[Katelolly07]

Hi Lola is a 2 year old bitch, she is very friendly and playful and well socialised. She usually walks with my 20 year old son, but when I come on the walks, she turns aggressive to other dogs, even her friends! usually by barking them away, but today she actually attacked one of her friends because she went to come up to me. I always take dog treats on the walks with me and give them to her before we see a dog and after (if she was good) and I had just done this to a previous dog which was fine and then she done this to a dog she plays with all the time because it went to approach me and I said hello to it! How do I prevent this behaviour? She is usually very good, well trained and obedient. She would never take food until I tell her to take it, or walk through a door before me, she will obey all commands, but she just doesn’t want other dogs near me! She is fine with other dogs in the family, including my mum and dads dogs who we spend a lot of time with.

 

[wolfy dog]

I used this technique too at the vet clinic, as did the vet techs, with my dog until I realized that coming up with treats made her suspicious like, "Oh, something must be up". So I started the no-nonsense approach as "You just do what I want you to do". And that worked. Same with clients' dogs like you are describing yours. The moment you see those ears and eyes focus, you tell her "Leave It " and make her sit or walk away by increasing distance and pay attention to you. Take an honest look at her obedience. She might be obedient but does she respect you for real without the treats in your pocket?

 

[sebrench]

In the example you provided it kind of sounds like she was being possessive and trying to keep the other dog away from you--like a dog will growl to keep another dog away from food or a favorite toy. When I had a dog-aggressive GSD what worked for me was to watch for the first and subtle signs that the dog was about to react (slightly lowered head, focused look in the eyes), then giving him a leash correction, "leave it," and to re-focus, a command like heel or sit, or heel. Try not to tense up or get nervous when you see another dog approaching. What is your goal or ideal with her in terms of other dogs? Many GSDs aren't suited for dog-parks or off-leash encounters with dogs outside the family "pack."

 

[GSDchoice]

I do think it is some form of resource guarding. The same thing happened to me...there is an elderly golden retriever we see on our hiking loop. She was friendly with Rumo (they had sniffed noses before) and would usually walk slowly offleash by her owner. Once we finished the loop together...I was chatting with her owner, and the dogs were walking peacefully. Then in the parking lot, she came over to me and I was saying nice things and getting ready to pet her...and Rumo growled at her! Ditto at the dog park (we've stopped going, this was in early days) with a dog that approached me and tried to put his head in my lap.

I thought about how to handle this, and being a somewhat laid-back dog trainer, I thought it would be easiest to just ignore/not pet other dogs (which was actually a rather large sacrifice, because I do love meeting dogs!)
But it was the easiest solution because in Rumo's case, if we are just passing by other dogs on leash, he has no issues at all.

( sigh, at least his idea of "pack loyalty" is consistent. He NEVER solicits petting from strangers - his preferred method is to ignore them or give them an inspection sniff.
Apparently he thinks that I shouldn't be petting strange dogs, and strange people shouldn't pet him...)