# My puppy seems aggressive towards other dogs.



## FritskaVO (Jun 6, 2014)

My 14 week old gs puppy has been showing some real "alpha girl tendencies". After spending some time today with our neighbor friend and her 5 month old gs puppy, I'm concerned. At first it seemed like she was barking only because I wouldn't allow her to be right next to the other dog. So I moved closer with her on the leash of course and she at first sniffed her out and did some playful puppy moves but then got very aggressive. She began biting her tail and growling, showing her teeth and just being very unfriendly. Finally the patient other puppy had enough and drew the line. My Fritska finally got the point and settled down but not for long. She started right back up moments later. Now like I said she is only 14 weeks old so she has had very little interactions with other dogs/pups except with her german shepherd family on the land she was bred and born on. We would really like to have her in some more formal schutzund training when she gets older so we are definitely wanting to break this not so nice behavior as soon as possible.


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## Lwilley (Jan 1, 2014)

Take her to Pet Smart and walk the store. When she starts to bard, tell her no, turn around and walk away. Approach the other dog from a different direction. If she starts again, repeat the process. My GSD did this and the method worked. I also praised her when she saw another dog and didn't work. Piper is in the same situation, bred and raised on the same property and around the same dogs every day. You need to get your pup out of the safe environment and expose it to other areas and dogs.

Good Luck! You can overcome this


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Funny how I have a friend in my area who just got a GSD 3 months ago, and THOUGHT she was doing a great job socializing her, not realizing what 'socialization' really is and what's involved. Now her pup is 6 months old and is starting to be fear aggessive with all the issues and she's having to play catch up.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...ialize-i-want-photos-videos-puppies-dogs.html

For me, the day that puppy hits my house, I plan *WEEKLY *(or more) expeditions involving the car, my friends, their dogs/pups/cats/horses/goats/chickens, Main St, downtown, Home Depot, the park, playgrounds, kids.........................

I am PRO-active with the planning and, frankly, right now Saturdays are my 'puppy' days involving puppy classes at 10 am and then out and about for the next few hours with any adventures I can come up with.

I'm really lucky with this puppy because her full brother (Odin) lives near and we are able to meet up and do things together!


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## FritskaVO (Jun 6, 2014)

Well today we had the chance to let Fritska socialize with one of our friends GSD which is about 3 months older. She kept trying to nip at her and after trying to calm her and praise her only when she was calm I decided to let her go and see if she really wanted to be aggressive or play. It turned out she wanted to play but the thing is she plays very rough. I really want her to break this so we can continue to work towards the schutzhund training.


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## d4lilbitz (Dec 30, 2013)

My puppy is 16 weeks and is very dominant. Not aggressive, but wants to be top dog. When he was little, I noticed he would bark at big dogs because he wanted to meet them. I do not mind him saying hi if he's not barking and is relaxed, but I don't let him play with another dog outside of his pack. One thing I do when out in public to get my dog to focus on me and not another dog is bring training food (hotdogs cut up) everywhere. I purposely will walk towards another dog all the while using the food to keep focus on me. After we pass, I praise him for being a good boy. I allow him to see the dog, but with his focus on the food...he could care less. I have been doing this since I brought him home, so out in public other dogs are nothing to him. He does all his OB commands giving me focus. When he sees other dogs at the club he doesn't bark at all, but ignores them. We just had a club trial and had been practicing the Microchip reading. All the club puppies were able to join in this. It was very rewarding to have him complete his commands without barking at the other dogs/puppies : )


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## boomer11 (Jun 9, 2013)

FritskaVO said:


> Well today we had the chance to let Fritska socialize with one of our friends GSD which is about 3 months older. She kept trying to nip at her and after trying to calm her and praise her only when she was calm I decided to let her go and see if she really wanted to be aggressive or play. It turned out she wanted to play but the thing is she plays very rough. I really want her to break this so we can continue to work towards the schutzhund training.


 Why can't your dog train in schutzhund if she plays rough?


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## FritskaVO (Jun 6, 2014)

Im definitely going to have to expose her to a lot more. Ive been fearful of taking her out to much and meeting other dogs due to not wanting her to get sick with parvo or anything of the sort. Shes 14 weeks today and im really going to have to start taking her to stores with me. My wife did take her on a walk around the neighborhood and her rear paw pads were raw and its made me hesitant to walk her around the neighborhood again. She does great with her obedience training and is very focused when she knows I have the food and its training time. I did have treats with me today and she totally ignored the dog unless she got really close. With people she seems to do ok I just have to break out of the fear of her getting sick.


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## FritskaVO (Jun 6, 2014)

boomer11 said:


> Why can't your dog train in schutzhund if she plays rough?


She can train in schutzhund but from my understanding part of the BH assessment they grade your dog on how they react with people and other dogs around. Im sure she will break out of this. The reason for my concern is this is the first dog that I have had that can actually serve a purpose. Its not a lap dog its an actual working breed and me and my wife just love GSDs. Ive never had this motivation to train and work with a dog until we got Fritska and seeing how great she is and how fast she learns is just amazing. Im sure its just the way the breed is but it enhances my love for them.


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## boomer11 (Jun 9, 2013)

Lol she's 14 weeks. 

If you want to socialize and train your pup then join a schutzhund club. Don't take the incredibly horrible advice posted above and take your dog to petsmart to socialize.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

The temperament of a dog is too often measured in regards to interaction between the dog/pup and human....dog on dog interaction is overlooked too often in the beginning. Positive reinforcement for coexistence among it's peers is equally as important.... leadership through discipline and unfaltering obedience will make a substantial difference. The potential for either side of the spectrum seems to create problems....a fearful pup versus an "aggressive" pup versus it's peers....many times is one and the same....as you have described....but dominance is always trumped by leadership....if in fact it exists.

At the end of the day, if a dog's temperament is of a certain nature....then you have more of a job to accomplish. Sometimes, in order to break the negative behavior you are witnessing....the remedy is quite the opposite one might imagine...

SuperG


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## boomer11 (Jun 9, 2013)

A dog barking and pulling towards another dog has nothing to do with temperament. It's a training issue. 

The OP said the dog barks cuz it couldn't be near the other dog. The OP then let's the dog get closer. It's a rewarding behavior. Why wouldnt the dog continue to pull and bark? It eventually gets what it wants by doing it.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

I disagree and agree...yes..it's a training issue and at times ...complicated by temperament. There is an assumption being made by the human..."The OP said the dog barks cuz it couldn't be *near* the other dog."


SuperG


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## FritskaVO (Jun 6, 2014)

I really want to get her in a schutzhund club the only thing is the closest one to me is 2 hrs away and next month we're moving to Kentucky. I haven't found a club near ft campbell I have to keep looming though. I just want to make sure im going a about her socialization correctly.


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## kjdreyer (Feb 7, 2013)

I think socialization is hard to get right, and I made a lot of mistakes with my pup in that area! I had the idea that my puppy needed to interact happily with every person and dog that crossed our path. First of all, my dog just absolutely does not have that personality, and secondly, now I realize that I want her to focus and interact with me, not pay attention to every dog and person crossing our path! I found this article really helpful:

Leerburg | Socializing Puppies

Good luck and have fun!


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## FritskaVO (Jun 6, 2014)

kjdreyer said:


> I think socialization is hard to get right, and I made a lot of mistakes with my pup in that area! I had the idea that my puppy needed to interact happily with every person and dog that crossed our path. First of all, my dog just absolutely does not have that personality, and secondly, now I realize that I want her to focus and interact with me, not pay attention to every dog and person crossing our path! I found this article really helpful:
> 
> Leerburg | Socializing Puppies
> 
> Good luck and have fun!


Thank you for that article thats exactly what I was looking for and it made total sense. I truely dont like random people coming up and trying to interact with the dog. We had a certain goal in mind when we got Fritska and trying to socialize her the old way by letting her interact with anyone and everyone is contradicting to what our goal is


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## BillWas2 (Oct 19, 2013)

What a cutie! The German Shepherd Dog breed is naturally dominate and this does come out with age. You are doing the correct thing in allowing your pup to meet and interact with other dogs as well as people at an early age. This socialization is critical and should start early on; one mistake folks make is working to socialize their pup for its first six months and then not continuing; socialization is an ongoing requirement and as such one never reaches a point at which the dog is 'socialized' for life. It's important for pups to learn to interact with their own kind early on; in doing so there will most likely be some 'dust ups' and possibly even a bit of blood drawn. This is normal and part of the socialization process. Some owners make the mistake of trying to 'protect' their pups from such interactions; this rarely does the pup a favor and can and does lead to behavioral issues further down the road. Qanuk, my 2.5 year old GSD was raised with my female Alaskan Malamute (Anana) and they had some real confrontations during his 18 months. Poor guy really had a tough time when his male hormones started flowing and he thought he should be the alpha dog; at that time he was around 70 pounds (he now weighs 86 pounds) but Anana weighs 122 pounds. She was patient with him to a point but then she'd just knock him flat, pin him to the floor and snarl in his face. He's had to learn that Anana remains dominant even though she's a female. However, over the last few years he's learned how to take advantage of her slower reflexes and bulk and he can pretty much hold his own now. When they play there's lots of snarling with teeth bared, barking, biting and similar but its all play. When your pup is interacting with another dog if either one opens the activity by kind of 'bowing' on stretched out front legs - possibly thumping the ground with alternating paws - this is 'canine speak' for everything that follows is play. This behavior is apparently genetically programmed into canines as they all understand the body language; wolves display this as well. If you see this then even if you see lots of snarling, bared teeth, barking and biting it's almost guaranteed to be play. From what you described it sounds as though your pup is just learning to interact with other canines; as time passes you will most likely see less of the uncertain reactions and more of what's obviously play behavior or, more seriously, actual aggression. And, like people, sometimes there are dogs that just cannot get along with another dog; under these circumstances it's best to keep said dogs apart. You also alluded to getting her into a training program ASAP; this is always a good idea - although at 14 weeks she's probably a bit young yet - as it will challenge her mentally and satisfy that need inherent in the GSD breed to be mentally 'busy'. Couple this with a lot of good, hard exercise and I'd bet you'll see a well rounded, confident and content GSD.


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## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

I don't think 'dust ups' and blood is normal. I got this advice when I first got my dog and he was pretty roughed up at the park a few times though no blood. Now I have a reactive dog that will go crazy at the sight of another dog. 

If a dog has good nerves then he can probably handle the dust ups as you call them. But if he doesn't - then you have an insecure or a fear aggressive dog a few months later. 

Same with people. If he's not comfortable around some people don't force him to interact. Same as above. 

I wish I can go back with everything I know now. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## FritskaVO (Jun 6, 2014)

Right now we're doing just basic obedience nothing to serious . I purchased this Schutzhund obedience book which is awesome and has great insight about when and how to start training. Reading it really helped us a lot as far as not pushing her to much with the training. We keep it simple with sit,platz, and stay. Than when we feed her ill have her sit and stay for a few seconds until I release her to eat with the "Essen" command. Shes doing great with these commands and shes great with my family and with my kids and niece and nephew. She doesn't really get excited with them and majority of the time ignores them. Its just other dogs she gets really excited with and ive sheltered her a bit you can say due to not wanting her to contract parvo or anything like that. Thats why we kept her socialization to her sibling brother which my mother in law has and the neighbors dog. She reacts the same to both plays very rough but it doesn't turn into anything more. She has been put in her place by the neighbors GSD which is is a few months older. I do want to walk her more now that her paw pads have healed ill just have to keep it short.


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## wolfie13 (Jun 14, 2014)

Let me just start of by saying that my dog is even keel. His barks are too far and in between. He hardly ever barks. I've only heard him bark once. Yesterday, my sister brought her dog a Sheperd/Hound mix and they noticed each other and barked. They both barked a bit. He's going through deworming so I had them separated by a small gate that neither can get through. 

My question is that is that normal behavior. He pulled to her but he did at times just sit and look and bark. Almost like he was observing her. I do plan to have them socialize once he's free of worms.


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