Young male Giants?

[kell]

hi Sianny
I was just talking about my giant and how great she is but I do realise how difficult they can be - Luath is my 4th and I have always had bitches ( my mini was a boy but a gentleman). I have been pinned in the bed, knocked on my back, or my feet knocked from under me. Over christmas my son went into the kitchen and there was Luath on top of the work top! She doesn't chew things but does shake everything to death. You have to be prepared for a large boisterious dog that thinks they know better and you have to continually remind them that you know better. Boys are different but with training and an understanding of big dogs then I am sure they can be trained. I will try and keep an eye on my pups throughout their lives and as this will probably be my only litter I can keep in touch. I am still unsure whether I should keep a pup or buy a standard as two giants may cause chaos.
Anyhow I agree that people need to be realistic but also not put off having a lovely friend. kell

[Sianny]

So it's not accessing the worktops you need to watch, but standing on the worktops! lol

Your Luath sounds just lovely - nice to have a positive spin on things

[GIANTlover]

I Agree with all of the comments that young male Giants can be difficult. My Husband and I had looked into Giants and after two years decided that we were ready. We found a breeder (unnamed) and went to see her to ask her advise on having a male or female, this was to be our first dog and I would be on my own as my husband works abroad. She had at the time only boys left in her litter and we decided to take her advise and chose our beautiful boy. We love him dearly but wow has he been hard work! So stubborn and tends not to listen to anything you say unless he decides to want to do it, he even barks at you if you tell him off and then continues to carry on, he's eighteen months and only yesterday he had chewed our leather sofa, within seconds of just popping upstairs to take the washing up. He constantly wants attention and does anything to get it. He has plenty of exercise, he comes running upto 6 miles with me (which I love and he really enjoys it) and he has a beautiful country park pretty much to himself where he chases rabbits till his hearts content. I play stimulation games with him and I do feel that he is getting better and our relationship is forming, but its not without tears. He has had residential training twice, which cost us a fortune,but within weeks he was upto his own tricks. We love him dearly though and my best times are when he falls asleep with me at nigh and he wakes me up with a big cuddle and kiss (followed by trying to chew something) Im in no doubt our bond will just continue to grow stronger and that all our hard work will pay off one day Just wanted to share my first male giant experience x

[MattW]

G.L

Sounds like you need to first control your environment, although its hard try not to give the dog opportunity to chew valuable items. Is he crate trained? Does he have his own space? Don't be afraid to put him into his bed / cage / room whilst your not with him. If he's getting plenty of exercise (which it sounds like he is) he won't mined a chance to snoooze and you will have piece of mind that he won't be up to no good.

Residential training can be good BUT you need to continue the training and build on the foundation he's been given. You'll find that when he goes back to the training center that he'll be well behaved again, this is because the behaviours have not been proofed. Have you taken him to training? or have you thought of looking into doing a sport with him? http://ukgiantschnauzer.suntuubi.com/?cat=1

hope it all works out for you.



Matt

[GIANTlover]

Hi Matt

We have a crate, hes normally ok though while I pop upstairs for a few minutes. He has his own room and a lovely big dog house but he's only interested in being around me.

We have done training classes since we had him at 8weeks. Thank you for the link, I would love to get him into sports so will be contacting them for some information.

Regards

Hayley

[dannie_kl]

Thank you for being so honest Giant Lover. Dogs arent easy all the time but the love they give us often makes us able to forgive whatever naiughty mischief they've made. I hope you find Matt's link helpful and im sure the others here will give you any help and advice you need. what area do you live in if you dont mind me asking? maybe there is someone near you and you can maybe's work together or even just walk together at times?

[Mud Mops]

After hearing some very upsetting news about a 19month old male giant, who took control of his owners and environment, I can't stress strongly enough please read about the breed, meet some young males before you decide and if you have ANY doubts about being FIRM enough DO NOT have one. It will only end up badly!

[GIANTlover]

Hi dannie_kl

Jakes love cerainly makes it all worth while

It would be fanatastic (party) to find any other owners in our area, we will be moving up to North Shields Tyne and Wear. He's going to love the beach! (hubbahubba) And were hoping more contact with other dogs will do him good. We are very rural at the moment in the North Pennines.

Kind Regards

[Caramomo]

GIANTlover send montykins a pm, I believe she is in the Newcastle area and will be adopting a giant, Dylan, tomorrow!

[montykins]

I've pm'd Gaintlover.

[GIANTlover]

Caramomo

In contact with montykins

Thank you

[dannie_kl]

excellent! i am sure you two will enjoy many walks with each other and your two boys and hopefully even provide a bit of support on the days they really want to try your patience. brill, i am so happy we have found you a walkies friend!

[GissyGiantSchnauzer]

I agree that big dogs aren't easy to maintain. They need special care and love. One more thing is that the owner should be physically fit to keep up with these dogs.

[michellejy]

I have a question about the Giant battle of the sexes. If you missed my other thread, I have always had Dobermans, and my husband and I are strongly considering getting a Giant now that our Dobe has sadly died at a very young age of cancer.

Young adolescent male Dobes are generally the ones who end up being rehomed or in rescue as well. In broad, general terms, the males are considered goofy and more like puppies for longer. The females are generally more stoic. Most people consider the males to have a more intimidating look (due to size), but the females actually develop the protective instinct at a younger age. Again, those are broad generalizations, but I'm wondering if Giants are similar in the male vs female traits.

[BFG]

It has been very interesting reading through this thread.

I hadn't realised quite how good Spencer my 7 year old Giant is now, which has obviously been down to our hard work in getting him to this point in his life. Hubby and I have just adopted Alfie (previously Buddy) from Mike Whitney and I guess it wasn't until we have started experiencing a young male at his 'bes't again you realise how far your older dog has come.

Spencer was our first dog and he had me in tears on many occasions, I was lucky I didn't have to work and I could devote all my spare time to him. my kids at the time were 8, 11 and 13 so not too young and we had done our research and we were commited to making it work.

We never had a problem with chewing, we did not allow bad habits to develop, they were nipped in the bud immediately.

We have gone right back to basics with the new one, he is a kleptomaniac, he can't help himself, teatowels, socks, potatoes, tissues, compost bags, my hubby's diabetes tablets to name but a few things he's had this week! He also steals food, something Spencer has never done, I could leave something on a low table all night and he would never touch it, Alfie on the other hand would scale mount Everest if there was food involved!

My advise would be don't get one or any big, intelligent powerful dog if you don't have the will power to match because he will get the better of you mentally. Having said that we came through ok and Spencer is a remarkable dog, everyone loves him he has a presence about him, in my eyes he is one in a million!