Puppy barking at dogs after being attacked

[ParisGSD]

Well we got our puppy a week ago and she was wonderful, calm, smart, obedient and I can tell she had great temperament. So after a couple of days we decided to socialize her.. My wife had asked her friends who had also just bought a male gs puppy @10 weeks old to come and play..

I had to go to the store and when I returned she was in the backyard getting dominated, humped, chased and aggressively biten by this male!! She was growling, snarling and biting back in defense!!

I immediately separated her and took her inside.. Kinda flipped on my wife and her friend.. They said "they thought that's how pups play"!!

They are both first time dog owners so I can't blame them..

So now I noticed everytime she see's another dog, she barks none stop..

I can't calm her down either


Please help! What to do??

Thanks, John

[Lucy Dog]

I wasn't there, but your wife might be right... that kind of does sound like how puppies play, especially GSD's being the age both dogs are. They're loud, they growl, they chew on each other... it might be play, but again, I wasn't there so I don't know for sure.

A dog with good nerves should be able to bounce back from this pretty easily if it was more than play. Get the puppy in some puppy classes and let him know that he doesn't need to bark at dogs. Do you have any training facilities near you?

[MaggieRoseLee]

Take a deep breath and calm down, your puppy is young and unless it was really hurt (which shouldn't have happened with the other puppy being so young) it should bounce back. The barking you are seeing may be from excitement and wanting to get near the other dogs to play!

If you watch the following video, at around 2 minutes you may see a GSD puppy acting like yours..... see how I work thru it.

German Shepherd puppy 15 Weeks - Socialization at Dog Fair - YouTube

German Shepherd puppy 15 Weeks - Socialization at Dog Fair - YouTube

[ParisGSD]

I am calm i watched your whole video and didn't see the behavior that Paris shows when barking at other dogs.. Tail stiff and barking non stop.. Not in a friendly way!

I have also watched a lot of videos on YouTube of puppies playing and now I can safely say that the male pup was attacking Paris and she was defending herself..

I will take her to my brothers place today where he has 7 gs puppies and see how she does around them..

[doggiedad]

that is how pups play and adults. your pup was letting the
other pup know when it was to much for her. it doesn't
sound like your pup was being dominated. now when
your pup sees another dog she wants to play. with
training and socializing your pup should be fine.

Originally Posted by ParisGSD

I had to go to the store and when I returned she was in the backyard getting dominated, humped, chased and aggressively biten by this male!! She was growling, snarling and biting back in defense!!

I immediately separated her and took her inside.. Kinda flipped on my wife and her friend.. They said "they thought that's how pups play"!!



So now I noticed everytime she see's another dog, she barks none stop..

I can't calm her down either


Please help! What to do??

Thanks, John

[Jax08]

John, Is it possible to take a video of your puppy reacting to other dogs?

[chelle]

Originally Posted by ParisGSD

Well we got our puppy a week ago and she was wonderful, calm, smart, obedient and I can tell she had great temperament. So after a couple of days we decided to socialize her.. My wife had asked her friends who had also just bought a male gs puppy @10 weeks old to come and play..

I had to go to the store and when I returned she was in the backyard getting dominated, humped, chased and aggressively biten by this male!! She was growling, snarling and biting back in defense!!

I immediately separated her and took her inside.. Kinda flipped on my wife and her friend.. They said "they thought that's how pups play"!!

They are both first time dog owners so I can't blame them..

So now I noticed everytime she see's another dog, she barks none stop..

I can't calm her down either

Please help! What to do??

Thanks, John

Hmmm! What do you mean by dominating? Humping, well we all know what that is.. and is unacceptable to be sure.

Growling, snarling, biting, not so uncommon, but you mention your wife is a first time owner, leading me to believe that you are not, and therefore giving you more credit for recognizing bad behavior. ? Sometimes you have to go on instinct, but admittedly, my instincts have been way off the mark more than once.

My pup had a littermate come back to live with us for a short time. He played much too hard for her. She did not like it. It was not right for her. They had to be kept separate. I believe some dogs like to play rougher than others. My pup is a rough playin' boy but there's no aggression. He just loves the chase, the rolling around, etc. Maybe your girl doesn't. I wouldn't subject her to that, either.

Too bad you couldn't have gotten a vid. I have been in doubt about the play behavior at times, too, and posted a vid for people to critique. Very helpful. If you could do that, I'm sure you'd get a ton of feedback.

Last suggestion might be to always be home during any pup play sessions!

Curious for your update on how she did with the other pups today!

[PaddyD]

You might have a pup with a soft temperament, also known as weak nerves. She may have been defending herself by going over the top because she lacks confidence. She may now be barking from fear aggression. I could be wrong but I have seen this same behavior in weak nerved dogs. It doesn't have to be a bad thing if she has weak nerves as long as she isn't shy/sharp. You have to bring her confidence back slowly and it could take a looooooooooong time. if ever

[MaggieRoseLee]

Originally Posted by ParisGSD

I am calm i watched your whole video and didn't see the behavior that Paris shows when barking at other dogs.. Tail stiff and barking non stop.. Not in a friendly way!

The part I meant is exactly at 2:40 and has the smaller dog on the right lunging and barking at GloryB.

Does your pup do that? Or hide behind you and try to escape?

We do have to watch over our pups and step in if play gets too nuts. There can be bullies in the bunch so just breaking it up and calming it down usually helps.

[Samba]

I had a pup who was a bit nervy. A bad event at an early play group set her off on the barkety bark lifestyle! It did take good experiences around neutral dogs in our training classes and quite a bit of maturity before we began to make headway. Every dog is different. Hopefully yours will have a quicker recovery from the event!