# Barking and Chasing people?



## sarlo (Aug 24, 2013)

Zeus is almost 8 months old now. Whenever I take him out for walks or anything and a person walks by, he starts to bark aggressively and tries to jump on them. Even when we take him out to do his business, if he sees someone, he will pull me, practically drag me while barking. I know he won't bite or anything, because this has happened many times with my friends and relatives when they first came over. He just ends up jumping on them and barking for a bit, then he either leaves them alone or brings over toys. But its obviously very scary to strangers when a big german shepherd is dragging its owner towards you while barking, and it really hurts when he jumps, but I can't get him to stop.
I've tried diverting his attention towards other things like snacks and toys, but it doesn't work. I've also tried to get him to sit, but he doesn't listen when he's focused on a person and just breaks free and attempts to jump. When my family and I enter the house, we've tried turning our backs and ignoring him, but he'll still jump on us every time.

Any advice on what to do?


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## wyominggrandma (Jan 2, 2011)

get help from a professional trainer.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

This is serious, something is going to happen, and someone is going to get hurt. 

As a responsible owner, you HAVE to get this under control. So many serious accidents waiting to happen if you can't keep your GSD from dragging you around and jumping on people. Next thing you know, he'll scratch/hurt someone, they'll complain that your dog bit them, and your dog is put down. 

Get a Prong collar, go see a trainer (a trainer who is pro prong collar - you won't be able to stop this behaviour by clicker training alone). 

Until you have 100% control over this try and keep him away from people - take him in the back yard for potties, find quiet places with little foot traffic for walks.


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## sarlo (Aug 24, 2013)

thanks for the tips! we've enrolled him in obedience classes already and will be starting soon.


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## MadLab (Jan 7, 2013)

How do you greet the pup/dog or how does the pup greet you?

Basically I wrote this reply for a separation anxiety case. It is mainly based on the meeting ritual and I think it is relevant to an excited dog jumping on people too. If you teach your dog to be calm when greeting you then you may be able to help him greet others in a more appropriate way

I walk in, ignore the dogs and make a cup of tea or get a bite to eat. I will acknowledge the dogs after a few minutes. This tells them 'when this guy arrives we relax and wait'. The dogs will be brushed off if jumping or excited.

The act of brushing the dogs off or pushing them and avoiding them jumping up is exciting in itself for a dog, so if the dogs are over excitable, I only open the door a small bit and allow the dog to get my scent and when they relax then I would enter.

At the beginning when you are trying to condition the dog to be relaxed when greeting you can open the door slightly and allow the pup to get your scent wait til it relaxes and then close the door and do it again and again until you see a relaxed dog or pup. 

The aim is you walk in and walk out like that is normal and not a big deal for the pup or dog.


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## MadLab (Jan 7, 2013)

> I know he won't bite or anything, because this has happened many times with my friends and relatives when they first came over


Don't be so sure. If somebody runs or tries to strike the dog for it to go away, then there is the chance of the dog biting. If you don't deal with the issue then it can escalate as well. 

Maybe you could give some more examples. Doesn't sound like fear aggression. Sounds like that dog enjoys barking and holding, but there may be underlying insecurities. 

Do you find the dog ever retreats and barks or is it always going forward. 

Does it ever tuck it's tail or give any fear or stressful signals

Does it always engage if it can, ie get so close to smell and check the persons body for items and scents.


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## sarlo (Aug 24, 2013)

yeah fear aggression never came into mind. His tails never between his legs, and he does engage them. after barking at them and running up to them and everything, he just sniffs around and then he leaves them alone, only jumping up when hes really excited or energetic.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

come on, 8 months old and behaving in that manner. i know
it's always the dog but i think it's your fault. find a trainer
and train and socialize.



sarlo said:


> Zeus is almost 8 months old now. Whenever I take him out for walks or anything and a person walks by, he starts to bark aggressively and tries to jump on them. Even when we take him out to do his business, if he sees someone, he will pull me, practically drag me while barking. I know he won't bite or anything, because this has happened many times with my friends and relatives when they first came over. He just ends up jumping on them and barking for a bit, then he either leaves them alone or brings over toys. But its obviously very scary to strangers when a big german shepherd is dragging its owner towards you while barking, and it really hurts when he jumps, but I can't get him to stop.
> I've tried diverting his attention towards other things like snacks and toys, but it doesn't work. I've also tried to get him to sit, but he doesn't listen when he's focused on a person and just breaks free and attempts to jump. When my family and I enter the house, we've tried turning our backs and ignoring him, but he'll still jump on us every time.
> 
> Any advice on what to do?


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## sarlo (Aug 24, 2013)

we are getting him trained . i just met up with a trainer last wednesday, and he gave me a prong collar to use for now when on walks, but told me that it would take months pf training for him to change his behavior, and didnt give me much on what to do when he acts this way besides pulling on the leash to get him to stop . I just wanted little tips here on how to maybe avoid this behavior or lessen it a bit until he's properly trained, especially the barking at other people.


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## Alwaysaworkingdog (Feb 27, 2013)

sarlo said:


> thanks for the tips! we've enrolled him in obedience classes already and will be starting soon.


Obedience won't help so much. This dog needs SOCIALISATION!!!!! If you only have a limited amount of hours to spend on your dog i wouldn't be wasting your time trying to take it through obedience. After you socialise this behaviour out of him to a level that is satisfactory, then worry about obedience. Thinking that teaching a dog to heel or walk on a prong or sit or shake will somehow solve behavioural problems, that are rooted in either bad nerves or poor socialisation, is complete fallacy.

Your dog is sharp, it's reacting aggressively to unfamiliar things/people that he fears. It's a natural response, especially common in livestock guardian breeds. its a trait that was bred into them because thats what shepherds required, a dig that would react aggressively to non-pack members. All dogs either choose fight or fight in such situations, it's all part of defence drive. So what you're dealing with is a very aggressive display of defence. You need to teach this dog that the people and other dogs that it encounters are things to be ignored, not threatened by and not interested in. This is done by starting at the minimum working distance - the closest distance that you can get yourself to a source of reaction (person or other dog) without eliciting a defensive response from your dog. You want to work on engaging your dog within this distance, reward it for engaging with you. The progression comes as you gradually decrease the distance to that source of reaction until you can comfortably walk your dog within close proximity to people or other dogs without an elicited defensive response. 

You could do this with a prong if you,re struggling with handling your dog but the point is that if you're at a distance from a source of reaction that you need a prong to stop you're dog from chasing after and barking at someone/another dog, then you're too close to begin with anyway. So that's why I say a prong shouldn't be necessary. They're an awesome tool to have in your arsenal but if used without the necessary amount of forethought then you can end up making your dog even more neurotic around strangers because it begins to associate the pinch of the prong with the things that they're getting defensive about - thus worsening the cycle. 

You need to do this around neutral strangers and neutral dogs. Don't get people to come up and pat your dog, this will only channel all their energy into your dog and elicit a bad response. Your dog does not need to learn to be best buddies with every joe blow that comes walking down the street, it needs to learn that dogs are just fixtures in the environment. Dogs are pack animals, they don't need to be best buddies with every single dog and person that they meet, in fact, the way we force this expectation on our dogs often is the cause of problems, I know it's caused some major dog aggression in my dog.

And don't feel totally down hearted, it's only natural and it's never too late to change and correct the mistakes that you might have caused by neg,eating the dog in its early stages of development.

Hope that helps.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

train and socialize everyday. i like training in short sessions.
each session last 5 to10 minutes. as the dog learns the
session can last a little longer. you can have many sessions 
during the course of a day. start out slow. find a dog and train
near it. train at the dog park. don't enter the park. train
from a distance. as the dog learns start getting closure to
the park. train along the fence. that will give you a lot of
distractions but no contact. training at the dog park may
prove to be to much for your dog in the begining. if so use
something with less stimulus. if you train in front of a pet
store you'll have people and dogs as a distractions. if you
train in front of a store that's not a pet store you'll have
more people as distraction. you could invite a lot of people
to visit. maybe have the visitors stand in front and near your 
house. use the people as a distraction.



sarlo said:


> we are getting him trained . i just met up with a trainer last wednesday, and he gave me a prong collar to use for now when on walks, but told me that it would take months pf training for him to change his behavior, and didnt give me much on what to do when he acts this way besides pulling on the leash to get him to stop . I just wanted little tips here on how to maybe avoid this behavior or lessen it a bit until he's properly trained, especially the barking at other people.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I think this dog is at a stage in his life where he's getting more big boy hormones, testing his limits, not really sure how to act. I don't necessarily call it "fear". He needs you to tell him to knock that crap off and show him exactly what is expected/allowed. The prong collar should help and you will probably need to actually correct him, not just let the collar do the work (don't just let him pull/lunge into it). Praise him when he's behaving right. When he's not around other people, work on basic obedience and have fun with him. He needs to learn to trust YOUR judgment around other people.


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## cliffson1 (Sep 2, 2006)

I definitely don't think he is sharp per your description....I think probably better handling by you would have helped with this earlier....keep working with the trainer.


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## kureks (Mar 16, 2016)

Thank you for the advice "Always a working dog." I have never had this problem with my two year old female GSD until recently, so I am going to try your technique. She gets along with most dogs and people, but she recently has taken to barking at certain people walking down the street. I hope this works!


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