dog2dog aggression - adoption advice/experiences?

[Ratvibe]

I'm trying to decide whether to adopt a 2 year old male GSD who's at my local animal shelter. He was just neutered 2 weeks ago, has been at the shelter for a month, & was kept as a yard dog 24/7 before that.

I'm having conflicting feelings about adopting him. He has no dog2dog social skills & reacts to them by barking/lunging. I took him for a walk with another dog today. The other dog & handler kept to one side of the road & we were on the other. I gradually moved over until there were just the 2 humans between both dogs. We carried on a relaxed conversation while the dogs walked along without any issues.

When he initially saw the other dog he was ok until he got to about 15 feet away when the barking/lunging started. I just kept him moving forward & away from the other dog, correcting him along the way. He settled & then we got to the point where he could be a few feet away without an issue. He was a little tense, but not reacting to the other dog (and she was ignoring him after the initial lunge/barking incident).

He wasn't ok any closer than that, but I thought going from an initial reaction zone of 15 feet to about 4 was good enough for a first day. He also listened to leash & verbal correction very well. I never felt like he was a dog "out of control", more on the confused & insecure/defensive side, with whining when he couldn't get to the other dog.

So that's the negative. Now I'm debating if I should adopt him or not. He's a project for sure, but I don't need him to be buddies with every dog out there. I guess my question is how much will regular socialization help him in being non-reactive to other dogs? Just getting out there & putting him in situations where he see's other dogs, but doesn't have to interact with them directly. I'd like to do tracking, obedience, & possibly herding, so these are all areas where he's going to see other dogs/animals.

The flip side of his anti-dog behaviour is that he's a GREAT people dog. For all of his aggression towards other dogs, he has zero for people. He's very sweet & kind, relaxed & the exact opposite of what you see when he's around other dogs. The shelter staff love him & it's easy to see why.

Ultimately I'd be adopting him for ME, not for someone else's dog who he meets at a dog park (which, with a dog like him, I would not be going to as any positive progress could be erased so easily).

Has anyone else adopted a dog that had bad (ie. ZERO) canine social skills, but with proper socializtion was able to still be out in public & go to areas with other dogs (in a controlled setting) without reacting? I don't expect him to be best friends with other dogs, but I don't want a constantly barking/lunging dog either.

I guess I'm leaning towards adopting him, but it's a long term commitmet & I want to make sure I go in with both eyes open. I don't feel like he's more than I can take on, but I think it'll be a "work in progress" for awhile.

Any feedback, experiences, etc, are more than welcome!

Amanda (decisions, decisions!)

[onyx'girl]

Can you foster him and see if it wanes after he's taken from the kennel/shelter stress? I guess it would depend on your commitment and training knowledge to work him thru it, but it may take 6 months to see how he truly is.
If you have no other dogs, and don't care about 'socializing him' in public places, a DA dog isn't that big a deal to manage(I have two females that could be assessed as DA.
Many dogs can handle another one(opposite sex) living in their home, it is just the ones they don't have a relationship with that can be a problem.

[RebelGSD]

We ha quite a few situations like that. Even dog that wanted to eat up the other dog initially ended up being best friends over time. With a good trainer, most dogs can be taught to behave in the street around strange dog. Some will remain reactive.

[kiya]

My 2 older dogs were lacking in social skills. I did B.A.T. Behavioral Adjustment Training http://functionalrewards.com/BAT-basics.pdf and I have had very good results. I don't expect my dog to run up and give kisses to other dogs but I certainly can walk by houses that have dogs charging the fence & barking at us now. Two is young if your serious about working with him.

[Remo]

I am fostering a nine year old female GSD who was very dog aggressive when she first arrived. She spent her time either wearing a muzzle, or gated away from the other dogs in the house. A month later and she is friends with the permanent pack members, but reverts a bit when a new dog is introduced. It took her a couple of days of being a butthead again when the last foster arrived. In her case, I think it was more fear than aggression, but it still looked pretty darn scary when she reacted to the other dogs.

[katieliz]

what's happenin' with the roc amanda???

[DJEtzel]

You also need to keep in mind that what the dog was displaying was reactivity, and that it does NOT mean that he doesn't have any dog skills or would hurt a dog, but would need to be assessed carefully.

We have had dogs come through shelters where I worked that looked like they would eat another dog's face off while they were on a leash, but it was all bark no bite and they were fine when they actually met the dog on a loose leash or off leash. It CAN make a huge difference.

Like others said though, if you have the time and skill for the training, it isn't that hard to manage a reactive or Dog Aggressive (DA) dog. The reactivity training can take a while as it usually progresses slowly, but it is definitely possible. I know of quite a few truely dog aggressive dogs (from shelter experiences and other friends) that would not react or were taught not to react to others dogs while they were out on leashed walks, at events, etc. but if they were ever to meet a dog face to face or off leash, there would be trouble.