my partner’s family has a 3 year old intact female GSD (getting spayed soon.) my partner’s family didn’t really do any training of her, so most of her training has been done by myself and my girlfriend whenever we’ve been with her in the last year or so.
she’s a pretty good girl and is fairly smart and motivated by praise, stimulation, and food to a lesser extent. she’s quite trainable but there’s a huge obstacle, which is the classic herding dog barrier reactivity. whenever she sees the cat downstairs through the screen door she locks in and obsessively patrols until she’s either allowed in (she doesn’t chase the cat, she’s frustrated by the barrier. she just walks towards and sniffs the cat) or the cat goes away for like 10+ minutes.
she displays displacement/redirection onto her toys, but she doesn’t bite people when she’s frustrated. the main issue is that it’s clearly stressful for her and when she’s in patrolling mode she doesn’t stop. she’s mostly an outdoor dog. she won’t take treats or toys or praise or anything when she’s “patrolling,” all she wants is for the barrier to be gone, which obviously can’t be done most of the time.
any advice? i only see her 2/3 times a year for a few days, so most of the training onus is on my partner and her family (although my partner spends about half of the year with me in a different state)
submitted by /u/yikesthanos
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