# 2 Year old GSD barking at company in our house



## Mikecl (Nov 30, 2015)

Our German Shepard is going to be 2 years old in January. HE is a male (obviously) and is currently 1 year 11 months old. He is 105LBS and a BIG dog. He was neutered 3 months ago.

He has started a nasty habit of "taking control" of deciding who he likes in the house.

We got when he was 8 weeks old. He was a quick learner, pottie trained after a couple weeks, he knows basic commands: sit, stay, down, leave it (with treats/toys) He is affectionate and completely calm with all of my immediate family members: My father is the "Alpha" (although I am reading that the whole "alpha/pack" think may be a myth. But if I had to bet I would say my father is the Alpha. My mother was NOT a dog person at first (this is our first dog), but has grown to love the little guy. My father, brothers and I shower the dog with attention, playing with him, etc. but my mother rarely "plays" with him. She gives him a treat everyday when she gets home, his tail wags like crazy when she comes home from work. She pets him maybe once a day or once every other day and he immediately lies on his back and goes into a submissive state and enjoys the belly rub.

He does this with my father, brothers and myself. But we are constantly giving him attention, so if I were to ignore him for a few hours, and approach him to pet him, he will go submissive.

Now, we have a large extended family. My cousins and friends have known him since he was a puppy are completely fine and comfortable around him. He is excited when he see's them.

The problem has started in the past few months, I'd say from a year and a half to right now. So about 6 months ago.

My brother is 19 and has friends over the house sometimes, my other brother, myself and parents all know the kids but for some reason 1 kid seems to "piss off the dog" this one kid has a dog and has known my dog since he was a puppy. When our dog was a puppy he was friendly with anyone and would approach new faces with a wagging tail and ready to play. Now he will growl and make a barking/yelling noise towards this one kid whenever he attempts to pet/approach him. This happens almost everytime this kid is in our house. Good kid, he himself has a german shepard dog and is kind to our family/the dog. Yet my dog does NOT like him around him.

I had two friends over yesterday, both of which I have known for over 10 years. 1 friend has seen my dog as a puppy and is VERY good with dogs, he is calm and assertive around them. My other friend has a rottweiler and is not "passive" around dogs but hasn't been to our house in over a year. He has seen my dog when he was 4-6 months and the dog was completely fine around him back then.

When I walked into our house yesterday I walked in first, the dog greeted me, my "assertive friend" was behind me, the dog went up to him tail wagging, he let me friend pet him, then my second friend walked in and my dog growled, jumped up on my friend, even with his face and barked. He did not bite or scratch but the fact that he jumped in my friends face, growling and barking ticked me off beyond belief. The strange part was his tail was down, but he acted as though our guest was causing harm. My friend has a calm demeanor and my parents have known the kid for years and love the guy. When my two friends were leaving my family (both parents and 2 brothers) are in the family room, me and my 2 friends are walking upstairs, my dog is in his bed which is basically in between our kitchen and family room. My friends are in the family room area talking to my parents and catching up with them, I am down petting my dog/ensuring he doesn't lunge at either of them and I hear him softy growling.

Another example, my cousin who is my age visits/is over frequently and my dog LOVES him. His younger brother (my other cousin) is rarely over, but is family nonetheless and if we are home or at a relatives house, whenever he sees my cousin he growls and does not let the kid approach.

During Halloween, little kids were at our door with their parents, my father was giving them candy and had to hold the dog by the collar to stop him from barking attempting to "rush" the trick or treaters.

My brother just walked in the house today with a girl (new girls, has never been over) and the dog walked over from the other room with his tail up, saw my brother, tail went down and began to approach the girl with what sounded like a small growl. coming in the house. We immediately grabbed him by the collar and put him in the hallway and closed the door.

Like I said earlier he has been snipped, but we are extremely ticked off that when we (the humans in charge of him) are in the house that he feels that he can bark/growl at guests. Whenever he does this, we immediately put him into a small walk in closet for a few minutes and do NOT hit him.

NO, it is not a race thing lol, our family is tan/olive skin, I have black friends whom the dog loves and white friends who he loves.

Our dog is VERY alert. At ANYTIME of night and this is not an exaggeration (10:30PM, 12AM, 4AM, etc) ANY of my immediate family members can walk in an out of our house through any door or the garage and the dog knows its us. He has NEVER barked at any of our immediate family members when we enter the house no matter how late it is. He RARELY, if ever barks. When he does it is EXTREMELY loud and their is definitely someone/something their.

Luckily we have never had any attempted burglaries or anything, but if our dog sees an animal outside or the wind turns on an automatic light he will immediately sense it and approach the door to assess the situation. When UPS/mail man drops something off to the front door, he will certainly bark/alert us someone is home. My point for the paragraph above is that he is EXTREMELY aware/alert of who he barks at. I had a friend come by late on night and our dog barked the second he pulled in the driveway, but like I said earlier, whenever any of our family members approach our home he does NOT bark, because he knows its us.

If I had to guess I would say that the dog thinks that is somewhat in charge of who he suspects is a threat to the family and that's why he takes it upon himself to growl at guests OR he is just territorial around certain people. He is walked 2-3 miles everyday, and plays with the golden retriever next door almost every day, he is calm around the house and NEVER destroys furniture or anything like that. So I don't think it is pent up energy.

What do you guys advise we do to STOP him from growling and scaring the s**t out of some of our guests.

Some people don't like dogs, let alone a 105LB German Shepard. So I by no means want my dog to intimidate/scare anyone when I am present and am comfortable around the person.

Don't get me wrong If I were in danger I am confident that my dog would do everything he can to protect me, but when I am calm and collective around friends in my house I do NOT want my dog to intimidate anyone.

sorry for the long post, any advise is appreciated! And yes, we took him to puppy/obedience training when he was younger.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

It's pretty common for a Gsd to at some point as they mature to decide they would rather not be touched or even stared at by people outside of their immediate family.Tell your guests to not touch,look at,or acknowledge your dog.During their visit he may decide he feels comfortable enough to approach them.
When a family member enters the house with friends,they could send him to his bed or place immediately,then release him when the visitors are settled.That will give your dog an alternate behavior(besides barking)that will become an ingrained habit over time.When guests arrive he automatically heads for his place.


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