# Recent Dog Aggression



## xIke (Aug 11, 2011)

I have a four year old GSD that I've had for three years (she was a rescue). She's always been very wary of other dogs and growled at them if they were near me. A few small dogs have attacked her, and now she's much more aggressive, growling at dogs who are near other people she knows, and even getting in a few brawls (no bites on either side thankfully). What do I need to do to correct this? She's very obedient otherwise.

Thanks


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

That is fear aggression. She's thinking "I'll get you before you get me" First, do everything possible to avoid her getting attacked. Second, you need to stop the behavior. Third, you need to get her to view dogs, or ignoring dogs, as a good thing.

We're doing a lot of work with "Look At That" game. For the first time ever, I watched my dog lay down in the middle of a store, perfectly relaxed and just look at another dog.  It does work. Do some research into it.


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## gsdraven (Jul 8, 2009)

Another vote for LAT. It did wonders for one of my fosters who almost got PTS because he was so dog reactive (not aggressive) but after a couple of months of LAT and careful training, he was actually used as a friendly test dog for the CGC! I would definitely google it and try it out. 

Look at That! A Counterintuitive Approach to Dealing with Reactive Dogs Dog Training for Dog Lovers Blog


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Jax08 said:


> That is fear aggression. She's thinking "I'll get you before you get me" First, do everything possible to avoid her getting attacked. Second, you need to stop the behavior. Third, you need to get her to view dogs, or ignoring dogs, as a good thing.
> 
> We're doing a lot of work with "Look At That" game. For the first time ever, I watched my dog lay down in the middle of a store, perfectly relaxed and just look at another dog.  It does work. Do some research into it.


I'm with the others, no CORRECTIONS! That only adds to the aggression and STRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Instead learn how to REWARD for what you want so 'teach' it. No stress in being a good dog and getting praise rewards! :wub:


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## xIke (Aug 11, 2011)

Thanks for the answers...

So you guys really think this is a fear thing? She'll trot right up to a strange dog and start growling. It seems like if she's afraid she'd be hiding behind me or running away (like the dog she pounced yesterday).


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

There are dogs that will attack out of fear in order to get the first shot in. If I were you I would not let her "trot" up to any dogs in the near future, and not let her be near any other dogs. You're just asking for someone to report her and then you won't have a dog to fix period. True aggression wouldn't involve "trotting" it would involve a full out sprint and attack from anywhere at anytime.


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## xIke (Aug 11, 2011)

This has only been with friend's dogs. One of them she used to play with fine, but hasn't seen for about two years. When she met it again I thought she'd remember it and go back to being friendly, but she growled at it anyway. So far she's only escalated when a dog that she's growling at approaches a person that she knows well. If the dogs are just meandering around and not near people, she seems fine.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

So you think your friend won't be angry when your GSD rips apart their dog because it comes over to you? It sounds like you are defending your dog, so if you like this kind of behavior thats fine. Until you can completely trust her, you should work on the "Look at That" system and don't allow her to be around any dogs. If you have friends that will allow her around their dogs so that you can work on these issues that is awesome and they can really help you, but if its around a strange dog and you don't know what can happen, that is just not a situtation I would put myself or my dog in.


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## xIke (Aug 11, 2011)

martemchik said:


> So you think your friend won't be angry when your GSD rips apart their dog because it comes over to you? It sounds like you are defending your dog, so if you like this kind of behavior thats fine. Until you can completely trust her, you should work on the "Look at That" system and don't allow her to be around any dogs. If you have friends that will allow her around their dogs so that you can work on these issues that is awesome and they can really help you, but if its around a strange dog and you don't know what can happen, that is just not a situtation I would put myself or my dog in.


Here's what I was trying to explain which I guess I wasn't clear about:
1) this is in a controlled environment with friend's dogs. I'm not letting my dog run wild and attack dogs everywhere. We've controlled the introductions, letting the dogs sniff each other, and during those intros my dog growls.
2) The only two times my dog has pounced another dog, it was approaching a person that she seems to be protective of. Maybe I'm interpreting this wrong, but it seems like she's overly-protective of the people she knows.

In no way am I trying to defend my dog or make excuses. I'm trying to explain my situation as clearly as possible so I can get the best advice. It's likely that I'm not handling any of this right- the introductions, the growling, etc. I'm just trying to be clear about what's happening because what I'm doing right now is obviously not working. If I didn't care about my dog's behavior, I wouldn't be here asking for help. She's a fantastic dog and I hate the idea of her being put down because I can't give her the help that she needs.

Thanks


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

Then I think you should make the person she is "protective" of go over to the dog and play/pet it. Make sure your dog understands and sees that the person doesn't need protecting from said dog. Start out with dogs that you trust and then move on to strange dogs, but always make sure that person plays with that dog first. I try to do this with most dogs anyways just to make sure my dogs "protective" instincts don't come out. If he sees me playing/petting the other dog he knows that its ok for him to calm down and play also.


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## xIke (Aug 11, 2011)

I'll definitely try LAT and see if that helps. It looks like it will be useful even if it doesn't help with the aggression. I need to watch my dog more closely to see if she's better after people have pet the other dogs. I know she's seen me petting those dogs and has still growled at them afterwards. She used to be really good about playing with other dogs after an introduction.


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## WVGSD (Nov 28, 2006)

While this may just be extra stuff to think about, there are medical causes of aggression. If her behavior was stable previously, it probably would not hurt to have her checked by your vet and make sure that her thyroid and blood work are normal. 

I do agree with the others that she is showing fear-based aggression. She has more of the "fight" reaction to her insecurity than the "flight". The "Look at That" training should be extremely helpful and, since you have friends that will allow you to train her around their dogs, you have a good chance of being able to modify her behavior.


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