# My dog attacks people who are scared of him



## Bacan1552 (Aug 10, 2016)

So my dog is behaving pretty nice, I'm walking him without leash everywhere, even if there are other dogs, cats or whatever, but there is one specific thing and I knew that it will have to be solved once, and I didn't know it will start happening now when he's already 2 years old. So he is 2 years old GSD and as I said above he's behaving pretty good, but there is one specific thing, or maybe even two things that concern me. So the thing is when my dog sees that someone is afraid of him, pulling back from him and trying to go away he will most likely "attack", not literally like, he never bit anyone before, but it's leading to that and I know it. He starts jumping around/on that person, he knows if he bites it won't be good, he never did it, but people who are scared of him, this way get scared even more and it can easily happen! So last week I took him camping with me and there was like a 2 year old boy who he went to and I was playing cards with my friends and didn't even notice he was gone for like 10 seconds. The boy himself didn't get scared and he pet my dog, but when his mother turned around and saw huge dog she immediately took kid in her arms and started not literally again running, but trying to back off, so again when he saw that she was scared he started jumping around her and as they say trying to bite her, but I know he would bite if he wanted to because it's not really hard to bite if you are dog, but he didn't bite her, he just started jumping on/around her as they say and tried to attack, so it ended up people from their camp chasing my dog back and yelling kill him/throw him and stuff. I know Serbia is primitive, but they were just trying to be protective and I totally understand it and it's totally my mistake, but I just want to let my dog go around and not pay attention to someone being scared, the way he used to do. However I hope that you understand that problem, when he sees someone who is afraid he puts himself in charge and maybe even tries to warn me because he is trying to "attack" and jumping around but won't bite, or won't let them go, I really don't understand what is he trying to do and how to correct it, but I think that it's leading to attack and most likely will grow to that. I know dogs have sixth sense and they can sense negative energy, fear, nervous and stuff, but of course people are not guilty for being scared of my dog. I think it's because of the way I play with him, like chasing him/playing with him like another dog, but I never let him jump on me, or take the final chase or don't return ball or whatever so he becomes alpha. And when he tries to do it with someone else and they give up, trying to back off- he is the alpha. And the other problem maybe it's not problem but I do get it as a problem, when he sees someone entering our yard he goes crazy like barking, growling, literally chewing his cage, and when I let him out, while those people are still in the yard he goes back to normal, like nothing happened, and pays no attention to them, but when he's closed even if he knows the people he goes crazy like that, and again if he is outside his cage in the yard, he never made a problem. It may be because of my way of playing with him, it may be because he has too much energy, it's the dog I play with everyday, he lives with another dog(jack russell terrier), he is being walked everyday at least 10 kilometers, so it's 100% not lack of exercise or whatever, but he has so, so, so much energy. Probably the problem started even before when he was younger, but it seemed funny to us and probably looked like he's playing or whatever, and I didn't pay attention to it and didn't correct his every mistake, maybe I even spoiled/indulged him, I really don't know anymore. I did a lot of research and I'm trying to do what is best for my dog. However there are no such things as training camps and things here in Serbia, and only thing trainers do here is beat dogs and starve them, and teach them few tricks and how to attack, so don't suggest me those. I was maybe even thinking that castration would solve problem partially but I'm not sure it's best for him. Please try to help me somehow, help me to understand what is he trying to do, and how to correct that behavior somehow.


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## Coleen (Sep 18, 2015)

I can't help with the how to train part, I'm sure someone who can will pipe in, but, I will tell you this, please for your dog's sake and yours, keep him on a leash! One bite and you can find yourself in a world of hurt! A possible lawsuit, and good possibility of your dog being put down automatically! I'm sure you don't want either to happen. So for everyone's safety, I would keep him leashed. I hope you can get your problem worked out, good luck.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Yes,you need to not let him wander away out of your sight and leash him on walks.If he's on a leash maybe people wouldn't act afraid.When people act afraid and nervous it makes your dog afraid and nervous too.If he's leashed you can teach him to look at you instead of the scared people.Before he jumps at them turn and go in another direction and "look at me!"
When he's in his kennel barking and chewing let him out only when he can be calm for a few seconds.You can teach him to bark on command and be quiet on command.
And please play with him all that you want!His behavior has nothing to do with how you are playing.Have fun together!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

When he is on your property, and your property is secure -- he cannot accost people walking or running by, he can be off-lead. If you are at a family outing with the dog, you need to be more attentive and either keep him on lead, in a kennel, or train him to stay next to you on a command, STAY. Playing cards (or whatever) while the dog is wondering about, unrestrained, with people that do not know him is really not a good idea. 

I am not a big fan of the whole alpha ideology. There are some Alpha dogs out there, sure. Most of them are alpha in their pack (dogs only), but others are alpha around all dogs. And there are some that will challenge their owner-handlers -- these are more rare though. 

I think that it is far more likely that your dog lacks boundaries. And when he senses negative feelings in people -- fear, anger, etc. He isn't sure how to respond. That which runs must be chased -- dog rule. They teach kids to stand like a tree. Shepherds herd. They are a herding dog, and when someone runs or tries to get away, it can evoke either the instinct to herd that person back in with the group, or the instinct to chase (prey drive). The dog needs to understand that he must not herd strangers -- that is not his job, he needs a correction when he does this and not a sissy correction. He needs a come-to-Jesus type correction. He needs to know that you mean what you say. You need to follow through, ever time, and tell the dog, "NO!" or "LEAVE IT" before he starts to accost someone. So you have to be present to what the dog is doing. Or the dog has to be close enough to you, on Command or on leash, for you to pay attention to possible issues. 

It sounds like a nice young dog that just needs to be curbed a little. He has too much freedom and is making some poor decisions. Discipline yourself, and your dog will behave better.


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## Bacan1552 (Aug 10, 2016)

Well the thing is, of course it's my mistake for behavior, for walking him without leash, but as I told you, he literally behaved better without leash than with it. When we're walking I stop, he stops immediately and sits, I run he runs and that stuff, I never did walk him without leash where are many people, and if I see someone while walking the leash is always on him, I put it on his back, so probably you didn't understand this part because I probably didn't even mention it. I was just trying to point how good he is. 

And the other thing is that here in Serbia, probably elsewhere around the world people kind of panic when they see a dog like mine even tho he wore muzzle at some point. When people see me and dog, and are coming our way, even if I move left(because my dog is always on the left) so they can go right, past me, they will more likely choose to go past dog, even tho from miles away I can see they're afraid, and I've been seeing this since I have dog, so pretty much I guess it's what people do in panic and fear. However I started training with him and I can already see some progress. Of course I'm still letting him loose when we're home because we have huge property and meadow, and most of the people don't have fences on their yard, I mean they're open, and that's how our neighborhood works, and he just goes everywhere/to everyone, and everyone likes him now/unlike before, yesterday he played with 3 kids in our yard, they were playing fetch, and they also brought their dog, and of course there was no problem.

The thing is I probably was indulgent with him and let him go unpunished for many "little mistakes" he did, and it all lead to this situation. However I would like to know your opinion on what is best way to punish your dog, of course it's always better to prevent, and stuff but, if something does happen like him getting laundry when he's in the yard and stuff, what's the best way to punish him?


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

You have PM.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Bacan1552 said:


> Well the thing is, of course it's my mistake for behavior, for walking him without leash, but as I told you, he literally behaved better without leash than with it. When we're walking I stop, he stops immediately and sits, I run he runs and that stuff, I never did walk him without leash where are many people, and if I see someone while walking the leash is always on him, I put it on his back, so probably you didn't understand this part because I probably didn't even mention it. I was just trying to point how good he is.
> 
> And the other thing is that here in Serbia, probably elsewhere around the world people kind of panic when they see a dog like mine even tho he wore muzzle at some point. When people see me and dog, and are coming our way, even if I move left(because my dog is always on the left) so they can go right, past me, they will more likely choose to go past dog, even tho from miles away I can see they're afraid, and I've been seeing this since I have dog, so pretty much I guess it's what people do in panic and fear. However I started training with him and I can already see some progress. Of course I'm still letting him loose when we're home because we have huge property and meadow, and most of the people don't have fences on their yard, I mean they're open, and that's how our neighborhood works, and he just goes everywhere/to everyone, and everyone likes him now/unlike before, yesterday he played with 3 kids in our yard, they were playing fetch, and they also brought their dog, and of course there was no problem.
> 
> The thing is I probably was indulgent with him and let him go unpunished for many "little mistakes" he did, and it all lead to this situation. However I would like to know your opinion on what is best way to punish your dog, of course it's always better to prevent, and stuff but, if something does happen like him getting laundry when he's in the yard and stuff, what's the best way to punish him?


Does he understand No or Leave It?If not you can teach it easily.My dogs respond immediately to my tone of voice when I simply say Hmph!It communicates my disapproval and they stop whatever they're doing.They may attempt to try again later and a second Hmph! gets the point across.You must Never do this!They're smart,they understand quickly.


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## WembleyDogsUK (Jul 13, 2016)

That which you describe - is an example of poor social training with many mistakes on your behalf.
Dogs learn by consequences, whether it is +R, or -R methods, doesn't matter. There was something specific that attracted him to people who were scared of him in the past. And... Dogs like to scare people. They simply take pleasure out of it, they like that what happens after - commotion, cry, or, if not that - at least some excitement in the whole group of people. Thus predators start panic in a herd of grazing animals by charging them without biting. This behavior is instinctive, and you are dealing with predatory drive in your dog. But, it was you in the first place who arose such interest in him.
We are so much bothered about being nice to other people, we feel obliged to answer if they talk to us, we are in need to apologize for our dog's behaviour, we have to argue with them and we allow them to pet our untrained dogs! We shouldn't really talk to strangers in cases of confrontation with them, because we are training our dog to support us in our protective behaviour. If person is scared - turn away head of your dog. First introduction to strange people involves toys and some methods, so a dog starts to expect some different game with them other than to prey on them.
It, probably, has started with petting him when he was a little puppy. He could have been scared by some man only once, but he got the idea - why not to try to do it himself? If people could approach him - your dog may feel that he has a right to come to them himself as well. What's wrong about little puppy making steps towards the kids? Some kids out of hundred you ever met were scared of him - it looked like a natural game though nobody has really wet his pants but adrenaline is in the air, much more interesting than being grabbed and tossed by little hands for nothing. 
It would be too late and useless to tell him abstract "No", forbidden fruit is sweeter. He, as a dog, reads body language much better than you do, and might start one day isolating a scared persons out of the crowd in order to scare them, pleasure is worth of punishment. 
My suggestions? Make him ball-crazy and use ball as a training tool. *Train solid recall*, it should work in any situation. Train to ignore strangers, no lovely petting by unknown people anymore, or - train to play ball with strangers[/B], do it often with different people, and do not hesitate to ask a frightened person to throw his ball for your dog ( passing his interest onto the ball). Your dog is still a "teenager" and he will change his mind about frightened people with right training.
Pretty soon he will start to combine his prey drive with his protective drive as he is growing towards adulthood. He would start looking for someone who might appear dangerous for him. Try to differentuate these two drives and apply different methods looking into each drive separately.


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## Bacan1552 (Aug 10, 2016)

Yeah I know it's my mistake and the whole thing, but from the advices I got I'm gonna try and answer some of them. So yeah my dog knows those commands you listed below such as come, sit, down, no, but he doesn't know the focus one, and I never thought of it, because all the time, when I'm feeding him and most time in general he looks me in my eyes so I think it's not problem. And here in Serbia most of the people(and when I say most I literally mean 60% of people) are really, but really scared of big dogs like he is, so I really don't feel comfortable asking them for those kind of stuff, to pet him, to throw him a ball or whatever. So pretty much now when I think of the whole situation it probably was lack of discipline and maybe some way "bad training" as you called it, but I wouldn't totally agree. However even tho he knows those commands he will most likely listen to them all even in situations when he sees a cat and starts to chase it and I say stop, or back or whatever he will do it. But on the other hand when he sees those people who are afraid and when he is sniffing and I tell him come, or no he won't listen to it immediately in most cases, but he will do it after he is done sniffing or what he is focused on. He is my second dog(and the first one the jack russell I got when he was already 7/8) and I really did a lot of research and enjoyed time with him and I was thinking all the time while with him and training, and I was thinking I was doing mostly good, but actually it turned out to be not as good. However at least I am interested and really want to learn how to behave with my dog, how to correct him when he makes a mistake(what's the best way for it) and to draw his attention when he is sniffing or doing his stuff, and in general how to have a stable, well behaved dog. And of course I appreciate all of your guys help!


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

My two cents. I had a dog who amused herself by scaring the crap out of random people. She thought it was funny when they jumped or screamed. It was a game. I worked hard to stop it and she honestly intended no harm. But a person who was reacting would make her jump around or even at them. She just liked it. Study your dogs body language is he aggressive or playing? If its a game it could be that hes just bored. If thats the case stopping this will make him find another. You need to exercise his brain as well as his body.


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## islanddog (Jun 27, 2016)

Hi Bacan, great start in asking questions. 
There are a million in one ways to train a dog, and many answers.
I'm just a dog nerd (not a trainer or competitor) so with that in mind, some suggestions/questions.

Focus--this is often trained as a separate exercise. With food (do you train with food?), food in both hands, show him this (or two exciting toys), hold your hands apart, he will follow/focus on one and another, get no food, try the other, back and forth, and usually will make eye contact with you (like a 'hey, what's the deal here' look. At which point you mark/click and treat or throw the toy. Teaching him eye contact gets him the thing.
Once he 'gets' that eye contact is important, he'll give it to you more and more, and you can 'expect' it more and more.
My own guy now knows he must look at me before I release him from a down stay, especially if he really really badly wants to be elsewhere (like chasing 'that squirrel'--obviously I won't release him if he is eyeballing something unacceptable, say a cat).

It sounds like you have done some work with your dog, but are basically on your own for lack of decent trainers.

I'll list the sources I find useful.

kikopup on youtube (hive mind, don't laugh)--for free, she gives endless 'how to' lessons on basic training using food to lure and shape, she is also evangelical about positive only training, but hey, it's her show. The video's cover* how to teach a dog to do things* (one way, anyways), but not how to proof the behaviours, or corrections under pressure, but it's a good way to start things off.

michael ellis--unfortunately the free stuff is just him talking, but it will give a pretty well-rounded view of how to train a dog, how they learn, what 'corrections' are and when to use them. I've heard good things about the dvd's.

tyler muto--I've found his video's on 'conversational leash work' very useful in calming/training my current fear reactive dog, but you need to watch very carefully to see what he is doing.

A great trainer would be even better, but I understand that may not be possible.

Asking specific questions, separately, maybe good too.

Asking for any good trainers in Serbia, might catch a good fish too.

My personal opinion is what you are looking for is a way to teach a rock solid recall and down at a distance, but I'm into training as a process, building the relationship with the dog (through rewards [food, play, toys, privileges, etc], time, habit, training) and only moving to corrections/punishment at the end of the process, which would be a lot of typing (fingers tired).

You probably have some of that (relationship, habits) established already, and some missed opportunities and holes to fill. 

Have fun with your dog and play safe,
on that note--does he like tug? tug is fun fun fun for dog and man


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## islanddog (Jun 27, 2016)

and this thread bears watching,
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/training-theory-methods/663074-michael-ellis-amazing-3.html
starts off slow, but by the 3rd page, rocking chat on training methods, and trainers. 
I forgot to mention 'this forum' as a resource. Often the gems are hidden in threads with seemingly irrelevant titles.
For my previous dog, a gsd, I learned much from this board that was not available from any local trainer I've met.


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## Bacan1552 (Aug 10, 2016)

Yeah thank you, I'll try to answer to some of your questions and tell about something I forgot to mention before. Yeah I do those kind of things with him like when I come in front of his cage, I say nothing he immediately sits and makes eye contact, then I open the door and wait for another eye contact and then release him. With food I actually do the same thing trying to attract his attention on food or my hand, or ball when were playing, but it's not a problem for him again he immediately makes an eye contact. And when we're leaving the yard or entering it or whatever, I always of course go first and make him sit or down before I let him in/out. Sometimes I even make him down and put the bowl with food between his front legs and leave him outside like that for half an hour or more and he won't move or touch his food. However this one thing I didn't mention and I think it's pretty weird for dogs, you may not believe me or whatever but my dog is not that interested in food. He is pretty moderate, I give him amount of food that he should eat for one day, and sometimes he doesn't eat it fully, he just eats as much as he wants/feels even tho I know he never eats anything else because if he's not with me he is in his cage and no one else feeds him. And I've never done food training with him, I did try when he's sniffing to draw his attention with some chicken or whatever but it just doesn't work, it's not a dog for a food training trust me, so again just as lack of trainers is, this is one more minus... I did try all sorts of food and treats but if he doesn't want chicken or some meat or whatever, he surely won't care for his regular food he eats, so I don't think you should count on food training.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Reward behavior you want with whatever is of high value to your dog.A ball,a rope tug,etc.Enthusiastic praise is often enough.Whatever gets them happy and wagging.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

all the above and also teach him to walk on leash. The Ellis videos will help you. His behavior could be playful or he is testing them to see how or if he should take them on.


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