[mommariffic]

First, I am a dog person. I love dogs, and have spent so much time working with/rescuing and loving dogs since I was very young. DD who's 2 is the same way, and we currently have a Bernese mix and a German Shepherd.

I've posted before about Logan, our Shepherds "issues" He was a rescued dog, but we got him as a young puppy and raised him well. He's very, very submissive -- everyone that comes over absoutely loves him. He's a mush and will sit by you and beg to be pet until the sun goes down if you let him. He also adores other dogs, gets along well with cats etc.

So he sounds perfect right? I feel like an a$$ typing this

but he's impossible to live with. I am pregnant, have a toddler, and while I've put work into him doing all the things I know/have read how to do with a submissive dog, it's just not working!

He is nervous around my daughter, and if she goes to hug him he will growl/rumble [it's not really aggressive] under his breath. I can say with confidence he wouldn't bite her, but she can't even go near him without him feeling INCREDIBLY uncomfortable. The same goes for my husband or I: if we discipline him in ANY way he pees all over the floor and runs in circles with his ears down. He also just randomly pees in the house and when I try to let him go outside [without yelling even if I want to] he runs/pees everywhere yelping.

It's SO frustrating for me.

he will be sitting on the bed while I read perfectly happy, and all of the sudden I will move my position and his ears go back and he's peeing everywhere. He barely listens, and nothing, no training or behavioral modification is working!

it's so hard for me to love him when everyday I'm taking care of a toddler and having him pee/growl and just feel so nervous around all of us. I kind of want to adopt him to another home but I feel guilty about that.

What would you do?

 

[greenmagick]

First big

.....that is a hard situation!

Have you worked with a behaviorist at all? Behavior modification can be a bit tricky in extreme cases and you may be unwittingly marking or rewarding at the wrong time. This may not be the case at all, but thought Id throw it out there.

The other possibility is maybe he needs medication. I totally dont like the idea of using medication to supress or control behaviors that can be modified, but if there is really something wired wrong in his brain, maybe he needs it.

 

[RooRooDog]

Does he have a crate? I had a submissive dog, though not as bad as yours, who loved his crate. We never locked him in it or anything, but just having a special place he could go to when things got overwhelming for him seemed to help a lot. Also, what the previous poster said about a behaviorist/ medication.

 

[Violet2]

No advice. We are in a similar situation. Experienced dog people and dog lovers and we have this submissive weirdo dog now that annoys the hell out of everyone.

He's even been fired from pet sitters for being too obnoxious (nervous, clingy, inappropriately territorial--peed on their kitchen garbage can). Our other dog, people regularly offer to take her and keep her, but no one wants our lump. At night, he literally buries his head in DH's crotch to the point we have to kick him out of the living room so we can just be left in peace.

DH's boss would take him, but we're afraid the boss would hold it against DH.

He was a cute puppy... He's a good looking dog.

If he didn't eat poop until he reeked of it we might be able to tolerate him better.

Anyway,I understand how you feel. Good luck!

V