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Black German Shepherd pup aggression

7K views 56 replies 23 participants last post by  aleinad 
#1 ·
Hi,

I have joined this forum to ask for help and any input would be appreciated.
We have black, working dog German Shepherd named Titan. He is 13 weeks old. We got him at 6 weeks since we didn't know better at the time. We got him from a backyard breeder. On our way back pup got hungry and while my partner was feeding him, pup must have thought that my partner was taking away food and bit him. That said, it was enough to draw blood but not too much. That said he is not food agressive now and does not guard his stuff. When we got him home, we had other dog Jack Rusell Terrier that attacked him and we called a trainer that said to let them sort it out. We listened to the advice and then it happened again. We called the trainer and he said that Jack Rusell needs to be rehomed. He lives now in my mothet in law's house. Titan has been good with kids, some dominant behavior that we are fixing. He is well trained. He sits before he gets his food, fetches the ball, plays soccer, lies down, comes, walks well on a lead, play with his toys and so on. His biting and chewing is now minimal. He is a very smart dog but very dominant. This brings me to my other issue, today my partner was fixing a lead into the seat belt so that the dog was put. The dog started growling at him and air snapping. This was definitely agression, he didn't want to be moved.

Now I am wondering whether this agression is a long term problem and whether I need to rehome the dog to someone more knowledgeable.

Thank you for any help that you can offer.
 
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#2 ·
Patience

Patience. Keep training. Be consistant. Stay calm, and keep asking questions here. Someone better at giving advice than me will respond shortly.
 
#3 ·
Never deal with that trainer again. He is an idiot.

You need to find a good trainer to help you because if you are having problems now with a baby they will be really bad problems in the future.

You will need to change how you live with the puppy and dogs in general.
 
#4 ·
byb and byt , back-yard-trainers , how absurd to recommend an adult Jack Russel Terrier , probably feisty , to sort it out with a 6 week old pup.
The pup was attacked when he got home !
Bad management all round.

"He is a very smart dog but very dominant. This brings me to my other issue, today my partner was fixing a lead into the seat belt so that the dog was put. The dog started growling at him and air snapping. This was definitely agression, he didn't want to be moved"

You got a black dog from a back yard breeder who at minimum should have known that 6 weeks was too early to home , even if you did not.
Who knows other pups might have gone home earlier .

Don't pin any problems on the dog being "working" . Says who? Some sales pitch ? Problems will be due to the byb not having spent the time to properly socialize the pup . What the dog experiences prior to 8 weeks is as important , maybe more so , than what is given after . This is the critical imprint age .
That the pup was that hungry on the ride home shows that the dogs were fed sparingly or in an atmosphere were there was a lot of competition and not enough to go around . Competition for little.

Be on guard for dog aggression problems . Not a good introduction. You are lucky the JRT didn't damage the pup. Not once , twice .

If that were my dog and he didn't want to move , I would put him on lead and he would be moving with me , every where I wanted to go , and quickly , and then I would put him wherever you wanted to put him in the first place. No punishment or time-outs , no bribes . No negotiations.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for that. I should have known better, I understand that. I have been training him, we take him for walks as well. He is fine with strangers as long they do not invade his personal space. He needs more socialization and I am working on that. I am about to enrol him in a puppy school so that he is around other dogs more. Is there anything else I should be doing. Sorry for my choppy replies, I am still getting a hang of this forum.
 
#9 · (Edited)
For immediate help I would look at the articles on Leerburg.com that detail Establishing Pack Structure. Its obvious that's you need you need to sort this out ASAP. I doubt you need to rehome either of your dogs. But you do need some house rules and fast. Your dogs are looking for guidance and since they aren't getting any from the humans, they are sorting out things themselves.

Also I strongly recommended at the on-demand Leerburg videos on "Your Puppy 8wks to 8 mths."

You have a lot of ground to cover but with a few simple steps you can go a long way to correcting these behavior problems.



Sent from Petguide.com Free App
 
#10 ·
Thanks for that. I have been working on pack leadership but that is of great help. It will make things much simpler. We gave gained some grounds with him and things have gotten much better. He was far more aggressive when we got him, he is much better around strangers, less tense and scared when we take him for a walk. I can feed him from my hand now, before he would snap at the hand but now he controls bites. Also I can take and add food to bowl. He sits and waits. Only with kids I need to establish better hierachy.

One other issue that I have with him is when walking and pushing the pram at the same time, he will prop himself in front of me and push off on the back legs and put front paws on the pram and push along. It can be a bother and it could be dominance thing again.
 
#11 ·
#12 ·
Yes we tried with this trainer but we had some bad advice in the beginning. Trainer's main focus was on correcting bad behavior by yelling loudly at the dog. That was the main input from him. Now I was thinking of taking him to puppy school but I am a bit hesitant about getting a new trainer. I don't know any good ones and I don't want to be ripped off again or for somebody to give me bad advice. I care for this dog and I don't want any more damage done:(
 
#14 ·
Puppies are not dominate, that comes later. He has not been socialized and was taken to early from his dam. Work on relationship building with your pup. Google engagement training. Become the leader! Make your pup work for his food. Hand feed while while working on engagement exercises. Teach your pup all good things come from you.
JRT are extremely feisty and should be taken slow in the beginning. Your pup must learn to coexist but his safety must come first. Contact a knowledgeable gsd trainer to guide you through this next year. The first year is crucial and training and socialization is a must!
On leash pulling when your pup pulls stop walking! It will take patience but can be done. When pup stops pulling praise say "yes" and give him food rewards. Never let him pull as it can hurt pups trachea and teaches him bad habits. My pup Sinister was a major puller as a baby now he is 6 months my husband just drapes the leash over his neck and sinister never leaves his side he stay in "foose" (heal) the whole walk even under distraction.
Good luck with your baby. Unconditional love, proper training, and a whole lot of patience you will have a life long friend!
 
#15 ·
Thank you for that. I make him sit before we cross the street and he walks besides me. One problem that we do have with him is that he will bark at other dogs, he will also bark at humans too but only if they approach too closely. That is, if they try to pet him. Is there something I can do about that? I understand that he is not socialised well and I am working on fixing that. The first day we got him, on the way back we made a stop at a park for him to do his business and eat. An older couple tried to approach but he started barking. I really hope that we can do something about that. JRT or Hercules as we call him is at my mother in law's place until we get everything sorted:)
 
#18 ·
Well as long as your still working on it, the thread I posted has a link to "Who Pets my Puppy or Dog."

Pretty much concept is "move along dog nothing to see here," dog has to be on a loose, leash don't let him get near enough another dog to strike or be struck. You shouldn't need to do any hard corrections because if done right the triggers are going to be passed quickly!
 
#16 ·
Have friends that your pup does not know come over and give them treats have them call your pup give pup a treat. I take all my pups through AKC S.T.A.R. puppy program it gets them used to being around strangers, other puppies in a safe non-threatening environment. go to AKC.org to find a class in your area. It is not very training intensive; just your basics, sit, down, stay for 1 minute and loose leash walking, it is more about socialization. Get him exposed to different sites and sounds. No dogs!! Socialize with human of all ages, and puppies his own age in a class environment. I do not care if my dogs are friendly with other dogs but they must learn to tolerate them in all situations and not react or over react. Humans are another story my dogs enjoy being around everyone. Athena is a lover she adores attention from everyone. My male Sinister it took some time for him to take to people outside our family. He is aloof and that is okay but not aggressive or fearful. Sinister will allow someone to pet him but does not seek out attention as Athena does. he is happier to sit at my feet while I talk to someone than interact with the stranger. He loves kids. Sinister will allow all children to pet him but he is picky which adult he takes to. Again your puppy does not have to be overly friendly with people but must learn to co-exist and stay aloof with people he does not know. Again build trust with your pup. My dogs know I will protect them and not put them in harms way, so therefor when I am calm they are calm. good luck:)
 
#17 ·
Most definitely find a good trainer to work with. It sounds like the biting and such has gotten a bit better, but if it continues I might even suggest looking into a behavioralist. To me, a puppy that young showing that level of aggression is a huge red flag.

Monitor his responses to people and other animals VERY closely because he is only going to get bigger from here on out. I might even suggest keeping a log of his behavior so you have a long term look at his progress and any instances of regression so you will have a better idea in the long run what training methods work best for him. And if you do have to go to a behavioralist later for any aggression or behavior issues, they will be able to help you more readily if they have a good past history of his behavior.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Just an update:

He is 17 weeks now and he is getting quiet big.
Some good and bad things have happened since. I have been hand feeding and he is much gentler now when he grabs food from the hand. I have also thought him to fetch which he likes. He is pretty good on lead, doesn't pull or fall behind. When I open the back yard door he will walk out but not far away.
We had a repairman come by and when Titan saw him, he only barked but stopped upon request, same thing with another quest. Sometimes he won't even bark,he will only come in for a smell.

Also, there were set backs. Even though he handles us around his dish much better now, there was incident recently, over a week now. I fed him some raw chicken drumsticks and even though he was alright with us giving him a pet on the bottom, as well as adding food he growled when we tried to touch him around the collar.
He has also gotten into the habit of digging holes and ripping my plants out of pots. What can I do about that? My back yard is getting destroyed.

Also he will bring sticks, branches, different rocks and occasionally poop to the back door. He prefers to spend time there. Can I stop this somehow?

Some mouthing happening, to my shoes when I walk and my hand when I try to pet him. How can I discourage that?
He is also herding people when they are walking, almost to the point of stepping on him.

I have been walking him but we had two set back there. My partner was walking him and another dog owner had the JRT off the lead. JRT started barking and went for my GSD and Titan growled but luckily JRT was put on a lead before something happened.
Just yesterday I was walking my two kids in a pram and the dog. Titan was acting out by barking at other people that came too close. At male figures to be specific. He doesn't do it when I walk him or my partner but more specifically, when I walk him with the kids.
We sat down to have a rest and my toddler was playing near by and Titan was leashed but was walking around as far as the leash allowed. Baby was in the pram. Suddenly A GSD mix came out of nowhere and was looking at us. I didn't know whether the dog was friendly or not, my main concern was the toddler near by withing the other dogs reach. Thankfully, the dog turned away from the kid and started walking towards me and Titan. Titan started growing and the other dog started growing back. I pulled my dog away on the leash away from the kids and the threatening dog. The dog started following us coming in for a smell and also alternating between growling and barking. They came to a fight real close few times, no matter how far away I pulled to my to break away the fight about to happen, the other kept following. Titan was barking, growling and crying out because he was scared. Finally, the dog owner showed up, walking slowly, even after seeing me trying to break them up. She was almost smiling! She came, leashed her dog and said that her dog was friendly and was trying to play. I was so scared, that never happened to me before. Thankfully everyone was alright and no one was hurt. That did put some fear in Titan as he was growing at even smaller dogs that were passing him on the way back. He was fine towards people that passed us by surprisingly.

I am really sorry for the rant, I just had to get it out. I am still shaking a day after.
Any help is appreciated.
 
#21 ·
if the dog is outside only you will have holes and dug up plants
dogs do this to amuse themselves
gsds are very intelligent dogs and if you do not keep their minds stimulated they will find their own ways and your puppy has found a way

as to handling while the dog is eating
do not do that!
if you hand feed the dog and give it kibble then stick to that only until he has it down
if you are feeding raw give him his food and leave him be
you would not like it if someone was grabbing at you and your puppy does not like it either
it makes them feel fearful you are going to snatch their food away
 
#22 ·
He is indoors at evenings and night. I also take him out for a walk midday and I throw him some sticks in the back yard. Unfortunately I can not divide much more time. I give him toys to play with and bones to chew as well. I am not sure what else to do, any suggestions?

We hand feed him during the day, but in the evenings we give him his food in at the bowl and leave him alone. This was a rare occurrence that we have bothered him but none the less I would not like to see it happen as I have two and nine month old kids. I would not like him to respond in such a way because of the danger to the kids. As much as we are preventing and hoping to prevent kids might get int his business and we would like them to be safe. Also, this was a rare occurrence that we fed him raw food:)
 
#23 ·
look into trade up style feeding
where you give the dog low value treats and then hand feed a high value item
this is done so the dog does not feel you are taking things
taking his food and treats will make him feel insecure and thus protective towards his food

wrong thing to do
ps wait on raw food until he is more mature and you have worked with him trading up so he trusts you are not going to take his food
build a bond using food with this dog

as for your yard
if you cannot exercise him more or give him things to occupy his mind and time you will have holes and torn up flowers
it is very self gratifying for dogs to dig and works off energy and stress

you could get a kennel and place it on bricks so he cannot dig out
but he will be bored in there and could become a nuisance barker too
kong toys and the like to occupy his mind and body will be crucial
dogs like gsds cannot just sit there for hours on end and do nothing
especially as a pup
 
#24 ·
I had puppy issues at 13 weeks with fear aggression to dogs. I had Leerburg DVDs, Control Unleashed DVDs, and other books, etc. I had a bad experience with a supposed GSD trainer who told me in puppy kindergarten that my screaming dog needed to "work it out" with the two dogs that had jumped him.

Leerburg, etc., helped a lot on knowing day to day what I was supposed to be doing, but I got a referral from a forum member for an ace GSD trainer.

The man had me and the dog on-track within an hour. I went home armed with a clear plan. The trainer assessed my dog within that hour and told me good news/bad news, but gave me a lot of hope.

There are a lot of opinions on the forum, which is an asset/pitfall. My advice is to get a referral for a good, knowledgeable GSD trainer, and then trust that person.

I am sure that some on the forum would not approve of my trainer's methods--but they worked and he was/is very fair to the dog. I'm sure the man has forgotten more about dog training than I'll ever know. His prices were wonderful--$50/hour. I did have to drive for two hours to get there, but it was well worth it.

Two weeks later, my pup's reactivity to other dogs was greatly reduced and the trainer showed me how to stop mouthing and jumping. Miracle.
 
#25 ·
Thank you. I will start with trading up food and I will get some kong toys. What are good treats to put inside? My dog is not big on supermarket food:)
I got a trainer and he was no good. Unfortunately where I live, there are no GSD specific dog trainers. I got one from Bark Busters and now I have lifetime support with them but I am hesitant to use him again as he gave me bad advice the first time around. The closest trainers are about 4 hours away so that puts me in a bit of a predicament:(
 
#26 ·
Talk with Bark Busters and tell them you want another trainer, not the one you have already seen. The other option is locate a trainer in your area. All the suggestions you have received here are great, but you really need an experienced trainer with eyes on the dog working with you. If you will post your location, someone may be able to refer you to a good trainer.

Second and strongest suggestion. With reactive pups like this, walk him without having your kids along until you have a handle on his training Some pups will redirect to what is closest to them, your leg... the kids.
 
#27 ·
He's not acting like this because he's black, he just came home from his litter mates too young. LOL sorry couldn't resist, I have a black fmale. She's 16 months and it's only been a few months since we stopped calling her Venus the Menace.

With your children being so young, I would feed Titan in his crate. Crate's a happy place, look dinner goes in there.

In a few months you're going to see real fear aggression. What you're seeing now is just puppy antics. They go through a flaky fear stage about 6 months old so you've got to get a grip on being calm when he freaks out, staying cool, it's all good hey look there's another dog. There's a man in a weird hat. There's an old lady with a walker.

You're going to see different reactions when it's just you and the dog vs you and the kids and the dog. Get your partner to help so you can get out with the dog one on one for socialization. Hire a sitter for nap time if you have to.

Above all stay calm and consistent. Puppies get bored, they'll eat your plants. My dogs like to play with an empty nursery bucket or a big plastic coffee can - keeps them from playing with the container plants.
 
#28 ·
Thanks for that:) I live in Canberra, Australia so there is not much here. Nothing that I could find at least. Yes, with kids he gets more protective or reactive, I am not sure. I just walked him by myself and he was much calmer. He didn't react to people at all, stopped at crossing and did overall much calmer. He did however react to this small dog but I pulled him gently along and even though he turned back few times to see and add a bark or two, he kept going without much hesitation. He did hurry a bit more next to the yards that had few dogs.
 
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