No, but then he is given a command that lets him know that this is the time when this behavior is allowed. Without the command he wouldn't think of acting like this. Many people who do schutzhund type training on their own neglect to train that command and so wind up with an aggressive dog. The command is only half of it though. The other half is that after each tussle I pat him and stroke his fur, scratch around his ears and other such endearments that re-enforce his warm and gentle side just as the actions before honed his aggressions. That, and during the aggressions he is taught what is allowed and what is not. To him, it amounts to play wrestling like you might do with your brother or friend when you were a kid. So Odin is quite friendly with other dogs. He's never started a fight.

Odin wasn't strictly the Viking god of war, btw, Tyr was the god of war. Odin was the king of the gods and the god of wisdom and to some extent war as well but mostly honor in war. Tyr was the god of war itself. I named him Odin because all my German Shepards have had Teutonic names and Odin's father's name was Thor (though in the Norse myths it was the reverse). It was prophetic to have named him after the god of wisdom as Odin is the smartest Shepard I've ever had by far and they aren't dumb dogs to start with.

Well, my girlfriend didn´t do it by her self, and if i remember right they gave the dogs that kind of orders...The thing is that we began to see Gina a little bit more touchy to fights.. but she didn´t began any...She is too kind, but I wouldt like to see her mad...She is 40 kg now and 69 cm tall, a bigger than a dobberman female should be, she is a little bit masculine,
when she pees she lift her leg just like a male! She is really dominant!!

Well, I don't like stereotyping anything least of all dogs, however, Dobermans do have the reputation for all that you've described. They tend to be more aggressive than German Shepards. Not more capable though some would argue that. I should also say that I've seen some real sweet dispositioned Dobbies too. I know of one that loved a kitten like it was her pup. God help you if you bothered that kitten though.

When I was in college my best friend had a Dobbie about the size of my German Shepard. When they met the Dobbie attacked my dog and the two fought until they were both worn out. Neither won - it was a draw. After that they became good pals. Evidently they decided they could both be "top dog".

Wow nice pics Charge, man, I really want a big dog now.

Do you guys take your dogs to doggie parks? I went yesterday and saw a bunch of different sized dogs and they apparently could get along fine. My dog was too afraid to leave me so the whole time I was sitting on the bench she was hiding underneath it. There would be dogs coming over to greet her and taunt her for a chase but she was too chicken to go out. Hopefully with more visits to the park she'll get used to other dogs and become more social.

How badly do German Shepards shed?

This is my west highland, his name is dusty....you can imagine why...
He is kind of wild...



He loves hunting...birds,lizards,mouses,rats,cats....

Zyca, yes I do bring Odin to parks. There are no dog parks here specifically, however, dogs are so omnipresent here that all parks amount to being "dog parks". It was at such a park that the woman I mentioned in one of my earlier posts in this topic approached me. She was amazed that Odin picked up all his toys and put them back in the car after only being told "okay, it's time to go". She asked me to teach her kids to do that.

Socialization is a very important lesson that all dogs should learn and have the lesson re-enforced - particularly if you have a large dog. I bring Odin with me everywhere I can. As he is a schutzhund level 3 he is also a volunteer tracking dog. He even has one "save" to his credit. Last year he picked up the scent of an elderly man with alzheimer's who had wandered off. The man had gone into a woodland path that was easy enough going and the weather was warm. He might very well have been found anyway the next day as the path circled back into town, but maybe not. Who knows? Odin got the credit none the less. He's been on a few other searches but that's his only success so far. Other dogs have found the missing on his other searches first, but his being on call is rewarded and appreciated. In recognition of this, Odin has a "rescue dog" vest and is allowed to go into any building with me by law - the same as seeing eye dogs. So socialization is vital for him.

Stauro, Westies are nice dogs. Having three grandparents who were West Highlanders themselves, I've often thought of getting one myself someday. Maybe it will be the dog for my elder years. As for being "wild" well terriers are pretty much their own dogs. They don't seem to have the pack instincts of other dogs so much and are consequently quite happy to do their own thing. Then again, it could just be because they're Celts.


Socialization needs to start as early as possible.
Here's some pics of Odin playing with a Golden Retriever he made friends with.
Odin is just 7 months old in these pictures.

Staruo, cool Westie. It looks so perky, nice.

They don't seem to have the pack instincts of other dogs so much and are consequently quite happy to do their own thing. Then again, it could just be because they're Celts.

Ehehehehe, this explains many things...he´s a "Brave Heart". He is never afraid of big dogs, actually he likes to show up with them, not with the small ones...

He is really independent,i used to live in a small fishing town in northern Spain, and he usually left home by himself and come back at the next morning completely dirty and tired...who knows what he did..., you could noticed that he arrive because you could hear him barking down stairs.
Now he is 10 years old, but he still have tons of energy.
He is in Spain now, so i miss him...

As Charge said, I think is really important that dogs get used to his buddies, this way you won´t have an antisocial dog.

This is gina & dusti socializating:



In this link you can see more pictures( Gina with the donkey is pretty funny )

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16...cializando.jpg


This is gina in dusty´s bed..very funny too!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16...ncamadusti.jpg

Links aren't working, Stauro.

Why does Dusti have to be in Spain without you?[/list]

Ooopss, sorry!

Here are the photos:





gina in dusty´s bed...


Dusty can´t be with me because I live in Sweden with my girlfriend in a 30 square meters apartment, and 2 dogs and 2 humans is too much, that´s why he is with my parents in Spain