is he still intact? he is maturing now, and if you dont get control of him he will be euthanized due to no fault of his own. i would also get a trainer involved to work on whatever is going on with your dog , and neuter him

 

I got him neutered when he was 14 months, my boyfriend recently met a trainer up at his school who offered to help with him. We've always done his training ourselves (sit/stay/fetch etc) and it worked wonderfully, but now he's starting to act up.

 

You should put a muzzle on him and walk him so he can socialize with people and other dogs. I would like to say that all dogs are trainable and can be corrected. Some dogs have high drives that want them to protect their pack. Once the dogs shows aggression, you have to correct it immediately. Trainers train many different ways, and what has worked for me it physical correction, once verbal correction does not work. I had a 4 year old shepherd with severe agression issues and it took me a few days to get close to them. Once the shepherd knew I was not a threat and I was the alpha, he respected everything I told him. After just a few tugs on the collar, verbal commands was all he needed to adjust his aggression. Now when he is with his family and other people walk by, he just needs a firm command and he will be the loving shepherd that kids want to play with. Some shepherds are just very cautious and all dogs can bite at any given time.

Training that you have done is alittle different than correction training and I would consult a trained professional to control his aggression before it gets more severe.

 

You should put a muzzle on him and walk him so he can socialize with people and other dogs.

In a dog that is reacting out of fear, could this potentially make the problem worse?

I mean, the dog is on a leash it cannot "flight". A muzzle is on its face it cannot "fight". I think most dogs would be aware that he/she is in a very vulnerable situation.

Can this create some kind of turmoil in a fearful/ractive dogs overstimulated brain?

 

The kids walk by the fence and tease the dog every day, getting him more and more upset and building his anger towards people on the other side of the fence. Your moron neighbor decided to stick his hand over the fence into the territory of a grown male German Shepherd.

This was predictable from 100 miles away, how did anyone NOT see this coming? Your dog needs to either be brought into the house so the kids can't tease him, or your fence needs to be made more secure so morons can't stick their hands over or through it.

If you poke a tiger in his cage, then you stick your hand in the cage, you're going to get bitten.

 

very good advice who on earth would put their hand in a fenced area with a gsd or a rottie or ANY large protection breed and not expect anything to happen? I cant believe how stupid people are. I really feel sorry for your poor dog to have to go through all this and now is seen as a "bad dog"

 

What SHE ^^^ said.
Your dog isn't so much aggressive as responding to his environment. His environment became hostile thanks to the kids and now he is protecting himself against perceived aggression. You have to protect him and train him back to being the easy-going confident dog he was.

 

Put a sign up that says "Dog: Stay Away" or something to that effect. Those kids were kind of asking for it..

 

Careful of signs that admit knowledge of dangerousness.

 

another case of an owner who doesn't protect their dog by controlling the environment. and it will be the dog who pays. and even tho i see it here over and over and over again, it never fails to amaze me.