@JourneymanGeek I'm sure Jeb had a good trainer, he just didn't have pet parents who followed through on the trainer's advice and expected the trainer to work miracles
Thankfully the attack incident made them get a little more serious about some of the training, particularly around the aggressiveness he'd been showing
I don't know what kind they were getting, but I do know consistency is required. I'd lightly train our dogs growing up (sit, stay, speak, shake, etc) which got them to follow instructions pretty well in general
The main issue is that Jeb has an aggressive/resource guarding issue that they refused to address, just brushing it off even when he was snapping at other people. It took an emergency room trip to get them to take it seriously.
We had a dalmatian when I was growing up, those can be quite aggressive in a guard dog kind of way. Couldn't entirely be trained out, but he learned quickly who was "permitted" and would be permanently fine with them.
So the electric meter reader was fine, but when they sent out a substitute without warning, he got snapped at (and admitted it was his own fault because a lot of farm dogs have guard tendencies)
My other housemate's GSDs are pretty soft too, one's also anxious but they do love pets once they know you
Alpha (the dalmatian) wasn't particularly a softie, but he'd respect you if he knew you were allowed, and absolutely run you off to the point of attacking if he thought he needed to if he thought you weren't
@JourneymanGeek I always do the same, I usually run into dogs at the vet or pet food stores, if they approach and look like they want pets I'll ask permission and let them sniff me first
I've only been bitten once and it was my own damn fault so I never held it against that dog (I scared him and I knew better)
Kind of like with that substitute meter reader, he knew damn well he shouldn't just get out of the truck without making sure the dogs were secured or friendly, he only blamed himself
He was generally a great dog, but he also really taught me that dalmatians aren't necessarily the best pets :D He had a whole farm to run on and was never leashed or collared, so he was able to burn his energy well, can't imagine having one without that space
Yeah, this house has a large lot and fenced yard, so the dogs can be turned out into it to run (though in our current weather, they usually just go out to pee, and sometimes have to get pushed out for that)
