HELP! My 9 mo old GSD bit someone

[EchoGSD]

I would work with him without your other dog present for a while. At home work on "watch me" and "leave it", progressing to other locations with more interesting and challenging distractions. Keep your distance from people but allow him to see them moving about. Frequently put him in a sit or a down, always asking for attention simultaneously. If/when he gets distracted and looks away, it's "leave it" and "watch" to get his attention back on you. If you can't get him to watch or leave it, use your body to walk into him head on (knees to nose), blocking his view of what he is focused on and causing him to back up. Trust me, he'll look up at you then. As soon as he does, praise and give another sit and watch command. It may be necessary to "body block" him several times until he understands that his attention is to be on YOU, not on the other people. Eventually he will build a solid attention response and you can then begin moving closer to moving people. As he progresses to where you think he is ready, begin bringing your other dog back into the walk. Pay attention to how excited the little dog becomes; it is very easy for Apollo to pick up on that and follow suit. Good Luck!

[IDR]

Originally Posted by EchoGSD

I would work with him without your other dog present for a while. At home work on "watch me" and "leave it", progressing to other locations with more interesting and challenging distractions. Keep your distance from people but allow him to see them moving about. Frequently put him in a sit or a down, always asking for attention simultaneously. If/when he gets distracted and looks away, it's "leave it" and "watch" to get his attention back on you. If you can't get him to watch or leave it, use your body to walk into him head on (knees to nose), blocking his view of what he is focused on and causing him to back up. Trust me, he'll look up at you then. As soon as he does, praise and give another sit and watch command. It may be necessary to "body block" him several times until he understands that his attention is to be on YOU, not on the other people. Eventually he will build a solid attention response and you can then begin moving closer to moving people. As he progresses to where you think he is ready, begin bringing your other dog back into the walk. Pay attention to how excited the little dog becomes; it is very easy for Apollo to pick up on that and follow suit. Good Luck!

We will discuss with the trainer in class tomorrow. He trains at our local GSD club, so the trainers are all GSD owners and experienced at dealing with GSD issues. I will work with him more on watch me and leave it, although at home I can put a steak in front of him and tell him to leave it, and he won't touch it. I just think I need to get him to start doing that on walks before he focuses on the other person, because once he gets excited, he will not focus on me. I have tried the body block before, and it seems to (kind of) work, although he attempts to look around me at the other person. Fortunately, the little dog is perfect and calm and could care less if strangers (or a bulldozer) pass next to him, he pays them no attention.

[IDR]

One more question. He is not yet neutered. We were planning on having him neutered at around 12 months, but given his recent behavior, we are considering having him neutered at the end of this month instead. Pros/ Cons on moving up the neutering? Does anyone think it would help with his issues?

[Freestep]

Originally Posted by IDR

One more question. He is not yet neutered. We were planning on having him neutered at around 12 months, but given his recent behavior, we are considering having him neutered at the end of this month instead. Pros/ Cons on moving up the neutering? Does anyone think it would help with his issues?

You will get a lot of different answers on this as a lot of people here are anti-neuter, but from personal experience, I can tell you that every dog I have ever worked with has been MUCH easier to handle and manage once neutered. It is not a magic bullet, but it can help tremendously with training, as it seems some males are more testosterone-driven than others, and some just cannot keep a clear head when they have hormones clogging up their brains. I say that in this situation, it will not hurt a bit. He's old enough that any growth issues related to neuter should be minimal.

[longhairshepmom]

I would not just make him "sit" while people approach. By now you are expecting the bad behavior and your body prepares for what is about to happen. Our body language speaks VOLUMES to animals, no matter what you actually say. You dread the persons approaching and you dread your dog lunging. So you make him "sit" and both of you tense up and you expect him to lunge and he will because he knows you expect it, whether you actually like it or not.
You need to break that habit. BREATHE while people come, keep walking with purpose, your shoulders straight, your whole being needs to stay "big, calm and in charge". Envision him staying focused on you and ignoring the people walking by.
By sitting him down and waiting for the people to come towards you guys its like you prepare him for the lunge. He sits, you both tense up and get ready...like "ready, set, GO"
Do not let him focus on the people, as soon as he does, get him out of it. A short jerk on the leash, a tap against his side with your foot (not kick obviously), anything to make him break the focus from the people to YOU. Make him look at you. Don't just sit him down. Walk him briskly towards the people, right before they reach you, turn around sharply and walk in the other direction, turn sharply again, make him sit, stand back up, keep his mind BUSY and on YOU. Praise when his focus is 100% on you. Treat. Never let him slow down, sit and focus on the people, waiting for them to reach him. You have to constantly keep his mind engaged on you during these encounters, and it means to keep him moving and doing things for you the entire time. Not wishy washy either, but briskly and purposefully. Again, breathe, and be in charge. Do not envision the bad things happening, because when you do, they will.

[AgileGSD]

Originally Posted by Lucy Dog

I understand where you're coming from with the positive approach, but the OP has a very unpredictable dog who's already put his mouth on other people for no reason.

It doesn't seem like this dog is unpredictable at all - both scenarios were extremely similar. And I'm sure the dog has reasons. From the post and having dealt with a similar issue in a dog, I'd guess that this is a guard-y thing and something about the people's behavior on their way to work makes him suspicious. GSDs as a breed are supposed to be protective and I'd say, that trait is very often what gets them into trouble. People like the idea of a protective dog and would be very proud of the dog for biting a "bad guy" trying to break into the house. But when the dog goes through the front window and bites the mailman, suddenly the person has an "unpredictable, aggressive dog" (oh and of course "what if it was a child?!" must be thrown in there). To the dog, there isn't really a difference between the trespassers, the difference is in our eyes. Dogs with strong natural protective instincts need to be properly managed and properly trained. Without proper management and training, they are left to decide to act on their own and they will rarely make a decision the people involved will like.

In this case, I would train the dog to a Gentle Leader. I'm not wild about GLs for pulling dogs but they are very well suited for this sort of behavior. GLs tend to have a bit of a subduing effect on the dog and gives the owner an excellent way to keep control of the dog's head, which will prevent lunging and as such, biting. I'd suggest avoiding walking the dog during times or places this behavior is likely to be triggered until he's fully acclimated to the GL and you've taken him in all different situations which don't trigger this behavior while wearing it. Right now, it's important you walk him only by himself. Once he's at a point where he's ready to be walked when the behavior is triggered, you'll do short sessions only and keep a good buffer so that no one is too close to him. I'd suggest using his morning meal if possible to have a quick, upbeat training session while the people walk to work. It's very important that he's not close enough for his over-excitement/guard-y behavior to be triggered during this. The idea here is to re-frame his view of the people involved here - they aren't anything to notice or worry about. At the end of your session, run away from the people with him, which helps to relieve stress and ensure he's oriented on you. Work up to a duration, maybe 3 minutes the first session or two, 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 12 minutes, etc. Once he is able to work for at least 15 minutes without paying attention to the people, move closer and start over. Then move to a different location and start over with short, far away sessions gradually moving closer. Be sure to watch for signs that he's too close before he gets to the point of you not being able to get his attention. These signs may include him repeatedly breaking focus with you to check what going on around him or stress signals such as panting, lip licking, sniffing, inattentiveness. At a point, you'll start walking him, first in the same direction the people are walking for short periods, than longer periods rewarding him for appropriate behavior. When he is relaxed with that, quickly walk him against the flow of the people. Very gradually work up to him being comfortable each direction and also stopping and sitting while people walk past. Keep him on the GL for the entire process and keep him on a short leash, rewarding appropriate behavior.

This will not be a short process but each time you change the scenario, you'll see it getting easier and easier for him to focus on you. Starting at a distance removes pressure from him to have to decide what to do about these people. Starting walking with the flow of people means he doesn't have the pressure of people walking towards him, where he must make a choice as to how to react. Sitting while people approach puts the most pressure on him, so that is why it is the very last thing you'll work on. You want to condition him to see that these people aren't potential threats or potential friends, they're just neutral people in the background. Don't allow these people to try to interact with him either - no saying hi, no giving him treats.

I am not saying correction will never be appropriate with this dog for this behavior. However, I feel it is best to do as much training and conditioning as you can first. Let him know what is expected first. It is hard to correct the dog without having the dog start to go after someone. You don't want to correct for people approaching and you sure don't want to set up a scenario where the dog is lunging at passer-bys just so you can correct him. And practice makes perfect - the more times he lunges and grabs people passing by, the more he's likely to repeat the behavior in the future.

Video about conditioning to the GL:

Desensitization To The Gentle Leader Head Collar - YouTube

Originally Posted by IDR

One more question. He is not yet neutered. We were planning on having him neutered at around 12 months, but given his recent behavior, we are considering having him neutered at the end of this month instead. Pros/ Cons on moving up the neutering? Does anyone think it would help with his issues?

I very much doubt his issues have anything to do with hormones. I'd probably try training, management, etc before opting to do an earlier neuter. Some of the most aggressive dogs I've known were neutered, often at a young age (under 12 months).

[ayoitzrimz]

I would think with a dog like this, you want to look for less corrections and more management + redirection in a trainer's philosophy.

I think of corrections as a result of bratty behavior by the dog. This dog obviously has some temperament issues that go beyond that. Corrections might also have the opposite effect. If I was corrected every time a person approaches without knowing what exactly I'm being corrected from I might start associating people with corrections... that will only escalate the issue (or not, you just dont know).

Instead, you can manage the situation by keeping him away from people outside of a controlled environment and muzzling him (for now) while you work through the issues with a good trainer. this way, each encounter with a person is in a controlled environment with a willing participant (the trainer) who knows what to do in case the dog lunges at him, you are ready to stop any lunging / biting because you are being hyper-vigilant (we just cant be so attentive all day every day but we can for a few hours a week during training session) and he quickly learns what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. Redirection can work well here.

My one line summary: correcting a nervous / fear-aggressive dog can backfire badly if your communication is flawed.

Also, as far as neutering is concerned - won't make a difference. this is a training / management / temperament issue (don't know because I don't know the whole story), not a hormonal issue.

[RubyTuesday]

I agree with Freestep regarding neutering him now. I favor keeping males intact, or neutering after 2 yrs, unless there's a compelling reason to do it earlier. His behavior is, IMO, a very compelling reason. It won't automatically fix anything. It might not even help, but it won't hurt & could make him easier to manage, easier to mentally 'reach' & connect with.

When in public, consider muzzling him unless you are absolutely certain he's completely under your control. IF this had been a child it could have been much worse. A child's skin wounds & tears easily. Their faces are often at the 'perfect' level for biting. They almost automatically invoke sympathy & outrage when injured by dogs, especially large dogs. They're also often unpredictable themselves & can rush a dog before a parent or dog owner can stop them. IF that happens, the law is often strongly on the side of the child, especially with larger dogs.