Aggression towards people outside of family

[Bear2010]

We have a 9 month old male german shepherd. He is a great dog w/ my family, including 2 children (ages 11 & 7) He has a fear based aggression issue toward other dogs, which i am told. We are currently working on that issue. Some days he's good w/ that training, some days not so good. Anyway, more importantly, we have noticed his increase in aggression towards people, when trying to come into our yard. We noticed this the other day when my younger daughters friend & mother came over. He was kind of ok w/ the mother, just zoomed in on the little girl who was so scared of him, (hes a big boy) to our SHOCK he went lunging towards the girl barking & growling, trying to bite her. I dont even want to think about what could have happened if I had not grabbed him. Where is all of this coming from? We are beside ourselves w/ his reaction to her. We thought we were doing things right w/ obedience training, always letting him know he is not leading, I am. We initiate play, always making him work for whatever he gets ( food, treats, toys, petting, affection) He has never been aggressive towards us, on occassion will try & nip or mouth our hands, when this happens we stop whatever attention that is being given to him. We need help in teaching him he is not to make the decision whether someone is good or bad, we decide. If we need his help we will alert him. He certainly did not make the right call on this innocent little girl. We thank God that nothing happened & want that scary incident to be the last. Please help us, we are eager to listen train & learn!

[ChrisNJudy]

Hello,
Start with knowledge and understand what you have with a GSD. They are natural protectors and resource guarders, so you will definitely have to manage what you have.
Lunging a little girl is a serious problem and potential issue for you. So the first thing I would suggest you start working on is getting your GSD used to a muzzle. Check out the blog section, Mike actually just did a really good blog on muzzles and how to get the dog used to it. Start with this and make sure he has this one whenever around strangers and even on a leash. Especially while you are this early in the training.
Next, I know you stated you are doing good with the leadership stuff in the pack structure section. Maybe re-read it again and make sure you are very technical with everything in it. With a aggressive dog, you will want to make sure there is question in the dogs mind as to who is leading.
Next you will have to make sure the dog doesn't have any restless spirit, so make. Sure to read that section and work that out with your little buddy.
Question for you is, was there anything around that could have caused resource guarding (I.e. Food bowls, toys, bed, or just maybe you or or kids.) was this first time it happened and is just with your kids friend? What did you do when this happened?
Any information you can provide us will help pin point what is happening.

Start with the obedience as well, so this way..once it is completed, you will have more control of the situation. Just remember that this takes time, so do not rush through or skip steps. That will only set you back in the wrong direction.
For now, manage the problem as much as you can now with the muzzle or even putting him in the other room for the time being.

We will look for your response with the details so we can get you on track.

Thanks
Chris

[abndogos]

Hi. Would also like to ask if your male is intact or neutered? At this point, if you dont have intentions on breeding him, I recommend neutering. I think you also need to read up a little on the GSD and what their purpose for being created is. They are herding and police dogs, so his responses to strangers coming into your yard are part of their genetic makeup. He is nine months old and starting to mature and come into his own. Chris is correct in saying to follow on these forums and start out with the basic Phase 1 obedience. You also need to help him work off some energy, for GSD's are working dogs and look for jobs to do if you don't give them one. Obedience is a great place to start. Rewarding him with a ball if he has high ball drive works great. Good luck and keep us posted.

Maureen

[Bear2010]

Hi Chris, I do know what I have in my GSD. I have been blessed W/ them for the last 12 yrs. My dog I have know is the complete GSD, & along w/ a lot of good things, their are a few diffucult ones. As hes getting older he is by far becoming super protective of our family & home. He does do a lot better out of our yard/home. He is approachable w/ sm. children & people of all kinds. The exact way the situation was that day went like this, all 4 of my family members were outside along w/ 2 strangers who were going in & out by the driveway (we were having our well worked on) My dog was gated up on our deck when the little girl & her mom arrived. I was out in the driveway greeting them. I had asked my husband to let him off the deck because the mom wanted to see him. As he came bounding down off the deck we all walked in the yard together, he checked out the mom for a second, then his attention was on the little girl who was very scared, wrapping herself around her mothers legs in sort of like a circular motion, it looked as if my dog was trying to get to her to chase, check her out I dont know? She was also holding a plastic bag in her hand that he was trying to check out, after it all happened my husband said he thought he saw him go for the bag. He also has a fear issue, gets scared over the silliest things & objects. He just didnt like it & started barking frantically & went in towards her. The little girl said she felt him on her hand (no marks thank God) This makes me wonder about the bag? Anyway, I grabbed him very quickly while my husband ran over & put him inside telling him no, no, no! He put him in his crate. The only thing around was my family (my 2 kids who he adores) my husband & me. No food, toys or bed. But we were in the yard. This has never happened before. If it did I would have never had him out like that. The only other thing is back in july 2 sm. children were over & the one that was afraid kept on backing up from him & sort of running. He would try to get close to the child to check him out, but no barking or growling. I could tell my dog wasn't that cool w/ it so I removed him. Just last night we were over our neighbors for a doggie playdate w/ 6 dogs, 6 people & 2 sm. children, all strangers to him. He was great! He had so much fun & could have cared less about the kids. I guess this sums up to be a terrotorial issue that w/ help we are working on. Please let me know what you think, I appreciate any feedback neg. or pos. I want to do whats best for my family, our dog & the people around us. Thanks wendi

[Bear2010]

Hi Maureen, My gsd is not neutered, but I did make an appt. for early Oct. to have this done. After talking w/my breeder & trainer this is what I decided. It cant hurt & hopefully help w/ this problem. I am very aware of the breed, I have had them in my life for the last 12 yrs. I know what wonderful dogs they can be w/ the correct training & leadership. We are working very hard on obedience training & pack structure. This is a hard age for them coming into adulthood. So everyday we remind him whos boss, I just hope hes getting it?! When we do have people over we are being very safe about it & letting him know these people are ok. He seems to want to make that decision, which is what we are working on him not doing. Any tips on this? I have had a lot of suggestions & we are trying them all, any others would be helpful. Thanks, Wendi

Maureen,

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Hi Wendy,

I've been reading through the thread. Sounds like in a nutshell your boy is basically making some bad judgement calls. The good news is that he is young and probably related to the fact that you said he can be little fearful of silly things. This is common in some German Shepherds as you may know - but the fact that it may be towards a child is a reason to jump on it right away. With the right plan he can only improve. With the wrong plan or no plan it can get worse, since dogs can get into the habit of handling things in the wrong way which becomes harder to break.

Here's a simple breakdown of a plan:

1. Leadership like it is a religion. Be sure to run through the relationship with a fine comb and make sure he is not initiating anything. Remember you having him sit to be pet isn't leadership if he was asking for it and triggered you to give him a command. Or him going to the door and you making him sit isn't leadership if he actually initiated the process. Not saying you are doing these things, but just telling you some of the common things people do wrong which mean a lot to the dog.

2. Work steady toward phase 3 - off-leash obedience. Commands like "place" have to be rock solid when someone is at your door. And you want to be able to have a solid "come" and "leave it" to manage situations where he makes misjudgments - or so you can get him to focus on you quicker. If he doesn't focus on you in these situations and look for direction , he will never get the chance to see you ,as the leader, are OK with the situation.

3. Get him on the muzzle, and I would never have him around an outsiders child without it until he really proves himself reliable. It's just the responsible thing to do - and not worth the gamble. With the muzzle you can continue to socialize him around children safely.

To keep him away from children will just make things worse, and to put him in the situation without safety precautions in place is like russian roulette. With patience we can make a lot of progress - i've seen this a lot.

You may also want to consider putting him on a fish oil supplement if not already. There is a lot of evidence that points to the fact that it helps dogs with impulse control. Also, make sure that your dog food is coming from a good protein source - nothing like beniful which is full of corn and junk. Good brain is part of the building blocks for greater success. Keep us informed and hammer away with the input. We are all here to help eachother.

[Bear2010]

Hey Mike, thanks for your input. It was nice to hear your positive side of things. I've had so many opinions thrown at me, including "just get rid of him." That is not an option for my family. We are so in love w/ this dog that we will do whatever it takes to make it work. We are working hard on our pack structure. We are training hard w/ come, leave it & place, (thats a hard one!) When theirs little or no distractions this works, when hes pre occupied its more of a challenge to get him to focus on me. We had guests over last night, we told them before they got here briefly about whats been going on, so just to bare w/ us in our training when they arrived. I had him on lead when company arrived out in the yard, he was barking aggressively at them. I just kept him in a sit stay & told him no. My husband let them in the gate, I told the company to ignore him & just walk on by , I then released him out of a sit, but still kept him on lead w/ me. I walked him around the yard a little bit & once he was a little more relaxed, I let him say hello w/ me, then after about 10 min. let him off lead, he was great! Once they were socializing w/ us he seemed to let his guard down. There were no small children there last night, but this is a start for him to see that I am the boss. He was having a problem w/ anyone coming onto the property, so to see this improvement in one night was amazing! About the dog food, we have him on good stuff-lifes abundance, along w/ all kinds of good supplements, but I am looking into the fish oil. Again, thanks for your knowledge, I will keep you posted.

Wendi