# A nice but bonkers German Shorthaired Pointer



## querqus (Jan 22, 2010)

Hello we are the owners of a lovely nine month old male GSP. 

We have a major problem. When he is walked, he runs a some pace towards people and launches himself on to strangers thighs. This is dangerous as he has done it to an old lady and I hate to think what could happen if it carries on. 

At the moment he is walked in fenced-in forestry land but I long to take him out where he can meet other dogs, but to be honest with you I am a bit worried about it. When he is walked on his own, recall is good and not much problem. When he sees a person/dog/horse I just think that he thinks it's party time! I am thinking that he now senses that I am getting anxious and maybe plays on that? Also if I take hime through town, and as GSPs are rare around here, he gets so much attention which just makes matters worse.

I would love to hear if anyone has any advice on how to calm him down.

Many thanks.


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## hawksport (Dec 27, 2009)

Do you make him sit every time he meets somebody?


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## querqus (Jan 22, 2010)

If he is on the lead yes. But if we are out walking and he sees someone/thing far more interesting than me, he is off like the clappers and once he is up and running he goes 'deaf' on me and then decides to launch himself onto the object of his interest.


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

querqus said:


> If he is on the lead yes. But if we are out walking and he sees someone/thing far more interesting than me, he is off like the clappers and once he is up and running he goes 'deaf' on me and then decides to launch himself onto the object of his interest.


You need to take steps to ensure that YOU are the most interesting thing around. Why is everyone else more interesting?

Work on a more solid recall in GRADUAL stages, working up from "no distractions at all" to "slightly more distraction" to "lots of distraction", not moving to the next step until the previous one is 100%.

You need to stop him doing this, as he could end up hurting someone. Remember, under the DDA a dog doesn't have to actually injure someone; it is enough for them to FEEL intimidated/frightened so you don't want to risk upsetting the wrong person...

If you must let him off while you're working on your recall/being more interesting to your dog than anything:

Have him on a long trailing line attached to a HARNESS, not a collar, so that you can prevent him rushing up to people;
Be more vigilant about spotting people approaching;
If you walk somewhere that has other dogs/people/horses popping up from nowhere so that you CAN'T react in time, don't walk there for a while. Find somewhere you can see things coming more easily.


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## Clodge (Mar 23, 2009)

Hi

I have a GWP and unfortunately 'jumpy-ness' is part of their nature which is why we have to be very careful around people. If you have people approaching your dog, you need to warn them he is jumpy then if they continue then that is their choice (you'll also find it is always people dressed in white that approach when you've just walked through the mud ). The problem we have is the same in that because they're not a common dog, people go straight to the dog and not to the owner. When people go straight to Otto, we firmly tell them that he's jumpy but if they start talking to us rather than the dog we find he calms down as he's no longer centre of attention. You may feel that you're the most unsociable person to begin with but people will udnerstand.

There's also a Social Group for German Pointers and there are a lot of GSP owners who may be able to help you.


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## ArwenLune (Jan 3, 2010)

I just saw this yesterday, might be useful? YouTube - Dog Workshop demo | AskDrYin.com

Dr Yin is awesome - checked out the articles and movies section. AskDrYin.com


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## Colliepoodle (Oct 20, 2008)

ArwenLune said:


> I just saw this yesterday, might be useful? YouTube - Dog Workshop demo | AskDrYin.com
> 
> Dr Yin is awesome - checked out the articles and movies section. AskDrYin.com


Dr Yin is brilliant


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## mum2three (Jan 5, 2010)

querqus said:


> Hello we are the owners of a lovely nine month old male GSP.
> 
> We have a major problem. When he is walked, he runs a some pace towards people and launches himself on to strangers thighs. This is dangerous as he has done it to an old lady and I hate to think what could happen if it carries on.
> 
> ...


Hi, no this is some months old but just came across this page while googling. This sound exactly like my 7month GSP. He is a lovely dog and he doesn't have a nasty bone in his body, but he charges at dogs (not letting him off at all at the moment) and jumps on people who want to fuss him (I do warn them as they approach). It seems the jumping and madness around dogs is a breed specific thing. Hope your training has gone well.


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