# GSD Intuition?



## 44eyes (May 17, 2021)

Let me start off by saying I may not have handled this situation correctly, but I hope my flaws just accentuate my dog's awesomeness.

We just moved into a new home and our yard is separated from our neighbors by chain link fence. I intend to line the fence with bricks as an added precaution to keep my dogs in but with everything else going on I hadn't gotten to it yet. There is a pitbull next door and my GSD pup Danny and the pitbull chase each other on opposite sides of the fence, sniff each other, etc. Danny started digging by the fence where the dog is, but like I said, I was going to lay bricks within the week anyway so I decided to just keep an eye on it. The hole didn't look big enough for either one of the dogs to crawl through.

Well what do you know this morning the pitbull was in my yard, he and Danny running around playing. Nothing aggressive but still an annoyance, mainly because my Min Pin is nowhere near as amiable as Danny so if she would have also been outside things may have gotten ugly. I walk over to the neighbors, tell them their dog is my yard, the woman is in her bathrobe and says she'll get him on her way to work, not telling me what time that would be. Sigh. Whatever, like I said, they weren't being aggressive towards each other and I was doing stuff around the yard so I could keep an eye on them anyway.

I get a bag of cut up hotdogs to see if the dog is food motivated and will take treats from strangers, just to see if it came to it would I be able to lure him back into his yard or at least away from Danny. Well every time I came near the pitbull Danny got inbetween us. Whenever I tried to approach the pitbull there Danny was, trying to hog my attention. I figured his greedy butt just wanted the hotdogs so I didn't think much of it. I just left them alone to play, they ran around, drank a bunch of water, splashed in the pool, it was a great time :/

Well finally the woman and her family comes around to get their dog. Of course he isn't listening, would rather follow Danny around. I keep telling them to come in the yard and get their dog, they won't come (they're afraid of my puppy, in my yard, under my control, go figure). So I tell Danny to go inside, he does so reluctantly but he stays right behind the screen door, watching. Still the people aren't coming to get their dog. So I try with the hotdogs again. I keep my distance but hold one out to him, he doesn't want it. I take a step towards the dog with the hotdog, he snarls and then snaps at me. I ask the people through the gate, "your dog doesn't like treats?" I go inside, I have a spare crate and a raw soup bone and I was ready to lure him into the crate. But by the time I return, they got their dog and were gone back in their house.

After all that was done, I started to wonder if Danny was coming between me and the pitbull not because of the hotdogs but to make sure we kept our distance. I assumed the dog was relatively safe to deal with because I was in the yard the entire time with no issues, but as soon as Danny was no longer between us that fear-based aggression kicked in.

If you've seen my previous threads you know I didn't really pride Danny on his ability to read and respond to other dog's body language, but I see there's much more to this guy than he lets on. He's my first GSD so I can only assume this is one of their innate qualities, and I'm glad to have this guy by my side watching out for me. Very proud of him today for playing nicely but also setting boundaries I didn't even know I needed.

Here's a pic of my good boy:


----------



## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

interesting story. Be careful going outside with food. It could start a fight. Been there, done that, luckily not with a GSD and Pittie.


----------



## Dunkirk (May 7, 2015)

I'd have put my dog inside in this situation. As your dog matures, he may change his attitude towards an intruder on his property.


----------



## K9WolfAlpha (Aug 9, 2020)

I lived next door to the most irresponsible dog owners ever. They had 2 pits and one was a trouble maker. I had a wooden privacy fence 6ft and I began screwing any wood I could find over the holes. They fence fought. I hated it and the pit mostly growled and lunged at me, not my dogs so much. One day they just let the mean one loose to run the neighborhood, when they moved they did the same thing and left him behind. I had the most difficult time stopping fence fighting. So I decided my shepherd was much bigger and would bite thru the fence. That kind of stopped it when he got a good chunk of nose. Don't hate the dog hate the owner in this case.


----------



## 44eyes (May 17, 2021)

car2ner said:


> interesting story. Be careful going outside with food. It could start a fight. Been there, done that, luckily not with a GSD and Pittie.


Sounds like I got lucky in more ways than one! At the time I just had no other idea what to do with a neighbors dog on my property and not leaving any time soon.




Dunkirk said:


> I'd have put my dog inside in this situation. As your dog matures, he may change his attitude towards an intruder on his property.


I do understand your logic but I was also in the yard and considering how the dog acted towards me when I did put Danny inside I’m grateful he was there with me acting as a buffer and diffusing the situation with play rather than aggression. I guess both me and Danny should have gone inside but I’m not running inside and changing my schedule
around (yesterday was yard work, the dog was there during the coolest part of the day) to avoid a dog that shouldn’t even be there. If not for Danny the ways I would have handled the situation would have been less than neighborly especially if he would have been aggressive with me from the start.


----------



## 44eyes (May 17, 2021)

K9WolfAlpha said:


> I lived next door to the most irresponsible dog owners ever. They had 2 pits and one was a trouble maker. I had a wooden privacy fence 6ft and I began screwing any wood I could find over the holes. They fence fought. I hated it and the pit mostly growled and lunged at me, not my dogs so much. One day they just let the mean one loose to run the neighborhood, when they moved they did the same thing and left him behind. I had the most difficult time stopping fence fighting. So I decided my shepherd was much bigger and would bite thru the fence. That kind of stopped it when he got a good chunk of nose. Don't hate the dog hate the owner in this case.


I never ever fault the dog when it is being housed and fed by a human every day. I’m sorry you had to deal with crappy neighbors. At 4 months Danny is already as big as that pitbull so I’m glad they see eye to eye for now because in a few months time who knows.


----------

