Help! Dog is starting to get agressive towards other dogs

[Muchadoaboutnothing]

Hi all.

I have a 10 month old shepherd who is a very lovey and gentle dog in everyway and very obedient.

She was chased a few times recently by other dogs and has now started to growl and bark and snap at other dogs

She lives with a collie and has two other dogs come to play at my yard on a regular basis and has no issues in these situations, it seems to be only when we are out walking/visiting etc.

So I am just asking for some advice on how to help her. I think it's very much a scared dog thing as she was fine before being chased. I am aware that she is a big dog tho and when she starts barking and growling other owners snap at me even tho I have her right by my side.

To me she seems like she needs to gain confidence again.

Any suggestions welcome!

I want my dog to be happy and chilled again.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Whereabouts are you, look into attending a good training class, particularly a breed specific one, where she can be socialised with other dogs and everyone will be on the same wavelength.

This is the age where a lot of shepherds tend to turn into 'big time Charlies', it's their teenage delinquency and feel the need to protect themselves and their packs so you have to remind her that, no, you'll do the defending, try hard not to tense up or act nervous when you see another dog approach as she will just pick up on that and mirror the behaviour.


She's a young dog trying to assert herself, and us humans find the way dogs assert themselves as rude....(if she was an awkward teenager, or a scared person, she would say 'go away! Leave me alone! but as she is a dog, she does it with growling and teeth.) don't blow it out of the water and make it a bigger issue than it has to be, remain calm and in control, if there's a bit of argy bargy, just keep moving, remain calm and firm, smile and be on your way, don't turn it into a tense handbags-at-ten-paces Mexican stand-off with raised voices and nerves and sweat. Because it will be even worse the next time.

You might want to start her on focus training, which means, if she wants anything, she has to be looking at you to get it, food, a treat, praise, play with a ball - is she ball driven?
Start at the home in little ten minute bursts, when you're doing the dishes or watching the soaps, ask her to 'watch' you and be looking at you and the longer she holds your gaze, the bigger the reward.
You then take it out to the garden, out on the street, in the park - if she is not looking at you, then she gets nowt, if she is looking at you, awesome things happen - therefore making you much more interesting and rewarding than other dogs.

 

[Muchadoaboutnothing]

Your pretty spot on CC!

I'm quite a chilled person so try not to make it an 'issue'

I've given her a quick nudge to stop the stare which seems to work and called her away for a play etc I think it's just the social side that worries me.

I'll look around for a training group.

It's nice to know that a few of them go through the 'bigun' phase.

Years of experiance with horses but none with dogs

 

[CorvusCorax]

I had years of experience with dogs but this one really threw me

As you say, get her attention, good work, if she is ball driven, take a ball-on-a-rope out with you in your pocket, play with her instead when you see other dogs coming, keep it active and positive, there's nothing worse than letting the dog zone out and get fixated on the other dogs. When passing, keep moving, I used to think I was being polite stepping out of the way and sitting, but that just increased the tension, when we meet people now, if I see them trying to let us pass I ask them to keep walking, bit like a nappy horse, leg on, forward, forward, forward, oh dear, what was that, who cares, we're past it now, good girl.

What rough area are you in? PM if you prefer.

 

[suzyqet]

I'm having similar issues with my new 6 month old GSD pup.
We are starting training classes next week but CC couldnt have put it better if she tried.
Like you, ours is fear related but we try very hard to distract her but fuss, treats, play etc if we see other dogs approaching.
I try to explain to people before they get too close that she is a big baby, and we met a lovely family the other day with 3 dogs, who took the time to stop on their walk and let the dogs all spend time with each other, and what started off with her barking, ended up with them sniffing each other quite calmly.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[Pix]

Mine is also having issues at the moment! He's a similar age too, 8 months. Although his thing is yelling his head off at strangers on walks (although not if they have a dog, people with dogs are apparently OK. And some people without dogs are OK. But not all of them, most are definitely plotting against him ) we get much bouncing up and down, one step forward, one step back, bounce bounce, bark bark.

I made it worse initially by doing as CC said and trying to get him to sit at the side of the path (they're quite narrow here) out of the way. But that just gave him the opportunity to fixate on them. Regardless of how much chicken or cheese I was feeding him, and how much I ramped up the focus work, he would eventually ignore me in favour of fixating on the oncoming stranger. I think what really made it worse though was once he had done it a couple of times randomly, I was expecting it every time and would tense up.

I just march him past now. I also recite prime numbers, as I can't worry about how he might react if I'm busy counting primes. He's shown a lot of improvement over the last week or so, so I doubt it will last forever, it's just really embarrassing at the time

 

[Rose Folly]

My dog trainer always tells us to communicate to our dogs that we are in charge, and our dog doesn't have to worry about other dogs because we are there to do that for him/her and WE'RE not worried. He came out on two occasions and worked with our very difficult (at that time) rescue foxhound/Dalmation cross on a one to one basis, using neighbours' dogs (with their permission) as 'the other dog'. Ours has improved out of all recognition, though dogs on leads can still on occasions wind him up. He's great with off-lead dogs.

 

[MurphysMinder]

Nothing to add to CCs reply. Shepherds do often go through this teenage stage. Often people will have gone to a basic puppy class and then stopped, so by the time the yobbish stage starts they are no longer undergoing controlled socialisation. I would definitely recommend finding training classes, breed specific if possible but if not at least with a trainer who is used to shepherds. I kept going to "pet" training with Evie until she was 2 because we don't meet many people round here and I wanted to carry on her socialisation. She will occasionally have a mutter at other dogs if we stop and talk on a one to one, as poor Dax will testify.

 

[SecretSquirrell379]

I also recite prime numbers, as I can't worry about how he might react if I'm busy counting primes.(

i'd be useless doing that, just tried it and didn't get past 1!!!

 

[Pix]

i'd be useless doing that, just tried it and didn't get past 1!!!

3

Counting doubles is a good one too. The only problem being you get into longer digit numbers quite quickly, then I get all confused and forget where I'm up to