# Incident with 14 month old GSD



## cjb65 (Mar 26, 2018)

I have a 14 month old, in-tact male GSD who has been properly socialized and is usually well-behaved, with some exceptions (bad habits). We had an incident today that put my heart in my throat but I THINK is probably ok... looking for opinions.

One of my older sons scooped up my grandson, held him above his head and acted like he was going to run with him like that. "Winston" kinda freaked out: he jumped up, hackles up and barked furiously at my son. I had to tell him "no" several times to get him to back down. Now, he did not growl or lunge forward - but he sounded angry. My son lives with us and has for months and my grandson comes over frequently so he knows them both. As soon as my son put my grandson down, the dog ran up to my grandson wagging his tail but still acted suspicious of my son. I had my son let him calm down then give him a treat and pat him on the head. Then everything was fine.

I have never seen Winston act like that and it initially really bothered me. However, my grandson had been staying with us a couple days so maybe Winston sees him as one of the kids he needs to protect AND he really squealed loud when my son did that. I'm hoping this was Winston's way of communicating that he found that activity alarming and not a warning that he would otherwise bite one of my bigger boys for playing rough with one of the smaller kids. I have noticed that when the older boys play with my 12 year old son and wrestle, he runs over there with his ears up so maybe he just doesn't like rough-housing?

Opinions appreciated.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

That sounds like the fun police. Rough-housing around young GSDs is usually not the best idea. They tend to be protective around babies/small children, and at this point, he can make mistakes because he is young and inexperienced. He is just getting to that point where he is not sure if he should be trying to protect or if he is still the puppy and everyone will take care of him and everyone else.


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## dojoson41 (Oct 14, 2018)

*ruff-housing*

Doing what a shepherd does-just protecting the little ones. If he really meant to harm at that time he would have rushed/bitten the older. Just work with him and his trainer if you have one, he is young, learning and will need guidance.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Fun Police. He obviously didn't like what was happening and the loud squealing probably set that off. Many dogs don't. My in-laws had a Doberman that would take you out if you were rough housing.

I think you handled the whole thing perfectly


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## cjb65 (Mar 26, 2018)

Thanks for the input. I will definitely tell the kids to not rough house around him or to put him outside. Should we not condition him for it over time? I would rather he slowly become good at identifying what is play and what is not. or at least understand that the kids that live in his domain sometimes play rough.

I am going to get a professional trainer. I've raised many dogs without one but this guy is RIDICULOUSLY smart and takes advantage a bit


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## mkculs (Jan 24, 2019)

Your post reminded me of an incident involving our Great Dane, Sean, when my sis and I were about 15 and 14. 

I spent tons of time with the dog--his primary "person." I was older than my sister but slightly smaller.

So one day she and I get into it, yelling and maybe throwing a few couch pillows--nothing really, but how girls might argue at that time/age. Sean runs in between us and starts barking at ME. I was so mad at him I quit yelling at my sister and yelled at him, which of course didn't bother him at all. But he stopped barking and walked away, now that I wasn't fighting with my sister. 

Here's the thing--I was more verbal, faster, and more athletic than my sister and she didn't stand a chance against me--and Sean knew it. He stood up for "the little guy," despite me being his person. Once I calmed down, I realized how right he was and I never put him in that position again (I only picked on my sis when he wasn't around, haha). 

Your pup may have been a bit over the top, but he was doing the right thing. He'll learn to moderate his response as he matures.


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

New experiences for a dog are interesting......you learn a lot about your dog's strengths and weaknesses based on their responses......new situations can breed "excitement" at times..... innate behaviors surface......


Ex: First time one of wife's friends hugged her goodbye as they were leaving.....my dog reacted....nothing of any magnitude but......some might say it was the dog being protective...but the behavior was unacceptable in my eyes...the dog learned in short order the behavior was unacceptable.



Impulse control training has its merit....as does exposure and training for acceptable behaviors.....mostly that the dog exhibits clearheaded behavior based on the circumstances. If your not "excited" your dog doesn't need to be.


I wouldn't wait for the dog to mature and hope the behavior modifies.....it's your job to modify the behavior.....but you already know that.



I agree with the others that stated you dealt with the situation spot on.



SuperG


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## Heartandsoul (Jan 5, 2012)

First time mine did this was at about the same age. The music was playing and my adult son grabbed me and we started danceing twirling me. My boy rushed in not liking what he had never seen before. I stopped dancing and put him in a down on his bed with a "stay" for good measure then resumed dancing. He broke his down, I stopped put him back with a firm no, and resumed. Did this til he got the message. No interferrance.

I conditioned him to accept that humans hug and dance and swing each other around and that he isn't at liberty to interfere and I used the same method any time he felt the need to. Never thought to reward him though I was a bit put off by the interruption of a once in a blue moon dance with my son. 

You handled it perfectly including the reward and I think your boy did well listening to you even if it took a couple "no" considering it was the first time he was ever exposed to a squealing, happy, flying toddler.

Just keep at it and don't let your guard down til he is 100% behaved. You may find that he can take lower keyed ruff housing but may need a breather from the real ruff stuff or just set up a no ruff stuff in the house rule.

I think it s very important to expose and condition a GSD to seeing and behaving calmly towards acceptable human to human physical interactions be it between family or friends known and unknown to the dog.


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