my guy (pics attached) has just turned 5 months and is lovely for the most part.
we've put our heart and souls into training and socializing him. so i'm not sure what went wrong. we did rush into getting him and i think he has weak genes. a lot of people don't even think he looks full GSD
he's very aggressive when he's out on leash, with both strangers and dogs. he's worse with kids because he hasn't been brought up around kids, because we don't have any in the family. i'm just trying to figure out whether his behaviour is due to fear or dominance, or maybe a bit of both. i am seeing a one on one trainer next month, however there aren't any breed specific in my area so it will be a one time visit and then follow ups as required, and since it won't be until next month i'm doing all i can to read up on behaviour first. but i can't find much about fear vs dominance. i just want to figure out which it is because if it's fear aggression i don't want to reprimand him for fear of making it worse.
whenever we're out on a walk, he will stop. sometimes lay down. i give him a minute and then get him to continue with a treat. he does this a whole bunch of times. he doesn't seem afraid. maybe a little uneasy. but even if no ones about he behaves like this. if someones walking towards us occasionally he will act aggressively, however this just seems to be the case if he's stopped. like, if we'e sat down in the park and people walk past. even in the distance, he will bark at them. if we're walking and other ppl are walking towards us but ignore him, he will act curious and interested as they pass by, trying to sniff at them. if they walk past he;s fine. however if they pay him attention ,he does this weird thing: he sniffs their hand or if i give them a treat, takes it out of their hand, is fine for like 2 seconds THEN begins barking aggressively, lunging at them and growling . he seems to be fine with other dogs OFF leash. but on leash he's very dog reactive. he almost got thrown off puppy training class for scaring the other dogs. the people at puppy training are all scared of him, though he seems to be doing better with them perhaps because they're now familiar faces. when he acts aggressively towards someone, ive not been telling him off because i was sure it was fear. instead ive been trying to desensitize him from a distance to people, and bringing food out as people go past. he is certainly wary of the environment around him, certain noises he'll take a fearful stance ,wide eyes,ears back. however because he sniffs first THEN barks at people, im now thinking he's testing the waters.
in the house, he is mostly submissive. he will greet us by rolling over, obeys all his commands (although he's getting to that teenage stage). however he's displaying food aggression towards us. he's VERY food orientated. he's fine when i feed him his meal, i always make him down-stay until i tell him it's ok to eat. with high value treats however, he will run off and growl if we even go near him. he also thinks, if a piece of food drops on the floor it is his. we are trying to train this out of him. i think i made the food aggression worse, one day he picked some garlic bread off the floor and i wenr after him to fish it out of his mouth and he snapped at me. since then he's been more cautious around food.im reluctant to take things off him as i feel it's made the situation worse. at the moment, we're working on trading, positive methods so he doesn't associate negatively with the food.
other than this, he is obedient to us. when someone comes round the house however, he goes crazy. if he knows them , its fine. a new friend though, he has to put in his crate because lunges,growls,barks at a stranger in the house. I reprimand him for this as i can see its dominance,not fear. he also acts this way with the neighbours. hes basically being territorial of the environment.
thank you if you've read this far, please reply as i really need some advice. just trying to figure out whether his behaviour outdoors is Fear aggression or dominance aggression, because they both require entirely different methods to treat.
TLDR; 5 month old acting aggressive to strangers and dogs outdoors, wary of environment but sniffs people first then acts out. stops a bunch of times during walks, refusing to go further. definitely wary of his environment; territorial of indoor environment towards strangers, showing food aggression in the house. trying to figure out if outdoor behaviour is fear related or simply testing the waters
we've put our heart and souls into training and socializing him. so i'm not sure what went wrong. we did rush into getting him and i think he has weak genes. a lot of people don't even think he looks full GSD
he's very aggressive when he's out on leash, with both strangers and dogs. he's worse with kids because he hasn't been brought up around kids, because we don't have any in the family. i'm just trying to figure out whether his behaviour is due to fear or dominance, or maybe a bit of both. i am seeing a one on one trainer next month, however there aren't any breed specific in my area so it will be a one time visit and then follow ups as required, and since it won't be until next month i'm doing all i can to read up on behaviour first. but i can't find much about fear vs dominance. i just want to figure out which it is because if it's fear aggression i don't want to reprimand him for fear of making it worse.
whenever we're out on a walk, he will stop. sometimes lay down. i give him a minute and then get him to continue with a treat. he does this a whole bunch of times. he doesn't seem afraid. maybe a little uneasy. but even if no ones about he behaves like this. if someones walking towards us occasionally he will act aggressively, however this just seems to be the case if he's stopped. like, if we'e sat down in the park and people walk past. even in the distance, he will bark at them. if we're walking and other ppl are walking towards us but ignore him, he will act curious and interested as they pass by, trying to sniff at them. if they walk past he;s fine. however if they pay him attention ,he does this weird thing: he sniffs their hand or if i give them a treat, takes it out of their hand, is fine for like 2 seconds THEN begins barking aggressively, lunging at them and growling . he seems to be fine with other dogs OFF leash. but on leash he's very dog reactive. he almost got thrown off puppy training class for scaring the other dogs. the people at puppy training are all scared of him, though he seems to be doing better with them perhaps because they're now familiar faces. when he acts aggressively towards someone, ive not been telling him off because i was sure it was fear. instead ive been trying to desensitize him from a distance to people, and bringing food out as people go past. he is certainly wary of the environment around him, certain noises he'll take a fearful stance ,wide eyes,ears back. however because he sniffs first THEN barks at people, im now thinking he's testing the waters.
in the house, he is mostly submissive. he will greet us by rolling over, obeys all his commands (although he's getting to that teenage stage). however he's displaying food aggression towards us. he's VERY food orientated. he's fine when i feed him his meal, i always make him down-stay until i tell him it's ok to eat. with high value treats however, he will run off and growl if we even go near him. he also thinks, if a piece of food drops on the floor it is his. we are trying to train this out of him. i think i made the food aggression worse, one day he picked some garlic bread off the floor and i wenr after him to fish it out of his mouth and he snapped at me. since then he's been more cautious around food.im reluctant to take things off him as i feel it's made the situation worse. at the moment, we're working on trading, positive methods so he doesn't associate negatively with the food.
other than this, he is obedient to us. when someone comes round the house however, he goes crazy. if he knows them , its fine. a new friend though, he has to put in his crate because lunges,growls,barks at a stranger in the house. I reprimand him for this as i can see its dominance,not fear. he also acts this way with the neighbours. hes basically being territorial of the environment.
thank you if you've read this far, please reply as i really need some advice. just trying to figure out whether his behaviour outdoors is Fear aggression or dominance aggression, because they both require entirely different methods to treat.
TLDR; 5 month old acting aggressive to strangers and dogs outdoors, wary of environment but sniffs people first then acts out. stops a bunch of times during walks, refusing to go further. definitely wary of his environment; territorial of indoor environment towards strangers, showing food aggression in the house. trying to figure out if outdoor behaviour is fear related or simply testing the waters