German Shepherd won't defend himself

[Falkosmom]

Originally Posted by MountainGSDs

Sounds like you have a great dog and he looks to you with confidence and trust. Now live up to that and ensure he isn't harmed.

My dogs have been attacked once by a bully breed and I put him in a sit stay which he held while I dispatched the attacker.

[Stevenzachsmom]

You have already been given excellent advice. Nothing I can add, except I am sooo jealous. Your dog sounds absolutely wonderful.

[RebelGSD]

You are very lucky to have such a nice dog. Keep him safe from other dogs that might harm him. You don't want to be in the situation of breaking up a fight between two large dogs.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by AxelsMomma

....anytime he is outside or on a walk he will simply stroll on by other dogs even if they are going ballistic.

I hope you're not complaining about this - it sounds like he's not the slightest bit reactive, which is a very good thing. You definitely DON'T want him going ballistic in response. "Simply strolling by" doesn't sound like fearful behavior to me, that's exactly the kind of non-reaction most people would want, and TO ME, demonstrates very nice temperament.

I have a question about these two "attacks". Was he actually injured in either of them? Or was it a lot of noise without any real damage? Was he truly "cowering", or is it possible he was diffusing the situation by adopting a submissive posture and refusing to react in any way? The fact that he seemed perfectly fine afterwards and was his normal gentle loving self seems to show that perhaps he wasn't terrified and didn't feel like he was in any real danger.

Dena was the only dog we've ever had that didn't have a reactive bone in her body. She took everything in stride, and was submissive to other dogs, but not in a fearful way. It was more like she was saying to them "sure, whatever, you can be the boss, I don't care", in a casual way, if challenged. There was one GSD we encountered at Point Isabel two weekends in a row, and at first we didn't realize it was the same dog - until it did the exact same thing to her that it had done the first time, and we looked at the people with it and noticed - oh, yeah - it's the same two women with a baby in a stroller, d'oh!

The dog charged at her and jumped on her in an apparent "attack", but Dena handled it beautifully. She simply laid down on the ground and waited calmly for us to get the other dog off, and then she stood up and trotted happily away with us with her ball in her mouth. It was like she knew exactly how to diffuse the situation. If she had decided to "defend herself" it's possible that this would have escalated into a full blown fight, complete with injuries, but because she knew what to do to prevent that, she was totally fine, both physically and emotionally. When it happened again with the same dog the following weekend she behaved exactly the same way. We were not too happy with the women walking with the dog, and with ourselves for not realizing it was him so we could move off in another direction before they got closer to us, but again - no injuries, and there was no fallout in terms of how she felt about other dogs, she was just as sweet as she'd always been.

So anyway, I just wanted to put out an alternate viewpoint here, that maybe your dog is so well socialized and has such good dog communication skills, that like Dena, he knew the best way to handle the situations to prevent them from being worse.

[AbbyK9]

I'm not asking for him to snap and start attacking, but I am concerned that he is going to get hurt. I am worried we have done something wrong along the way. Any suggestions?

Your wonderful dog is doing absolutely everything right. When he's being attacked, it is your turn (as the owner and his leader) to step up, prevent the attack, and keep him from getting hurt.

If you're in an area where you often encounter loose dogs, I would recommend carrying a stick or something with you on walks to keep the other dogs at bay. But often, just making yourself big and telling the other dog loudly "GO AWAY" before they reach your dog is the best defense and will startle most dogs away.

[pets4life]

The only problem is it seems dogs know which dogs will put up with crap and will take out their rage and pick on those dogs, we had this german shepherd was a total bully but he would only try to pick on dogs that he knew he could do it to, never would dare pick on a dog with a serious side. My cousins staffy was like that also.