Questions from experienced GSD owners.

[arma_dylan]

Hello Everyone,
I have a few questions about my GSD and a potential future for aggression. Here are the basics.
Her name is Roo and she is a Year and 7 months old. She is not spayed right now but she will be in December. She is approximately 70ish pounds. She is a very good dog but extremely excitable. When people come to the door she is always jumping up on them (but this is getting better with training). She is just constantly full of energy still. She gets plenty of walks and I bring her to a field (almost every day) to run freely.

Here is my concern, She has recently developed some on-leash aggression. Barking and lunging furiously, If she is off the leash she will always charge other dogs heckles raised, but one she gets there and they sniff she just plays around with them. We have always been consistent with NILIF (we have had her since she was aprox 3 months. She is extremely intelligent but it seems like when she sees another dog or a new person she just HAS to get to them right away and lick them or play with them otherwise she gets extremely whiny and anxious.

I worry that if she is on a leash and another dog comes she may bite them, Once i saw her snapping the air near another dogs muzzle. What do you recommend? For money reasons a dog trainer is not currently an option. I have also tried giving her treats to distract her as other dogs are near but she stops caring about treats completely.

I've attached a picture.

p.s. Do you think having her spayed will change any behavior?

[onyx'girl]

I would practice NILIF if you aren't already. At her age she needs to see you as a strong leader, so she will defer to you, instead of taking situations into her own hands.
The book Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt has exercises to work thru the reactivity she is showing. Training classes are worth the cost, hopefully you can invest in them. Work her mind as well as her body...GSD's need mental exercise as much as the physical.

[KZoppa]

when on leash do you allow her to meet another dog once she has calmed down? By behaving that way and getting to meet the dog or dragging you over, she's getting reinforcement for it so she's going to continue doing. She could really benefit from distraction training from the sounds of things. Remember, reward the calm behavior every single time regardless of the situation. When she starts misbehaving, her focus needs to be redirected to you. You have to be diligent. When she starts focusing on another dog/person/squirrel ect.... BEFORE she has the chance to go from zero to scary, you need to redirect her and praise HEAVILY for the calm and focus on you. You need to change direction. She needs to learn behaving a certain way gets her what she wants IE meeting the other dog. Whereas misbehaving gets her removed from the situation. The same thing goes for the jumping. Remember to set serious ground rules for her and ask that your guests enforce it as well. She jumps on them, they remove their interest in her by turning their backs and withholding attention until she is calm and sitting nicely.

[arma_dylan]

She is never allowed to see the other dog if she is lunging, but she also never stops. If I am walking her on leash at a school circuit that I go to, She will be brought to the center, or I will change directions. Her distance limit seems to be about 50 feat for an alert stare, 30 feat for a pull, 5-10 feat for barking and lunging. I bring treats with me and the second she looks at another dog I give her one, and get her to focus on me. She just seems to need it so bad its strange.

As far as people that rule is already strictly enforced. It is getting better, but she still wants to circle between their legs. She doesn't seem to care if they notice her at all she just wants to smell them. There has never been the slightest bit of aggression towards a human on or off leash.

Something I have noticed is she seems to stalk birds now.... Walking in a slow crouch from a distance.

[JakodaCD OA]

good suggestions already,,I would exercise her GOOD, and then take her for a walk, as in tire her out some before you start meeting up with people/other dogs.

Do you have any friends with dogs that she plays with?? Set up some play dates and let them run each other ragged and then go for a walk..

She sounds like a high energy girl who maybe needs to learn some dog/dog manners??