# Dog aggression



## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

Are GSD known for dog aggression? I know about other breeds not much about GSD. I have a 10 yr old girl (GSD mix), and I don't want to bring home another dog that may make her life harder at her age. I don't want a dog that will dominate her, but she is pretty submissive and there is a good chance of that. 

thanks


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Well, it's not a characteristic described in their standard, so they shouldn't be, but it's possible. It really depends on the dog. 

Are you thinking about bringing a puppy home or adopting? 

Is your 10 year old current dog aggressive at all towards other dogs? Is she nervous at all around other dogs?


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

where are you in CT? I'm in CT too. She is not dog aggressive, but she takes time to get friendly. We are considering a puppy, hoping that our dog won't be too upset not being the center of attention. Just don't want her to be relegated to second place once the puppy gets here. 

Eddie


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

eddie1976E said:


> where are you in CT? I'm in CT too. She is not dog aggressive, but she takes time to get friendly. We are considering a puppy, hoping that our dog won't be too upset not being the center of attention. Just don't want her to be relegated to second place once the puppy gets here.


I'm in Greenwich... as southwest in CT as you can get. Right on the border of NY.

As long as the 10 year old doesn't have any aggression issues, I wouldn't be too worried about the puppy.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

I know quite a few GSDs who are reactive or aggressive towards other dogs. As said it's not supposed to be a breed trait, but IME it's not that unusual.

However if you raise the puppy with your older dog and the older dog is submissive, you're not likely to have problems. A lot of the GSDs I know with reactivity/aggression with other dogs live with other dogs with no problem (it's just dogs outside their families.)


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Zena is dog aggressive with dogs outside the family. Its not a breed standard trait but it does happen. chances are your older dog would be fine and so would the pup.


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## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

If you get a puppy dog aggression shouldn't be a worry if the 10 year old is dog friendly. The puppy will automatically see your current dog as the leader because she is older and was there first. Eventually it is possible the new pup will test the waters but that is normal and usually isn't an issue. We got Zoe my GSD when my lab was about to be 8. He flat out ignored her for two months and acted broken hearted,lol They are best buds now it just took some time for him to adjust to a new permanent friend. 

Just remember to feed your old dog first, walk them separately especially for training the new one and bonding, and treat your old dog the same. I gave Henry the lab treats every time I gave Zoe a treat and made sure to give him extra one on one attention and walks so he knew he was still my favorite man. Your old dog will naturally feel a little put off at first, but usually everything works itself out especially when the new dog is just a puppy


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## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

I always heard that they can be "picky" about who they are friends with. Anybody else think that? I don't blame them for being picky...I'm picky too as I've gotten older lol


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## rebelsgirl (May 19, 2005)

My Rebel was 10 years old when we got Zoe. He was easy to get along with and she was 3 months old and fearful. When he passed on, Zoe became reactive. We did rescue a GSD who was a little over a year old and they get along great and he's helping her learn better dog behaviors now.

One thing with the old ones is, you don't want a puppy that would make her life miserable. Say the puppy won't leave her alone and wants to play all the time. Some old dogs joints aren't what they used to be. I worried about this with my 10yo GSD when I got Zoe. But she was too scared to try to play.


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

Varying degrees of dog aggression, intolerance or "selective-ness" is pretty common in the breed. The most concerning for you would be the chance of same sex aggression, which is aggression between dogs in a household of the same sex. Your best bet for a dog who will get along with your girl would be to get a male dog or a breed that is not at all prone to same sex aggression.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I also think it's pretty common to see dog - dog aggression within GSD's.

All of mine 'tolerate' strange dogs, but certainly aren't in love with strange dogs, nor want to really 'play' with them. Now if a strange dog charged them or barks at them, I wouldn't be surprised with a reaction from mine. I've never had a problem with any of my existing dogs when bringing in a puppy.


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## Gwenhwyfair (Jul 27, 2010)

In red, interesting. I was at a dog park Monday (stayed outside the fence with my puppy) and watched an older adult male GSD with the other dogs. He was calm confident, retrieved the ball for his owner but was not interested in playing with the other dogs in the area.

Some dogs seem to really enjoy playing with new dog friends and others not. My puppy is showing some interest in playing with other dogs once she is comfortable with them, but I was getting the feeling she may become more aloof with other dogs as she matures. As long as she is like your dogs, tolerant, that's fine with me if that is her personality.





JakodaCD OA said:


> I also think it's pretty common to see dog - dog aggression within GSD's.
> 
> All of mine 'tolerate' strange dogs, but certainly aren't in love with strange dogs, nor want to really 'play' with them. Now if a strange dog charged them or barks at them, I wouldn't be surprised with a reaction from mine. I've never had a problem with any of my existing dogs when bringing in a puppy.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

My male GSD is almost 2 years old. He is not dog aggressive whatsoever. He absolutely loves other dogs. I take him to the Dog Park every couple of weeks, I take him to my friend's houses to play with their dogs and I bring him to my mom's house to play with her GSD/Husky mix. He really enjoys the company of other dogs and he currently lives with a male GSD/Husky mix and a male Rottweiler. They play all day and all night. :crazy:


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## AgileGSD (Jan 17, 2006)

Gwenhwyfair said:


> In red, interesting. I was at a dog park Monday (stayed outside the fence with my puppy) and watched an older adult male GSD with the other dogs. He was calm confident, retrieved the ball for his owner but was not interested in playing with the other dogs in the area.


 This is how my girl was when she went to doggy daycare with me. She pretty much ignored the other dogs and followed me around with a tennis ball all day. She would have hated being left there though for sure. This dog at home though, has pretty bad same sex aggression towards other mature female dogs. My male went to doggy daycare with me for about a year but became dog aggressive towards certain other males once he matured. My other female GSD is good with dogs she lives with but selective about strange dogs. Her and my same sex aggressive GSD got into some really bad fights and even though they are 13 now they would both still fight with each other if they were together. She gets along with the other girls though, so I don't consider her same sex aggressive - she just wasn't willing to back down from the other girl. So of the three GSDs I have/had, none were totally dog friendly once mature. And to be honest, I wouldn't expect a GSD to be totally dog friendly in all situations once they were mature. There are some who are but I wouldn't say it's the norm for the breed, they are not Golden Retrievers or pack hounds after all.



LaRen616 said:


> My male GSD is almost 2 years old. He is not dog aggressive whatsoever. He absolutely loves other dogs. I take him to the Dog Park every couple of weeks, I take him to my friend's houses to play with their dogs and I bring him to my mom's house to play with her GSD/Husky mix. He really enjoys the company of other dogs and he currently lives with a male GSD/Husky mix and a male Rottweiler. They play all day and all night. :crazy:


 It certainly needs to be mentioned that none of these dogs are mature and one is brand new to the household. It remains to be seen what their dog tolerance levels will be once they are all fully mature. Hopefully they will remain as dog friendly/tolerant as they are now.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

Mine are fine with their select doggie friends and with the others they live with, thank god, I've never had same sex aggression at home, because I couldn't live having to separate dogs

And as long as mine are tolerant of other dogs, I could care less that they don't wish to play or interact with them, in fact I'd rather they be like this vs wanting to play with strange dogs all the time, tho if they did, that would be fine as well


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## jarn (Jul 18, 2007)

My Teagan was an extremely dog-aggressive dog - as in, she tried to kill - but she was fine with the dogs within the family and when I adopted Neb as a puppy she took to him immediately and allowed him to get away with murder (until he got a bit older). I think it also helped that I got a male pup, not a female.


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## Melgrj7 (Jul 5, 2009)

Nash pretty much ignores dogs he doesn't know well. Some dogs he does like and wants to play with (usually other GSDs), and gets along well with all the dogs in the house. He is becoming less outgoing with strange dogs though over the last year. When I first got him he wanted to greet most dogs, now he ignores most dogs.


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## Nero's Mom (May 12, 2010)

We adopted a male GSD when our dog-friendly, playful female husky mix was 10 years old. The GSD boy turned out to be very reactive, and sometimes dog-aggressive. However, our two dogs play well together and are good friends. 

I think even DA dogs will do well with friendly, opposite-sex dogs they've known since puppyhood. I believe our older girl has helped our GSD develop better social skills than he would otherwise have had, and she has enjoyed having someone to play with. It has been a good situation for both of them.

Also, since you asked about dominance... our husky mix is normally an independent but submissive dog (except when food is involved!) For the first few months, she dominated the puppy... now he is clearly the dominant dog. We left them to work out those issues on their own, which they did.


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