My best friend has a WGSL SchH1 female imported from Germany at about age 2. This dog has a great temperament and I absolutely adore her. My friend has a neighbor who has a Great Pyrenees female (I do NOT like this dog and didn't from the day I met it, sorry I'm judgmental based on experience
). Anyway, this friend walks her dog in the neighborhood daily and goes right past the home of my friend. I have been there on numerous occasions when she's gone by and we've chatted (I know this woman as well, we all have kids the same age). Anyway her GP has ALWAYS done the sneaky lip snarl thing. Everytime I've seen the dog I've seen her do it at least once but usually more. I warned my girlfriend that one day her dog is going have enough and will correct the GP. I explained that the sneaky snarl is the dog equivalent of flipping her the bird.
Anyway, sure enough one day the GSD was outside (this time with the son who is 20yo and not a kid, but not the mom in charge either) and the GSD had it and flattened the GP and gave her a pinch bite to the snout (shut that smart mouth right up!). Anyway, my girlfriend was stunned that she did this "unprovoked" and I said are you kidding, that dog has been provoking her for as long as I've known it, I'm amazed she had this much patience!
Needless to say her son finally listened to me when I told him not let down his guard if that dog was in the vicinity. I explained that the GSD was a SchH1 and understood the command PLATZ and they better use it. No problems since, at least from their dog. The GP on the other hand has had issues with other dogs in the neighborhood.
Anthony, as to your dog inciting this behavior. Sometimes the unconfident dogs come off as sneaky to other dogs. It sounds like you have done a lot of work and training with Kira. I would try working on putting her in a down position facing you and making eye contact with you when you see other dogs approaching in this type of situation. I have a client with a dog that is timid and tends to set other dogs off for whatever reason (I'm not there so can't say for sure) so I have instructed her to work on her down under distraction gradually getting up to the level of distraction you would encounter on a walk in the neighborhood. I showed her how to make it a really fun, fast thing. When she sees another dog/handler approaching she quickly backs up and calls the dog to front and then tells her to down (rewarding with really high value treats for inspiration). She may end up doing 4-5 here/downs to distract her dog while the other dog passes but whatever it takes. After a while her dog began the scenario on it's own when another dog came on the scene. She now does it just as the other dog really gets in range and still makes it fun and then moves on with minimal interruption to the walk.
I think you have nailed this one. It's no secret that she's timid. Unconfident around other dogs is also very accurate. She's been this way since a pup.
So basically, what I suspected was right...
Kira is insecure, and timid around older, larger dogs.
She sets them off, by flipping them the bird (little b*tch has an attitude) LOL
I'll start working on the down in front you mention. That should be easy for her.
A while back, Kira did something, and a member here mentioned that I should be aware that Kira doesn't start something she can't finish. This seems like a perfect example of what she was talking about.
In light of this behavior, I've made it my business to keep Kira away from any other dogs. As you see in my videos. we're always alone. I don't want to chance it anymore. She's gonna get seriously hurt one day.
Not sure if you saw an older thread of mine....
About six weeks ago, I took Kira to her usual play area. It's a vast, waterfront open field. She loves it there, and gets her exercise. On this particular day, there happen to be a few loose dogs on the other side of the park. I didn't think anything of it
Long story short.... Kira sees an imposing GSD, goes into flight mode, now Kira suddenly becomes prey to three dogs.
End result had her with punctures on her side. She never put up a fight. She ran under a parked vehicle, and was conered by these three dogs, taking snaps at her from under the car.
That was it for me. I had seen enough at that point. That whole scene was not normal. Completely unprovoked. At that point, I decided that she will never bee off leash in the presence of another dog again.