# female gsd hackels and aggression



## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

was just wondering if your dogs ever hackel sometimes? My dog does it mostly with other dogs she meets but the strange thing is after she will engage the other dog in play right after she hackels? 

she usually treats dogs the way they treat her if they are lunging at her growling and hackeling she will do the same if they are quiet shes usually quiet but now shes kinda started to let out low growls when she sees a dog she was not like this at first but after having so many dogs lung and bark at her while walking from a distance she just put herself on guard.

i dont let her meet nose to nose much anymore because her stance when she meets another dog is very dominant she wont put her ears down or tuck her tail and sometimes she will lift her paw on another dogs shoulder which can easliy cause a fight so i avoid face to face meetiings. She doesnt care where the dog is how old the dog how big the dog whos property the dog is on her body stance is very tall. If the other dog submits to her then she will do a happy play dance with them and show them how to have fun. 

i walk her daily and a lot of dogs lung at her from a distance like they wanna fight that will also cause her to hackel but when she does hackel she has a tall posture ears erect tail held out never see her do in a submissive postion.

ALso she will hackel at a prey animal sometimes if she sees it and cant get to it. 

Are hackels anything to be concerned about in a young dog if the dog is a new addition?

only seen it done once at a person.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

when this happens i will say no and distract her with a sit or a watch me she doesnt go too nuts she just kinda starts that low growl and lets out a few barks and trys to move towards the dog whateever it is even if the dog is on its own property she will want to go there and confront it.

houses yards are very close to our sidewalks so people tie dogs out on their yards so they are only five or so feet from the side walk with the leash extended.


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## MKSWEET (Mar 12, 2011)

My GSD pup does the same thing...I'd like to hear what some others have to say about this.


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

Hackles up means some type of excitement - doesn't always mean aggression (usually does but not always).


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## iglinska1 (May 10, 2010)

I have the same problem!! Koda, who just turned a year, has started to growl when shes on the couch with me and the other dog tries to get on the couch, same thing with the bed. Usually I take Snoopy and lay him on her, she protests for a few seconds then goes back to being friends? When she plays and meets dogs a first time. The worst is when she just barks and barks looking all scary, while i'm saying "Dont worry shes friendly" making me look silly. I have said No and tried correcting her, but she keeps doing it.


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## MKSWEET (Mar 12, 2011)

iglinska1 said:


> I have the same problem!! Koda, who just turned a year, has started to growl when shes on the couch with me and the other dog tries to get on the couch, same thing with the bed. Usually I take Snoopy and lay him on her, she protests for a few seconds then goes back to being friends? When she plays and meets dogs a first time. The worst is when she just barks and barks looking all scary, while i'm saying "Dont worry shes friendly" making me look silly. I have said No and tried correcting her, but she keeps doing it.


Your dog Koda is gorgeous! I have ALWAYS said if I ever had a female GSD I would name her that  Absolutely love it. 
Anyways, it's funny that you say that about your dog because our black lab/pitbull mix does the same thing. She is a really good dog & would never seriously hurt another dog but she plays really rough & barks at other dogs sometimes. Just by her appearance people get freaked out I think. Of course I always correct her, but she just thinks shes playing. Ah well, work in progress.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

hey guys for some reason she stopped this on her own i dont know why. She will still fire up at a dog once in a blue moon if the dog seriously wants her blood she will try to go after him but the hackels stopped from what i noticed? I wonder if it was because she was new. If she is in a bad mood somedays she may also growl and get snappy but it is pretty rare now. She more just kinda pulls towards the other dogs weather they are snapping or not doing anything. 

i still want to distract her from other dogs though been trying "watch me" the only time it does not work is when another dog is there

when we go to training i think that will help with that hopefully 

it is not like a serious issue as i can still control her and she doesnt pull my hyand off or anything just something i guess i was wondering how to work on. I watch many dogs everyday she is nothing like most of the dogs i see. Most of the other dogs seem much worse than her. Specially the small ones lol


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

iglinska1 said:


> I have the same problem!! Koda, who just turned a year, has started to growl when shes on the couch with me and the other dog tries to get on the couch, same thing with the bed. Usually I take Snoopy and lay him on her, she protests for a few seconds then goes back to being friends? When she plays and meets dogs a first tdime. The worst is when she just barks and barks looking all scary, while i'm saying "Dont worry shes friendly" making me look silly. I have said No and tried correcting her, but she keeps doing it.


that happen to me once i got the dirtiest looks i see other dogs smaller dogs doo it daily constantly they scream and shriek and no one even pays them any attention though the one or two times my dog did it people looked at me like i had a rabid animal lol


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## iglinska1 (May 10, 2010)

Oh well at least shes alert haha, I took koda to the dog park today and her tail was under her butt, heckles up, for the first 10 minutes then she relaxed and became the center of attention playing with all the dogs, but every once in a while with unfamiliar dogs she would be very stand offish. Perhaps with age this will get better? hopefully not worse!


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## Kay (Aug 2, 2010)

My gal hackles a lot. At the dog park especially, only when we first get there. She runs in and starts smelling the poles/trees with her hackles up. After a few minutes they're down. It's weird because she likes to play with the dogs there, and I was always confused by her hackles being up. Good to know that it could just mean excitement too!


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

heres a book that may be interesting. I saw it at barnes and noble this afternoon. perhaps you could look into it. May help.... 

Dog Body Language Phrasebook, Trevor Warner, (9781592237098) Hardcover - Barnes & Noble


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

hello

how old is koda and kays dog?


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## iglinska1 (May 10, 2010)

pets4life said:


> hello
> 
> how old is koda and kays dog?


Koda's a year old


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## Bismarck's_Dad (Apr 2, 2011)

Bismarck was very leash reactive when i first got him.
he would bark and lunge, raise up on his hind quarters and bounce all over the place, looking like he wanted to tear the other dog to pieces.
all he really wanted to do was to meet the other dog.

leash reactiveness can easily be fixed, it just takes time, and you have to go out of your way to find people walking their dogs.
you get a lot of dirty looks, especially from the people with small dogs (even when their small dogs are doing the same thing).


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## Nevaeh's Mom (Jan 19, 2011)

My ten month old girl does this too - she hackles up all the way to the middle of her back - it looks like a giant mohawk it is that pronounced, ...sometimes she is wagging her tail when she does it - other times not -but it is always at some form of excitement or visual...


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

she will do it if someone goes near her fence also they can be far away from fence shes okay but if they get to close she might hackel and fire up 

she never does this to people on walks or in stores only if she is behind a fence and they go near it with or without a dog 

in stores like pet smart shes usually friendly and socal also whiel shes on walks she just turns into a diff dog behind the fence sometimes which i assume is normal also since shes new and young probably just starting to think of our house and property as hers

she doesnt hackel or bark at dogs at all anymore 

one thing she does do just say a dog suprises her and barks his head off at her she will move in the direction the dog with no experession on her face she is trying to get to the dog but shes very quiet no noise no esxpression so i cant tell exactly what she wants to do when she does get to the dog? But she quit the barking and stuff she will just go and pull into the direction of the dog if the dog fires up at her.


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## 2manyqs (May 1, 2011)

pets4life: You described my girl to a t. She's a 2 yo GSD that I rescued from the pound 6 weeks ago. According to her history, she is agility trained so you can guess my surprise when after about 1 week together she starts up with leash aggression. She knows and follows commands, is great with people and shows zero agression with dogs off lease. However, on leash, she's behaving exactly as you described. 

I'm working on asserting my Alpha with her but I'm also taking her to a private training event today to get a clue on what is going on.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

The hackiling means emotions are high. It can mean aggreesion is building, it can mean excitement is building or unsureness. I think a young and adolescent dog may do this more as it learns its way in the world. 

My female always hackled in play. She would also do it some trying to fence fight with neighbors dogs. 

Other signals have to be read in the interaction too...posture, ears, tail, mouth,etc. But, hackling does mean a heightened state, so be aware. The dog is not in a calm, submissive state of mind when exhibiting such.


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