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My Duke hates the neighbors dog

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I know that not all dogs will get along and in this case it’s not improving. Duke hates the neighbors dog. If he is out Duke will rush the fence aggressively at him.

We recently adopted a rescue gsd and so far she listens well to me but she is still puppyish so that could change so I’m worried that she’ll pick up this behavior from him. She is a skittish pup and though that is slowly improving I worry that she’ll always be this way.

Our thought is to put steel over that side of the yard so they can’t see each. I know it’s just a bandaid and not really fixing the problem. What are your thoughts?

I told me husband that I’m about ready to use a credit card on a good trainer to help us with this. 😬
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bandaids serve a purpose.
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Fence fighting is due to barrier frustration. It’s self rewarding. Either teach him to ignore the fence or get a trainer. There are a lot of videos about it. I can’t find the one where they are fighting, then the gate completely opens and they start playing. This one is similar. It has become a habit. You can‘t play it here, but you can watch it if you follow the link. The second one works. I’m not suggesting to let them loose together but it gives you a better insight into fence fighting,


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Fence fighting is due to barrier frustration. It’s self rewarding. Either teach him to ignore the fence or get a trainer. There are a lot of videos about it. I can’t find the one where they are fighting, then the gate completely opens and they start playing. This one is similar. It has become a habit. You can‘t play it here, but you can watch it if you follow the link. The second one works. I’m not suggesting to let them loose together but it gives you a better insight into fence fighting,


Oh my goodness that’s hilarious. I would love to know how our dog really feels but I’m not taking any chances. Lol. I’m not experienced enough to know what to do if things went bad.

That’s really interesting though! Our dog wasn’t always this way with the neighbors dog, they would bark at each other then sniff through the fence.

It started when my daughters dog came to stay and he rushed the fence viciously toward the neighbors dog and boom he started doing it and hasn’t stopped.

We have thought about asking the neighbor if we could meet at neutral grounds to see how it would go, but again we aren’t experienced enough to know what to do if it didn’t work out, much less have an injured dog or two.
I agree, getting an experienced trainer to teach him/us how to neutralize it would be best.
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bandaids serve a purpose.
I guess that’s what this would be. He scares the neighbor because of it so it would hopefully ease her nerves a bit too.
The problem with barrier aggression is that they can redirect on anything on their side of the fence, when they get so frustrated. It is better to correct and prevent the behavior. If that means erecting an inner fence that prevents the dog from getting close enough to start that crap or taking him out on lead, or using an e-collar and correct it when it starts. or even a warning just before it starts. Timing is important.
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I often find myself saying "It's a dog thing" whenever my GSD does something odd.

On a leash she will meet another dog (also on a leash) and after a few seconds of sniffing, it can turn aggressive. Have them both off their leash, and it's playtime.

As to fences and what dogs do?

Funniest thing I ever saw was two dogs very aggressively barking at each other through a fence. 4 feet to the right, and the gate was wide open. It's a dog thing. :rolleyes:
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The problem with barrier aggression is that they can redirect on anything on their side of the fence, when they get so frustrated. It is better to correct and prevent the behavior. If that means erecting an inner fence that prevents the dog from getting close enough to start that crap or taking him out on lead, or using an e-collar and correct it when it starts. or even a warning just before it starts. Timing is important.
I completely agree with you. Getting the timing right is definitely the key. I always look outside to see if their dog is out. If he is they stay in until he is back in but they don’t do that when my dog is out. The other day we were out cleaning up the yard and i forgot to grab the control for his e collar. The good thing is that the neighbor saw it happen and quickly called her dog in.
other times I’ve corrected him but he is in such a state of mind that corrections don’t work to snap him out of it. The f first time he reacted that way i tried grabbing him and he turned and bit me. He has never bit me before that or since. That was my mistake because he was not in his right mind at the time. If he were on his lead i could have popped the leash to get his attention enough to snap him out of it first.

I stopped yelling at him to knock it off and calmly called him to me. I usually say “lets go” And he knows it’s time to come in. The last couple of times he did come back to me so maybe I’m on to something.

I’ll definitely work on the leash. I want him to know that i don’t want him doing that and their is no need for him to do that.
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I often find myself saying "It's a dog thing" whenever my GSD does something odd.

On a leash she will meet another dog (also on a leash) and after a few seconds of sniffing, it can turn aggressive. Have them both off their leash, and it's playtime.

As to fences and what dogs do?

Funniest thing I ever saw was two dogs very aggressively barking at each other through a fence. 4 feet to the right, and the gate was wide open. It's a dog thing. :rolleyes:
The funny thing is that when we are out and about, say at the pet store or the vets office he is very excited to meet and greet everyone. We don’t let him get to close because we can see that his size makes others feel nervous.
One he has reached the fence he is way over threshhold. I would take the next while and make it about training. When my dog was a teenager and feeling the power (eye roll), he randomly would do that. I kept him on leash for a while and towards the middle of the yard and worked where he still had brain cells operating. The closer he is to the fence, the fewer brain cells apparently were firing off. Work farther away.
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One he has reached the fence he is way over threshhold. I would take the next while and make it about training. When my dog was a teenager and feeling the power (eye roll), he randomly would do that. I kept him on leash for a while and towards the middle of the yard and worked where he still had brain cells operating. The closer he is to the fence, the fewer brain cells apparently were firing off. Work farther away.
That’s where we failed. Last summer we had him to the point that he wouldn’t go beyond the tree, about 6 feet or so from the fence. When he was following that rule the aggression turned to just barking and whining. Then winter hit and we had a lot of ice out there so i resorted to using the e-collar. Eventually he quit listening to that if the dog was out, not completely anyway. I know, training never stops and he’ll definitely do what he wants if I’m not consistent.
How about a privacy fence? A visual barrier really curbs this. My dogs were good at a prior home until the new neighbor's bitch barked nasty words at them through the chain-link section of the fence. I should have insisted that the new neighbors continue the privacy fence on their side because I had paid for all the other fencing. I didn't. So that section of chain link was the issue. AND their dog was completely different when we were out front - friendly and sweet. Just do the privacy fence thing.
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How about a privacy fence? A visual barrier really curbs this. My dogs were good at a prior home until the new neighbor's bitch barked nasty words at them through the chain-link section of the fence. I should have insisted that the new neighbors continue the privacy fence on their side because I had paid for all the other fencing. I didn't. So that section of chain link was the issue. AND their dog was completely different when we were out front - friendly and sweet. Just do the privacy fence thing.
That is the plan. My husband did a semi fancy design to the fence by using sections of corrugated metal in certain areas so now he will build those panels for the neighbors side to block the view.
At first I didn’t think the neighbors dog was the problem and I’m not saying our dog isn’t the problem either because he can be a jerk sometimes lol, but the neighbors dog has always been the first to spout off. It never seemed aggressive though but he does like to pee on the fence so maybe he is antagonizing the situation too lol. Whatever, dogs will be dogs. 😂
I feel your frustration. We have a fence and people walk by with dogs who bark at Rosie, people who let their dogs sniff at the fence while Rosie is barking, people who do training in front of our fence. This one lady walked by 4x in 15 min to do focus/ignore work today. Ive asked people to keep moving, to do their stuff elsewhere, and they dont care. I guess one guy, a stoned old hippy listened, but I think it was because i scared him when Rosie was a puppy. I dont want to scare people but It ticks me off to no end. I realize i cant control other people and need to train my dog, but man, people are disrespectful. I never, ever stop in front of other dogs on a walk to “train” Rosie.

anyways, she was doing well for a while but now when a dog comes by, lately she has taken off like a shot and she will blow me off. We are almost there… ill say no/leave it, come and she will run to me but right back at the fence. Shes often not even barking, but jumping around and wanting to play.

i’ve been giving thought to e-collar training for the sake off leash in the forest and am wondering if it couls be a useful application here
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I feel your frustration. We have a fence and people walk by with dogs who bark at Rosie, people who let their dogs sniff at the fence while Rosie is barking, people who do training in front of our fence. This one lady walked by 4x in 15 min to do focus/ignore work today. Ive asked people to keep moving, to do their stuff elsewhere, and they dont care. I guess one guy, a stoned old hippy listened, but I think it was because i scared him when Rosie was a puppy. I dont want to scare people but It ticks me off to no end. I realize i cant control other people and need to train my dog, but man, people are disrespectful. I never, ever stop in front of other dogs on a walk to “train” Rosie.

anyways, she was doing well for a while but now when a dog comes by, lately she has taken off like a shot and she will blow me off. We are almost there… ill say no/leave it, come and she will run to me but right back at the fence. Shes often not even barking, but jumping around and wanting to play.

i’ve been giving thought to e-collar training for the sake off leash in the forest and am wondering if it couls be a useful application here
Wow, I can’t believe some of the things people do!

Thankfully our neighbor has been really understanding about it and can see that we are working on it.

We do live in the country so only a few neighbors close by so we don’t have a lot of random people walking by. My husband put the corrugated panels facing the road too so that if the gas man comes to fill our tank he won’t see him and he didn’t want him to get the “its greener on the other side” vibe since we do live on a highway.

At least your dog comes to you when you call her with all of that going on! That’s really good!

Dukes brain is no longer functioning when he gets riled up at the neighbors dog.

The e-collar would probably work for your dog because she is already coming to you.

I don’t like using the stim but I have been resorting to it the last couple of days if he is in a heightened state of crazy brain. I start out with tone and a firm leave it, then vibrate and last the stim. That has been snapping him out of it today and he’ll come back to me. Sometimes he’ll start to head back and I’ll tone him to warn him what’s coming if he doesn’t come to me and then he’ll come back so I think with reminders he’ll eventually get it. He is a stubborn boy let me tell you!

Our rescue girl listens really well but I don’t want his attitude rubbing off on her.
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Oh my goodness that’s hilarious. I would love to know how our dog really feels but I’m not taking any chances. …

We have thought about asking the neighbor if we could meet at neutral grounds to see how it would go, but again we aren’t experienced enough to know what to do if it didn’t work out, much less have an injured dog or two.
I agree, getting an experienced trainer to teach him/us how to neutralize it would be best.
I would not take any chances, as you don’t know if they would be fine face to face or if the aggression would be even worse.
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I would not take any chances, as you don’t know if they would be fine face to face or if the aggression would be even worse.
Thank you for your point of view. That’s what I’m afraid of too. I would not be able to control him if it were to happen that way. I guess the best thing to do is the privacy fence and a trainer to help us neutralize his response.
If I were to use electric for this- in addition to privacy fence which is a must here- I would try to electrify the fence or area (not on the neck). Perhaps use flagging to mark the area of zap.

I use ecollar for chasing wildlife, recall, etc. but even there I do my best to train so that all the dog needs is my voice and/or the collar tone and not a correction. I feel like just blasting on an e-collar for stuff can have serious blowback. In general. I like the e-collar for so many things like off leash and to fine-tune OB but there is a lot to it. To do it right and avoid unwanted associations.

If you do hire a trainer, be very careful as the majority I've seen out there are clueless and I often can't believe it is their actual profession! Not all- but most.
If I were to use electric for this- in addition to privacy fence which is a must here- I would try to electrify the fence or area (not on the neck). Perhaps use flagging to mark the area of zap.

I use ecollar for chasing wildlife, recall, etc. but even there I do my best to train so that all the dog needs is my voice and/or the collar tone and not a correction. I feel like just blasting on an e-collar for stuff can have serious blowback. In general. I like the e-collar for so many things like off leash and to fine-tune OB but there is a lot to it. To do it right and avoid unwanted associations.

If you do hire a trainer, be very careful as the majority I've seen out there are clueless and I often can't believe it is their actual profession! Not all- but most.
We let the neighbor use our fence as his fence when he built his so with grandkids over there I wouldn’t do an electric fence. Good idea though!

as for the e-collar usage I completely agree with you. He doesn’t wear it all of the time, In most cases when letting him outside I look to see if their dog is out, if he is out then we wait. Sometimes her son lets the dog out without checking if ours is out and ignores the banter that goes on between them and that’s when I tone, vibrate and stim to get him back inside. It happened this morning but its not an everyday scenario when she is home.

The collar is taken off when he comes back in and put on when he goes out. I know that’s not the best way to use it but since using the stim the last couple of days he seems to be minding better about coming back to me. Today he came right back after the vibrate. He didn’t want to but he did it and i praised him for listening. Maybe that’s not good to do quite yet?
There is a reputable trainer that focuses mostly on German shepherds. I’m winding if they train police dogs too. They have been around forever but they are very expensive. We don’t want him trained for that, we just want a well rounded dog with really good recall.
He will listen when the neighbors dog isn’t out, after that all goes out the window. Of course that’s on our property, in public he gets very excitable which is just as concerning. So ya, he needs work.
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Call the trainer and talk to them. They may have a less expensive program for pets.
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