Excessive Barking at Strangers

[grettagirl]

Hello,
I'm excited to join this board! We have a 6 month old Hena Von-C German Shepherd name Gretta, that we have had for 3 weeks. She is wonderful and such a sweet girl, however there are a couple of little issues. We are attending puppy training classes which I hope will help. We are trying to keep her active with several walks a day and some frisbee time.

1) When walking in the morning, if we see people and/or dogs on the road (like waiting for the bus), Gretta goes crazy. She will bark and pull as hard as she can. I will give the leash corrections and say "no" but she is in a zone and does not respond. I dread seeing people on our walks! Once she does meet people and gives them a good sniff, she's okay. But until then, it's embarrassing and annoys our neighbors. She seems fine when we bring people in the house.
2) After playing nicely for several hours with our friend's yellow lab, she became territorial after being back in our friend's house. She claimed the area under the table where we were sitting and growled very mean at the lab when he got too close. Our friend tried to play with her, and when the lab came up she growled and snapped at him. It was not playful. Each time we corrected her, but again she was in the zone.

Is this just typical GSD behavior? I hope to talk to our trainer this week.

BTW - she gets spayed on Friday. Will that help calm her down?

thanks!

[allieg]

I don't think the spay will do much for her attitude.
What type of training are you starting with her?
Where are you located?
Good luck on her.

[Cassidy's Mom]

If she's 6 months old and you've only had her for 3 weeks it's likely she hasn't had the socialization she should have had by now. Do you have any idea what the breeder (or whoever you got her from) has done with her in terms of exposing her to new people/places/things/other dogs?

[allieg]

I can almost guarantee she needs socializing.Lots of work cut out for you.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Yeah, that was my first thought Allie. It sounds like everything is brand new to her and she lacks confidence.

[Alto]

When she's in the 'zone' she needs to be redirected not corrected - she sounds as if she's unsocialized & reacting out of fear aggression; corrections (I'm assuming negative & escalating in strength when she doesn't respond) will only feed that fear/reactivity.

If she's only been with your for a few weeks, I'd spend the next few months working on bonding with tons & tons of positve interactions for every negative.
Make sure you are working with a trainer that understands GSD's & re-training reactive dogs through positives.

[AK GSD]

Welcome and congrats on your new pup! There is alot of good information here on the forum worth browsing through, especially if you are new to GSDs. Some GSDs if not socialized and exposed to lots of new things early in their life can be reactive when confined by a leash or in some other way, like a small space, where they feel they cannot retreat. Sometimes what can appear as mean/attack mode is really just them trying to say, in the only way they know how, that they are uncomfortable with the situation. You are off to a good start by exercising her lots and puppy classes. Try to keep all new experiences positive for her. Let her approach a stranger (vs. them approaching her) and have them give her lots of yummy treats. And make sure all dogs she is exposed to are 100% friendly.

[Stephanie17s]

I had very similar issues with my puppy when that started when she was about 3.5 months old give or take. Not sure if it was a fear stage, or actual fear aggression, but to give you a little hope, she has gotten 100% better.

What really worked for us was redirection. I filled my pockets with treats before walks and outings. I'd give her treats throughout the walk, so some random OB during the walk, and when we saw people/dogs/cats approaching (well for the cats it was more like running in the opposite direction ) I would amp up the treating. It took time. It was frustrating at times. But honestly, the calmer you stay, the less she is likely to feed off of your negative energy.

She isn't 100% perfect yet. Just tonight when we were on a walk, a cat ran out from under some steps and she pulled to the end of the leash and whined very loudy (this used to be BARKING). She was pretty focused on the cat, so I walked infront her, trying to get her focus back on me, and asked her to sit. I gave her a treat, waited a minute, gave her another treat. By the time I said "let's go", she had forgotten about the cat, and we continued on our walk.

Alexa is closing in on 7 months old now. This went on for some time, not exactly sure how long, but I can tell you it will get better, just hang in there!

And no, I don't think the spaying will have any effect on her behavior. She's gonna be a crazy active pup for another 1.5 years or so

[Stephanie17s]

By the way, Alexa started an OB class at 4.5 months, and it helped tremendously! The super positive atmosphere and socialization at group really helped her with a lot of issues, so that's definitely a step in the right direction.

[grettagirl]

Thanks everyone for the great tips! We are working with a trainer in Puppy Basics - he breeds German Shepherds so that is why I chose the class.

The advice on redirecting is good. And I agree, she was probably just uncomfortable at my friends' house and this was her way of expressing it.
Maybe next time we plan to stay so long we will take her crate for her retreat.

I think I will give the kids at the bus stop some treats to hand to her in the morning. Our neighbors kids did that and she was quite happy! She's never tried to bite anyone.
Thanks again.