German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[farkum]

I am in the process of adopting a rescue dog. She if 15 months old and sounds like your typical GWP, except for a couple behavioral problems we are going to need to work on. I know she is going to be a great companion and she has already shown the potential to be a good hunting dog too. She is not gun shy! I have a couple questions that I was hoping could be answered here.

First in the home she is living in currently she took very much so to one of their dogs and if another one of their dogs starts to play with that dog she gets aggresive toward it. I am worried being that I have no other dogs that she is going to get too attached to me and in four years when someone tries to get close to me she will become aggresive. It may sound dumb but my granpa's dog was like that to the point that he couldnt shake people hands in front of the dog (although he never trained his dogs). Is there anything that I can do to prevent this from happening? She will be in the house with three other people who will take her on walks and play with her. She will also be meeting new people on a daily basis to help her with her socialization. I am hoping that the socializing with others besides just me will help prevent from becoming too defensive around me.

My second question is about training. I know how to train the basics (come, sit, stay, etc) but wouldnt mind having a trainer to help a little because she is 15 months old. I would also like the same trainer to be a hunting trainer close enough to me that I can go out in the field and work with the dog and trainer. I really want to train her myself and have the pro there more to teach me. I live in Bozeman, Montana, does anyone know a trainer in the area that they would recomend? Also I have been reading about "clicker" training but have never heard of it or at least never heard it called that. Anyone want to enlighten me in this subject?

[marymurr]

If you are speaking about Willow...we had discussed her issues, and she will need positive reinforcement.....she will crumble under the demands of most gundog trainers. Please email me if you are speaking about Willow.

Mary Murray
murr41@yahoo.com
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