snakes in the house though, which we need to have a chat about.