# Sudden behaviour change in 11 month puppy



## SwaF (Dec 10, 2012)

Hey guys I have a problem and I'm completely stumped! My 11 month old GSD has always been a very friendly dog towards people, other dogs young and old, intact dogs, cats, small dogs, basically he's been good with everything never showed any sort of aggression. Recently we walked past a 14 week old GSD pup and for the first time ever he just lunged at this pup snarling, growling and barking up a storm. The pup lives in our apartment building as we later found out, one night while we took Koda out we saw the owner who was at least 100 feet away, I left Koda with my partner to talk to her and apologized for the strange behaviour. But soon again while I was close to that pup Koda started going insane, he was barking and snarling trying to get to me, my partner told me he was shaking like mad, when I got back to him he welcomed me in a way like he was so glad I was still alive and thought he might never see me again. 

We had another incident with a slightly older pup maybe about 3-4 months where Koda ran up to him probably scared the little thing (it was whining and trying to get away from him) Koda growled a little but he didn't do much other than try to play with him (he's clumsy with his paws might've stepped on him a few times), once we pulled him off he calmly sat and waited like he usually does. 

It's just that one GSD pup that Koda has this problem with, no matter what we do (usually putting him in a down or sit position calms him) he's adamant about getting the pup, I can't figure out why, a few things though, Koda is still intact (planning to fix him when he's about 2), He's had other GSDs to play with and GSD mixes young and old, never had a problem. Is this a puberty thing? How do we deal with it when he's in the moment, how do we deter from this path of aggression and most importantly how do we deal with Koda and his behaviour towards this pup?


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## Harry and Lola (Oct 26, 2013)

My 2 & 1/2 year old male GSD is the same and if I can remember correctly, it would of been about the 10 to 12 month age that he started being just plain mean to GSD puppies. I don't allow him the opportunity to interact with young GSD pups as he is just not good with them - give him a dominant, intact GSD male anyday (he loves them).

Something I have observed over the years is that German Shepherds can give their own breed a really hard time, they are much tougher on each other. I have watched my 5 year old GSD bitch (who has a great temperament and is a joy to own) be quite hard on GSDs that show fear and or are not confident. It is almost as though she is telling them to behave better because GSDs are supposed to be fearless, contagious and brave.


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## SwaF (Dec 10, 2012)

That's what I was thinking too, the pup is definitely terrified of him and barks nervously or whines but Koda is great with a 2 year old intact dominant male GSD that also lives in our building. We will be keeping a watchful eye, it's ironic since Koda is actually a goofy looking dog himself. Glad we're not the only ones experiencing this!


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