What do you consider "agressive"?

[DTS]

i talked my mom into letting us bring jasmine camping with us this weekend to the r.v resort that allows pets. she has been doing well with her barking in the past few months. we do OB training and our trainer is very pleased with how well she is doing. she no longer barks at people, unless they get in her face, talk to her, etc. which we are working on and is our next hurdle. we went to petsmart today and she barked 2x.once at a dog and once when a girl said oh how pretty and ran up to her. she is still a work in progress with the bark but has come so far. before, if it moved, she barked. she loves my family. well, i called the rv place just to make sure they dont have any breed restrictions and she told me they just cant be "agressive". now when jasmine barks she doesnt put up her hackles unless its a dog. she just backs away and barks. again, we are working on that one. i guess what i am asking is do you think from what i described, is jasmine "agressive"? what do you consider agressive? should we just not go this weekend? it will either be for the day or 2 days and 1 night stay depending on how she does.

[JeffM]

Hard to say without really being there. I do know Thor will bark at other dogs and his behaviour can be mistaken for aggressive the way he barks and spit flies everywhere

Ever since he was attacked by another dog at 12 months, he goes bat crazy out of fear. If I let him go during any of these 'aggressive' times he would just sniff the other dog and then want to play.

99% of ppl who don't know him, think he's a 'typical' mean GSD and really, I can't blame them because he certainly acts like it.

[DTS]

when she barks, she doesnt lunge, no hackles, she doesnt move toward the person. she backs away from them. if we are out on walks and people pass by she is fine. we can walk by people in a store, walk thru a crowd of people in the store, and have people pass us in an isle with a cart no barks. if someone says oh what a cute dog and aknowledges (sp) her, she gives out a bark which is then corrected. at class she doesnt bark at all. its only if she is paid attention to she will bark and back away. she doesnt try and go near the person, no lunges, no teeth bared, no hackles.

i konw people do think that she barks to be agressive. and when i try and explain that she is afraid of them and not to look at her in the eyes or talk to her they just say oh and walk away. but i know its fear and my trainer knows its fear

[holland]

Anja always almost always barks at people- I think if she was a person she would just be someone who talks a lot-she has never bitten anyone-except at schutzhund

[Stosh]

Doesn't sound like what they would consider aggressive behavior. Naturally, they don't want any dogs that attack and fight with other dogs or that bite people. Sounds like Jasmine is being defensive. And since she stops barking when you correct her I think she's not what they're classifying as 'aggressive'. Go and have fun!

[Germanshepherdlova]

Dictionary definition of aggressive:
ag·gres·sive   
–adjective
characterized by or tending toward unprovoked offensives, attacks, invasions, or the like; militantly forward or menacing: aggressive acts against a neighboring country.

She doesn't meet the description-go and I hope you have a great time!

[selzer]

I would go and have a good time. I would probably have an x-pen on hand, so when you are hanging around on lawn chairs, she can be in her special area.

If the dog is standing head lowered, legs stiff, tail still or moving slowly back and forth, eyes intent on someone or something, and then a low growl -- that sounds like aggression.

Hackles up, generally means fear, so some more socialization around other dogs might be helpful, so long as it is POSITIVE experiences. Working on that at PetsMart helps.

Hopefully, you can intercept little monsters before they get right in your dog's face. It is better that your dog barked at the monster and did not snap at her, but this too is an area where improvement might be a good idea down the line. Barking can be a warning -- the dogs is startled and wants to increase the time and distance to be comfortable. I do not think this is a reason not to go, but more socialization around kids might be helpful, just so the dog gets used to how they run and scream and move in general -- not a bunch of kids up in the face at this point that could end badly. Evenso, no reason not to take the dog camping.

There are different kind of barks, there is the "Hi, how ya doing, whatcha doing all the way over there, come over here so we can sniff butts" bark. There is the "I am the king of this mountain, you go away and get off of my cloud bark." There is the "Suzie, Suzie, Suzie, You came home, I can't believe it, me, me, me, come over here" bark. There is that bark/whine thing that Cujo does when the little kids are leaving "awe, your going, so soon? ( 36 hours later), well come back soon." And there is the "You don't belong here, LEAVE" bark.

[DTS]

She kind of sits and barks or try's to run away. It was a girl about 17 or in her 20s she told me he got bit in the face by a gsd and was trying to get over her fear and I kept about 15 ft between us and told her jaz was scared of people and then she bent down and kissed at jaz and then she barked. I correct her and kinda walked away. We do née more kid socializing especially since we don't encounter many children. She's afraid of all dogs until she gets to know them.

[kiya]

Originally Posted by DTS

She kind of sits and barks or try's to run away. It was a girl about 17 or in her 20s she told me he got bit in the face by a gsd and was trying to get over her fear and I kept about 15 ft between us and told her jaz was scared of people and then she bent down and kissed at jaz and then she barked. I correct her and kinda walked away. We do née more kid socializing especially since we don't encounter many children. She's afraid of all dogs until she gets to know them.

I seriously advise against doing that. If your unsure of what your dog will do never allow someone to put thier face in you dogs face.

[DTS]

No she was 15 feet away and bent down where she was. That's when I kinda got infront of jaz and told the girl that jasmine was scared of her and left. I don't let people get to close. I try and avoid people so I don't set her up for failure. I like to circle the store first do some down stays and watch me while people shop when her and I are comfortable we will enter the dog part, shop, more down stays, sits, etc if she gets to nervous we go back to the less traveled sections more down stays and go back in. And she enjoys watching the fish. THe only time people get within a foot is in check out and I put myself between her and the cart behind us. I don't think shed ever bite. She's never offered or acted like she wanted to. But she is an animal and I don't want her in a situation that puke her to her breaking point