Number 1, i am not an animal lover or an animal hater for either cats or dogs. I have 3 cats (2 outside, 1 inside) and 1 dog. I have a history of a previous medium sized house dog for 15 years, when it passed away of old age, i was happy to have my life back, no more cleaning up messes, ruined flooring/carpet, scratched furniture doors, chewed up things, digging, messy yard, urine stained snow, messy car, and no more hair. I was dog free for 3 years. Then, last spring, my spouse decided to get a german shepard puppy, didnt even ask my opinion. I absolutely cannot stand this dog. It is hyper. It has to sleep in a kennel in our room or would tear the house down. It is in the kennel at least 8 hours during the day because we both work. When out of the cage, it turns in circles to the point of distraction, snagging up the carpet as it goes, it has damaged my couch, chair, outside plants in the ground, rips them right up, shredded brooms, cardboard boxes (UPS delivery + its contents left on the porch), basically total piarrhana dog wants to eat everything, also eats feces (its own & the litter box treats) it wants to maul and jump all over you all the time, needless to say it is now almost a year old and is about 5 ft tall when it stands on its back legs, it will snap at your face when it jumps, stepping on its back foot doesnt work, down, no, etc commands dont work, it is ruining my new back door with the jumping on the door to be let back in, it wants to maul your arms all the time and bite, i have not taken a nap on my couch for almost a year for fear of being bitten in the face if doze off, i cant even sit on my couch to watch TV without being mauled. My child disappears to the bedroom and only comes out to eat dinner. Dinner is a joke it runs around the table begging and pretty much can sit and reach anything at the table to pull it down, kitchen countertops too, it doesnt even have to get on its back legs to reach anything to get it off the countertops. it chases and mauls the cat so much, the cat is probably ready for a nervous breakdown (declawed). the dog is fed and watered properly, has plenty of doggie things to chew, nylabones, pigears, giant rawhide bones, a leather shoe that is "its" property. the dog has been to the vet, is fixed, shots etc and all that is taken care of. it has a electric fence in the yard and knows the perimeters, that was the only thing it learned easily, only went over that fence once. I am in the process of moving to a new home, that i have to remodel, we are going to be putting in thousands of dollars into this home. i absolutely do not want this dog in my house, or for that matter, outside ruining my yard either. how can i convince my spouse to get rid of this dog, give it away, etc. we are not home enough to give it the attention it needs, no time for those recommended long walks and exercise, weekends in the summer are not free, etc. this dog absolutely does not fit our lifestyle and it was a huge investment ($600 dog + $300 fence/collar + vet bill, food, etc) that we cant get back, also feeling guilty that this dog has "bonded" if you want to call that myself and child are terrorized by this dog and neither one of us can absolutely stand this animal, small dog would have been more tolerable, but this large dog (he wanted it for to detour trespassers) is just inexcusable, but also feeling guilty that dogs are pack animals, and this "pack" is sometimes a 12+ hours working family. Extremely hard to convince the spouse that they are wrong etc. i think that the spouse actually would rather be without this dog. Everyone (family/friends etc) that has heard the situation or knows the dog, says to get rid of it. what do i do short of getting a divorce, which i have threatened. i will be fair in saying that the cats, i would be happy to see them go too, tired of cat hair, litter boxes & coughing up furballs. Any advice?
It is all about management. First of all, GS’s are very active dogs. They are working dogs. They need to be stimulated and worked. Your dogs needs to be active. Take him to the dog park. Take him for walks, etc. He needs to be active. This breed is known for needing an active lifestyle.
Basic obedience classes will help tremendously with getting him to settle down. He needs positive reinforcement training. That will not only settle him down for your sake, but give him something to do. Work so to speak.
I understand your frustration, but it truly is all about mgmt.
Check in your local area. PetsMart, PetCo, in-home obedience trainers or even some community colleges offer basic obedience classes for their community.
Good Luck!