# Aggression towards the hose/water



## TankGrrl66 (Mar 29, 2010)

I think this is prey drive, but I wanted some opinions.

One of my GSDs has an obsession with the hose...but really only with the water that is coming out of the hose. The faster the water comes out or higher pressure it is, the more intense he gets.
If allowed, he will fanatically snap at the water, and make his way up to the hoze nozzle and bite that. It isn't cute. It really is not fun to have this 85lb+ dog come running up to snap the water when, for ex: You are just trying to rinse off your hands...he will still snap for the water and almost bite your hand off . This is really why it is a problem. That, and it does not seem to healthy for his mind.

If he cannot get to the water, he barks non-stop and tries to lunge at it. He just goes crazy. 
He has "beheaded" one hose. He chews it just past the nozzle(we have one of those that clicks to different settings, the bulky ones). The other two have teeth marks and small chunks bitten off from when he does manage to sneak around and get them.

What I have tried: Telling him to sit-stay. It works by a thread, and has brought an element of control. However, as soon as I turn my back and move to water other plants, etc...he races up and starts the bahvior all over...He will sit again but if given a 1 cm he will take a mile. He only responds to verbal praise at this stage. No rewards or bribing him with food...he just does not care for it. I have tried. 

Correcting him: This is what improved things to the point of the sit stay. He at first did a 'touch and go' sit. Whenever he got up I corrected him on lead, he would sit and stay, then I would praise him for obeying the command. Now he is at the point of a verbal NO, but I am the only one in the household that can make it work so far.

All bets are off when the hose itself is within 3-4 feet of him. I had to muzzle him to give him a bath today so he would relax and give up on trying to bite the hose. I had initally hoped that a bath with the hose might help(he actually really likes water/baths) but it had no effect.

So I have a small system in place...but I would really love any advice to get rid of this habit entirley...Anyway to lose his interest in the water? 

Sorry if the post is a little long or if I did not make anything crystal clear. Just ask and I will be happy to elaborate 

Thanks


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

My dog has the same problem. He was at a boarding kennel in a run while they were rinsing another run out. He starting screaming so loudly that all the staff came running and they thought there was a medical emergency. They checked him for injuries several times, then checked the other dogs near him. Finding none, they went back to work and discovered the actual problem.

My dog goes to a full-out, dangerous place with the hose, a shovel, and rollerblades.

Fear of God training was all that worked. There is NO positive reinforcement work that was effective for me.

Be very careful with the water. I was told that it could trigger bloat or a potentially fatal drop in electrolytes.

My dog would blow up like a wood tick when he battled my hose.

What worked: Slow water flow (or blading or shovelling). When dog got within 10 feet, I would yell "MINE" and charge him. He is more afraid of me than he is compelled by these triggers. I added speed/water flow as he learned. For people who would say I am cruel, this dog was OVER THE TOP. I use clickers and treats and compete in 3 venues. I believe in positive. But my dog was actually dangerous with these triggers and I couldn't live with him. I had a 4 tooth punction wound driving my determination.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

You mean there are other dogs that do this? I really thought I had the only one.










I haven't found it a major issue, once I was aware of it. Watering the garden is tricky and, if I'm using a pressure washer, I make sure she's in the house.


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## bianca08 (Mar 28, 2010)

my 2 y.o staffy would do this, i would make a game out of it, although she didnt go for my hands mainly where the water would land on the ground, i also found it annoying when watereing, but if i growled at her she would restrain herself... i guess she knew when it was a game and when it wasnt.

i found it to be great exercise for her to spray the line of water everywhere and she would go crazy chasing it around (i must say though when i did this with her she went into some sort of crazy mode and all her attention went on the water!!

i never found it to be a problem, maybe a bit of a hindrance, but being your dog is so big i guess it wouldnt be much fun, what you have to do is make sure the dog knows your in contol and its only okay when you say its okay.


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## TankGrrl66 (Mar 29, 2010)

thanks trainingjunkie, I will try that out. I'm sure you understand the pain of the positive stuff not working. It gets pretty frustrating. What is amusing as well is this dog completly ignores negative reinforcement as well. The squirt bottle, the shaker can, leash corrections, etc. 
He isn't really afraid of anything...things you would think a dog would be afraid of only piss him off. Thankfully he knows the meaning of No.

I try to just put him up in the house, but of course he goes ballistic. He bulldozed the screen door right over trying to get at it one time. I really do not think it is healthy for him to be that obsessed over something. I think I may have to go with the idea to make it sometimes for play when I say so, all other times MINE.

The issue of bloat is a very real concern...He is a big and deep chested GSD. Bloat is up there on our list of doggy nightmares of the vet variety. 
He also has some issues with his hips, or soemthing that has been making him limp for about a week. He sees the vet tomorrow about this.
But, he will still go nuts chasing the water, and when it is put away will limp off  I wish he wouldn't aggravate it.

I will also try making it a game sometimes. The part of him snapping right where the water comes out has got to stop...we often have children over, and them getting their fingers bitten off by trying to keep them clean is unacceptable.


Thank you for the quick replies and the cute lab pic 
I understand the puncture motivation. I've got that one with handler aggression which reared its ugly head with my first GSD when I first got him. some scary stuff


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## dogloverz (Mar 30, 2010)

turn off the water everytime he start bitting the hose.. repeat this process. good luck


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

Good Luck Tankgrrl66! Hope it helps!

As weird as it sounds, I felt much better about my relationship with my dog once I knew I could dig, blade, and water the grass safely in his presence. He is 100% cured of the shovel and the blades, and he is 90% with the hose. Every now and then, he needs a reminder.

Watch for other weirdness though. I had to re-visit arousal stuff with kids playing basketball and with my family throwing the football. He started to get really dumb about that stuff, but recalls with rewards cured that without me being psycho. Now he can lay in the grass and hang with the boys as they play. It's a better life for him now that he can control himself.

Does your dog's tongue curl and his lower jaw bounce and vibrate when he gets worked up? Weirdest, spookiest thing ever and a sure sign that it's time to re-direct. Actually, a sure sign that it was time to redirect 5 minutes ago...


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

trainingjunkie said:


> Good Luck Tankgrrl66! Hope it helps!
> 
> As weird as it sounds, I felt much better about my relationship with my dog once I knew I could dig, blade, and water the grass safely in his presence. He is 100% cured of the shovel and the blades, and he is 90% with the hose. Every now and then, he needs a reminder.
> 
> ...


The part in bold is the part to remember! Auz LOVES the hose. If I stood there with him on a leash, and kept the leash tight and popping it while yelling STOP STOP STOP, it would probably rev him up more. He has a very good leave it (out), and it's non-negotiable. His respect for out is larger than his drive for the hose, so it works. Occasionally we'll play redlight greenlight with the hose (I stop the water and tell him to down, the faster he downs the faster he gets what he wants). Also, he knows "get back" and is NOT allowed to leap AT the nozzle and bite it. I would stand behind a fence and shoot the water up and over so he learned chasing the water was more fun than attacking the nozzle.
Hard Core:









Gentle:


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

I never tried a leash when I was working with my hose-eater. That probably would have gotten us both killed!

My dog came from a back kennel at a place where they decided to "save" him. He sat in a filthy, awful kennel for 6 weeks. He was not taken out of the run as no one wanted to handle him. They would shovel out his crap and hose out his run with him in it. It was the only stimulation he received. He didn't see daylight for 6 weeks. They talked about euthing him over his increasingly bad behavior towards the hose and shovel.

When I met him, there were a dozen piles of crap in the run. He slept on concrete. He had no bedding or toys. The run was in a shed, no access to the outside, so he had no dog house either. All four pads of his feet were bloody and infected. He was sticky with urine. While I am grateful that they "saved" him, I wish they would have done a better job. I'm pretty sure his reactivity blossomed in that environment.

I am also sure that he would have been plenty of dog even without the confinement!


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

trainingjunkie said:


> I never tried a leash when I was working with my hose-eater. That probably would have gotten us both killed!
> 
> My dog came from a back kennel at a place where they decided to "save" him. He sat in a filthy, awful kennel for 6 weeks. He was not taken out of the run as no one wanted to handle him. They would shovel out his crap and hose out his run with him in it. It was the only stimulation he received. He didn't see daylight for 6 weeks. They talked about euthing him over his increasingly bad behavior towards the hose and shovel.
> 
> ...


I can see where his obsessions cropped up, as well. I knew a border collie who was "saved" in the same manner. He wasn't a mean dog, but was very OCD and practically insane. He would spin like a top at the first sight of a leash (and was worse once the leash was attached, consequently, no one wanted to walk him or do much with him). With nothing else to do, he amused himself by chasing shadows (common in BC's, but this is the worst case I ever saw). The new family named him Shadow (how fitting ) He ignored treats, toys, balls, people...he would stand in a corner, staring at his shadow, and then dart away, spin 15 or 20 circles and then go back into the corner to stare at his shadow. ALL day. That's ALL he did. I don't think they were ever able to cure him of it


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## trainingjunkie (Feb 10, 2010)

Mine has gotten over almost all of it. He moved on really, really fast. He's a happy bugger, but going over the top will always be an issue! Funny how fast they move on. He house-trained almost instantly, which you wouldn't have expected. To this day, he tries to poop out the fence at the back of the property. Crazy, zany, fun dog!

Worth the hose stuff, worth the early drama.

Dogs are so awesome!


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