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Puppy got bit by a bigger GSD

3K views 17 replies 15 participants last post by  petite 
#1 ·
Konig is 4 months now. Took him to the park to off leash him inside the baseball field, throw some balls, do obedience, tug, etc.. Drain him out.

A dad and his son with another GSD was already in the field. 6 month old female. I think he was excited to see another GSD pup and invited me into the field, saying she was super friendly. I take Konig out of the car, and she starts barking as soon as she sees him.. and Konig is no angel either, he starts barking his head off. So I'm a bit hesitant. They meet at the fence, which i know is already bad because it just builds that tension. I decided i would try to drain him a bit so i ran a lap around the baseball field.

Then took him inside, she goes nuts. They're both barking at eachother and the dad tells his son to let go of the leash (because its causing more tension) and the GSD launches at Konig (a 6 month female is SIGNIFICANTLY larger than a 4 month male) tramples him, Konig starts whimpering like hes being murdered, and she nips him in the leg while hes on his back. I just shoved her to the ground and stepped in between the two. They pulled her back and when I looked back at Konig he was limping on his left 'arm' (got bit in the elbow). Both of them have all their hairs up and are barking pretty aggressively It seemed like he was fine after a few seconds. Started walking fine when I walked him on the leash to check. They were both still barking so i just started walking Konig back and forth on the leash. He pretty much stopped and just started focusing on me. The other GSD just kept going at it, Konig would let out a little growl, i'd just tug the leash a little, and he'd stop. I took him somewhere else and we just trained/played on the long leash.

Anyways, where did we both go wrong? What is the proper way to introduce two dogs? If I see them again (which I'm sure I will, because I see them out often) should we re-attempt? Anyone else's GSD's start getting aggressive/vocal around this age? He started barking at EVERYTHING. What did you do to remedy? How do you correct when he starts barking.. or lunging?
 
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#2 ·
Not sure if this will help, but there is an un neutered 120 pound Alaskan malamute that is VERY aggressive at our park we like to go to, the owner is very nice and the dog is very female dog friendly and people tolerant so we like to stop and talk to them.

They both go nuts when they see each other so we will walk opposite directions until they slowly calm down, we will get close but just out of leash distance from each other and wait for them to get bored of the situation, then we let them meet.


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#4 ·
I wouldn't let my dog off leash until recall was solid. Generally not at 4 month mark. You may want to have your dog interact with dogs you already know and teach him in that environment how to meet and greet other dogs.

I have no problem with dog parks and my dog loves to run and play with the other dogs.

I think the more you socialize him, the better he'll handle these situations.
 
#5 ·
Restrict your dog's face to face meeting with other dogs unless the other dog is really calm and stable. I wouldn't reattempt a face to face one until those people have calmed their dog down and you make a judgement for yourself if it's "really friendly". They shouldn't have let go. That was dumb.

Mine used to bark her face off but I'd stand a few feet away from the dog and give a correction every time she started running her mouth and it ended really quickly. She only gets to greet if hackles are down and she's making zero sounds.
 
#6 ·
@thewretched, I tried suggesting to the other owner we do some passes. Just walk by eachother on the leashes. And he said "ok!" and then just stood there as i did passes and his dog just sat there barking. I think maybe he misunderstood me. hahah

@Chip18, thanks for the link! skimmed over it just now and it looks like its got some great info. I'll start reading it more in depth as soon as i write this ;)

@Redrider, Yea I dont REALLY "offleash" yet. I usually have a 30ft long leash on him if we're in a open field. But I just let him go "off leash" in the baseball field because its closed off. His recall is actually pretty good though (well.. PUPPY good ;D ). I NEVER say the words "come" unless I have treats on or near me. EVER. If i let him do his own thing he wanders off and I practice recall. He comes galloping back. When we're at the park i usually have high value treats. Pieces of steak or chicken breasts. If I know there are too many distractions I take out the long leash. In the baseball field, with no leash, if I run around he chases me, if I walk around he follows.. We play fetch, work on wait/stay. I also just have him go 'down', 'relax' (head down) and play on my phone or something and treat him every minute or so he's in that position. I treat the baseball field as my training area to WORK on recall, wait/stay, etc.

As far as friends.. right now his only FRIEND is a 1 year old Corgi -_- hahah he kept bullying my other friend's maltese. And he's met some friendly dogs on walks. But geez, A LOT of these dogs in the neighborhood are so aggressive. I was actually kind of surprised.

@mego, I will try to wait him out next time. I feel like you just gotta meet the right dog owners out there that know what they're doing and are also willing to help you. And yea, i wasn't even prepared for the other dog to be let go of. Actually made me pretty mad. The dad was just being all gung-ho acting like everything was just fine. "its ok, just let her go. The leash just causes more tension" it was literally like a 30 second ordeal. I walked up, both dogs started lunging and barking, he immediately tells his son to let go, and bam... puppy gets bit for the first time. Thats why i shoved that other dog so hard. Though.. i know its not really the dog's fault (and maybe not the best idea to push a fairly large GSD). But I mean... cmon, im sure everyone would do the same if they saw their little 4month old getting trampled and bit like that. hahah, protective dad instinct kicked in.

Thanks for all the replies!
 
#8 ·
I find it unusual that two puppies of the opposite sex would fight that way. Usually they cant wait to meet each other so they can play. Face to face intros are never good, but puppies learn that as they go. Sniffing butts is a nice hello:) I have my 2.5 yr old in agility and the owners of another female thought their girl and my girl could be friends, so they brought their dog right in my dogs face, which was a big mistake and I had to yank my dog away. Well that didn't go over well, my girl is generally good with other dogs but since they screwed up that intro my dog wants nothing to do with her and I'm willing to bet she would go after her if given the opportunity . I'm very good at keeping her away from the other dog , but the owners of the other dog are not as smart
 
#9 ·
Our pup is just a tad older, 18 week female. She also acts a bit aggressive toward other dogs, barking mostly. We have been carefully introducing her to more situations, people and dogs.

1st off, you can't trust others when they say 'my dog is great around other dogs'. It often turns out otherwise in the doggy world.

The best place we have right now to socialize with people and dogs is the local German Shepherd Club 'puppy class'. The reason being, they are German Shepherd dogs, and more importantly the instructors/moderators KNOW the breed. Our pup was a little Barky when we went, the facilitator wasn't phased a bit. She just said let's do this and that and work through this. Besides the puppy class, every two weeks, they said we could come anytime and have our dog around to get used to other dogs. Of course we would say out of the way.

Contrast that with another dog owner(boxer) who told me we may have to get a muzzle for our pup when going to puppy class. Our pup was much better after just one puppy class session, worn out too.

I would search for a local German shepherd club and check them out.
 
#10 ·
To me, this letting puppies loose to play with each other is like a Lord of the Flies scenario.

The best thing I ever did was only expose my current dog as a pup to KNOWN solid stable adult dogs who taught him how to properly behave as a dog. That said, I am now in the school that dogs don't need to play with other strange dogs but need to learn to ignore them. That was after winding up with some dog aggressive dogs after doing the puppy play date thing.
 
#11 ·
Nice post Nancy. I agree totally.


If you feel you must introduce dogs, take them for a walk in the same direction for a while first so they get used to each other a bit before you let them make the rules.
 
#12 ·
And on the other end of the spectrum is my female that had so much puppy socialization playtime that I had to undo some of it in that she thought everything was about playing with the dogs. A real detriment to trying to do agility when she comes out or over an obstacle and dashes to see the dogs. My male pup went to a couple of socialization evenings, just enough to show me that he wasn't scared or aggressive to the other pups and knew how to say hello but wasn't overly interested in the other pups. Cool. That's good enough. Dog aloof.


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#14 ·
When we do puppy socialization here it's under controlled circumstances and the whole build up that was allowed to happen simply wouldn't. The pups would have been physically corrected for the barking immediately. It can't be allowed to fly.

From the description given, you guys basically did bite work agitation before releasing them to a predictable conclusion.
 
#16 ·
Thanks for all the suggestions. Konig is going to be having a playdate today with his friend JJ the corgi. They get a long pretty great. But today there will be a SECOND corgi, another friend's that will be joining us. Things to look out for? How should i introduce them? JJ (friend) first then let the other corgi come? Or both at the same time? stranger first?
 
#17 ·
Make sure your pup is comfortable in the environment that it's in. For example, you shouldn't let them meet in the corgi's territory. Also, i would suggest introducing them one by one so that your pup can get used to seeing the first corgi so he's not overwhelmed by the presence of both dogs.
 
#18 ·
All that barking the female was doing, as well as your own male, is no good. Even if you're unsure if it's excitement or aggression, high arousal is not a good situation either way and both can end in a fight.

I would be extra careful going forward introducing your pup and I imagine he might react differently than usual because of his bad experience.
 
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