# Bitch being a bitch



## mitchifican (Oct 14, 2018)

This is going to be sticky**** My bitch is 1yr old. Please don't tell me to socialize her more. I will puke and she would run! :wink2: She has been in Pup Social Class=Did well/grad. She was in Beginners OB. Did well until last day when a Poodle/GSD mix ran at her and barked in her face. She sat looked and gave a vicious bark. I was going to be done with classes for the summer, but the instructor said the best thing to do would be put in a class for the social. (It kind a ticked me off cause now she is labeled a big bad shepherd cause she reacted.) Yes you have to be in control of your dog at all times...I was. She wasn't the one running off leash. Anyhow I put her in a only GSD agility. We had fun we both gained confidence over the summer. Then we joined AG with mixed breed dogs. She was good then she went into Estrus and barked at any dog that came close. After estrus she was good, did what was asked of her. At the end of the 10 wk class she had started to bark at a couple dogs that would get to close to me. I would correct her with the pinch and that would be the end of it. When that class was done, I put her in another AG class and this time she was good to a point, but barking again at a few dogs. I'm talking a vicious bark. No lunging though. THEN I had brought her to the vet for a check. We were at the desk waiting to pay. A exam rm door opened and a Irish Setter ran out, unleashed with no collar. I yelled get your dog twice. In the mean time my dog reacted by viciously barking at it. I was able to keep my dog away by getting her in a corner and blocking with my legs. The owner of the IS said it was friendly and just wanted to say hi. I just looked at him like he was a dumb.... SO ever since then she is lunging and barking in AG class now for dogs and people getting to close to me. I put a muzzle on her and gave her the max dose of the calming treat (didn't work)at the last 2 classes, as I am afraid of other dogs getting injured even though she has never bit. I just don't want a bite history. I am getting to the point of quitting AG (I haven't yet.) But I have a mixed emotion about it. If I quit we aren't working through it. But if I quit the other people in class deserve to have a fun class without a reactive bitch. I want to try Hemp on her first to see if that will calm her down. Should I quit? Any suggestions? I am really bummed as I really wanted a functional dog. I don't want to leave her at home all the time. BUT I also don't want the liability. Might have to decide if all this is worth it, and POSIBLY put her down. She is super at home with fam and other pets. Someone new comes for a visit, I have to kennel her....


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## Dutchy (Jul 8, 2018)

> I yelled get your dog twice. In the mean time my dog reacted by viciously barking at it. I was able to keep my dog away by getting her in a corner and blocking with my legs.


I hate to sound judgemental, I don't know you other than your post here but this sounds like you may be contributing to your dogs attitude. This sentence described you setting up a situation where your dog is likely interpreting that they are in danger and need to protect themselves or protect you in a situation which did not sound like it was that bad or uncommon. 

GSD's are extremely reactive to how their owner's act. If you act in a situation with anger, fear, aggression, and with a raised voice, you can expect your GSD will act the same or will learn to act like that. 


They have to constantly be in a positive environment and constantly given confidence. My pup can get skiddish about even simple things. For example, she got afraid when a couple of teens went by on some longboards. I pet her, reassured her, gave her some verbal boosting and confidence and eventually when we caught up to the kids, we went right up to them and socialized. She smelt the longboards and was fine. Had I started screaming at the kids to not get so close to my dog, my dog would've reacted with even more fear and would likely lash out in the future. Longboard went by us again the other day. Although she perked up, she did not have that fearful response. 


Basically, you cannot expect to control others and their behaviors. You can only control your reaction and can only affect the behavior and actions of your own dog. So you have to respond to each situation in the way you want your dog to respond to it. 


Hope you take this as constructive criticism. And please don't consider putting your GSD down. They are desirable dogs that almost always can be rehomed with GSD Recues.


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## McGloomy (Mar 13, 2018)

Before you continue on another group classes, I would suggest that you work on her individually with a good trainer.

And frankly speaking, there's no need to put her down. I was honestly baffled when reading your post 'Possibly have to put her down' especially when the behaviour she displayed is a far cry from criterias to put a dog down.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Your bitch is just a year old. Handler needs to calm down. My dogs aren't dog aggressive but if someone stands in front of our "tool kit" that has food in it with their dog, they get told about it by my one dog. The older one doesn't like short coated black dogs at the fence because the neighbor's short coated black pit mix was obnoxiously rude to her through the fence when she was a puppy. Got it. We handle those situations. We don't walk next to other dogs on walks. Both of mine passed the temperment part of their BH (and the rest of it too) so they are truly not agressive to other dogs. But when we train on the field everyone has control of their dog. Maybe 3 dogs at a time or possibly 4 on a football sized field - at least one of those would be in a long down. 



Try to keep your dog out of her threshold area in class and no other handler should let their dog run up to yours. Your dog has rights there so far as "not in my face!"


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

I have a female who is reactive towards other dogs. If they walk by our fence, if they walk by the house, if they walk by the truck and she's in the truck. She tried it a couple times as we were walking or while we were in a store. An immediate correction squashed that. I am lucky in the fact that she is totally neutral while we're training. Or while we're on the training field. "IPO". It sounds like your dog needs you to feel in control so she can feel that you are in control. If that makes sense. Try this. Next time she sees a dog and barks, give her a collar correction and walk as normal as you can as if there isn't even another dog there. You have to be very neutral, both emotionally and verbally. Correction with a verbal leave it. If she is quiet immediately praise and reward. If she tries to bark again correct again and say leave it. Now this all needs to be done in a controlled environment with a very dog neutral dog. At a distance at first. You can work on closing that distance over time. In the mean time keep her out of situations you can't control. Other wise I feel you'll be fighting a losing battle.
Putting down a dog that barks at other dogs would wipe out 3/4 of the dog population. Don't do that.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

I am honestly a bit taken aback by this whole thing. I think this is one of the reasons I am so against working young dogs, because we forget that they are still young dogs. You have the rough equivalent of a 14 year old girl, prone to all of the mood swings and temper tantrums along with the violent I am all grow up outbursts. You need to step up and stay in charge. You need to approach her behavior with a confident I got this attitude and you need to prevent other dogs getting in her face!
I don't know if you read anything about breed specific traits but these dogs don't tend toward social butterfly behavior. They tend to prefer to stick with their own family. It's also a breed noted for the females being much more prone to aggressive behavior then the males.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

mitchifican said:


> This is going to be sticky**** My bitch is 1yr old. Please don't tell me to socialize her more. I will puke and she would run! :wink2: She has been in Pup Social Class=Did well/grad. She was in Beginners OB. Did well until last day when a Poodle/GSD mix ran at her and barked in her face. She sat looked and gave a vicious bark. I was going to be done with classes for the summer, but the instructor said the best thing to do would be put in a class for the social. (It kind a ticked me off cause now she is labeled a big bad shepherd cause she reacted.) Yes you have to be in control of your dog at all times...I was. She wasn't the one running off leash. Anyhow I put her in a only GSD agility. We had fun we both gained confidence over the summer. Then we joined AG with mixed breed dogs. She was good then she went into Estrus and barked at any dog that came close. After estrus she was good, did what was asked of her. At the end of the 10 wk class she had started to bark at a couple dogs that would get to close to me. I would correct her with the pinch and that would be the end of it. When that class was done, I put her in another AG class and this time she was good to a point, but barking again at a few dogs. I'm talking a vicious bark. No lunging though. THEN I had brought her to the vet for a check. We were at the desk waiting to pay. A exam rm door opened and a Irish Setter ran out, unleashed with no collar. I yelled get your dog twice. In the mean time my dog reacted by viciously barking at it. I was able to keep my dog away by getting her in a corner and blocking with my legs. The owner of the IS said it was friendly and just wanted to say hi. I just looked at him like he was a dumb.... SO ever since then she is lunging and barking in AG class now for dogs and people getting to close to me. I put a muzzle on her and gave her the max dose of the calming treat (didn't work)at the last 2 classes, as I am afraid of other dogs getting injured even though she has never bit. I just don't want a bite history. I am getting to the point of quitting AG (I haven't yet.) But I have a mixed emotion about it. If I quit we aren't working through it. But if I quit the other people in class deserve to have a fun class without a reactive bitch. I want to try Hemp on her first to see if that will calm her down. Should I quit? Any suggestions? I am really bummed as I really wanted a functional dog. I don't want to leave her at home all the time. BUT I also don't want the liability. Might have to decide if all this is worth it, and POSIBLY put her down. She is super at home with fam and other pets. Someone new comes for a visit, I have to kennel her....


"Someone new comes to visit and I have to kennel her" so is this a separate issue? All I was getting was some reactivity to dogs, but there are people problems?

Honestly a lot of shepherds will respond this way with other dogs acting a fool and running up on them loose. I don't think it really means that much. 

My male is 3 and a half now, pretty socially appropriate for an intact male, able to socialize with lots of different dogs. If a dog flew out of an exam room and ran up on him he would probably get huffy. He is definitely not dog aggressive but he can get offended and growly sometimes

It kind of sounds like bad luck---these loose dogs in different environments running up to your dog.

I have quit classes before because the other dogs were not dogs I wanted to be around. If you look, there are training opportunities where you can find people who manage their dogs better. If it was a freak accident I'd say forget it but if there are consistently dogs getting loose and running amok, that's a problem.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

Here's a thought--- most dogs are pretty ramped up about agility, this doesn't help with a dog that's reactive. Might try doing something a little calmer like rally maybe, so she can learn to be around dogs and be calm.


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## mitchifican (Oct 14, 2018)

[/QUOTE]Hope you take this as constructive criticism.[/QUOTE]


I think it's very constructive and appreciate your response. Thank you


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## mitchifican (Oct 14, 2018)

Thanks. I was just told that in Agility that might be the prob. Along with all of us being in a small rm.


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## mitchifican (Oct 14, 2018)

ALL of you gave GREAT :thumbup: advice. I will use it all. 

I have never had a female GSD. I always had mellow "dah ok master" male GSD's. This female is super alfa and has freaked me out a bit. Will get back to being more stern and "I'm the boss" with her.


Thank you for ALL your input! SUPER helpful!


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## mitchifican (Oct 14, 2018)

Thank you everybody for your input. Everyone IS very helpful.
I appreciate it! :x:toasting::gsdsit:


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