Not too good..

[raffaella]

Hello..me again..I'm a bit confused about another matter now..I read another thread about "stalking" but still don't know how to stop it..Maya does this when she is off lead and sees a dog in the distance,sometime she lies down waiting for the dog to approach,sometime she goes to the dog in this sort of low position..then she has a sniff and carry on,other times she plays with the dog but in a few occasion she pounce on the dog and lets out a sort of play growl..all the time I try to distracter and focus on me,sometime a succeed sometime is too late but she never hurt a dog..anyway I get different reaction from dog owners..some smiles and find it funny,some look worried and that's the reason I put her on the lead...today she did that to a golden retriever..she does this stalking thing,I call her back,nothing..she pounce and lets out a little growl..I know she just wants to play but I can understand worried owner so I said NO and call her back witch she did..anyway this guy comes to me and he starts saying that Maya went for his dog neck, that I should be careful if i want to keep walking my dog,that she needs training.(.by this time maya was calmly sitting by my side on lead next to his dog who was not hurt )I replied that I'm working on it and I was sorry but he carried on saying that "she went for a kill"..I said this is a Shep quite common behaviour and she did not mean any harm,it was only a play growl and his dog did not seem hurt or fearful of maya as they were happily sitting next to each other..anyway he carried on saying how good he was in training his dog and then he wanted to hold maya's lead to show I don't know what??
that she was good with him??I puzzled.I felt so bad I just walked off without saying anything..a part from that ,I do know the stalking and growl is a frightening thing for some owners but I did not expect this..anyway it's a work in progress,next week we starting one to one with a trainer,she works in a rescue as well and she has a rescue GSD that is so well behave..so finger cross we will work things out..sorry for long post..

[Stuart]

To anyone who knows dogs, and German Shepherds in particular will know that Maya, isnt really doing anything wrong here, yes she is lacking a few manors, but nothing here would worry me if I was the `other man`

Take the `stalking`, Shepherds are just that, they shepherd, and many Shepherding breeds approch other animals in this way,.. the `going for the kill` made me laugh, biting the neck is normal behavour for a dog who wants to dominate another,.. not hurt

We all know that Shepherds are very vocal in their play,...I dont think you will ever stop that,............ so the only thing left that Maya is doing not so well is greeting she seems to have few manors,..even this is ok, untill she meets a dog that takes offence, so it does need sorting out really

[Sylvieliz]

Totally agree with Stuart, as for the other man wanting to hold her I would never let anyone take my dogs off me.

[raffaella]

Originally Posted by Stuart

To anyone who knows dogs, and German Shepherds in particular will know that Maya, isnt really doing anything wrong here, yes she is lacking a few manors, but nothing here would worry me if I was the `other man`

Take the `stalking`, Shepherds are just that, they shepherd, and many Shepherding breeds approch other animals in this way,.. the `going for the kill` made me laugh, biting the neck is normal behavour for a dog who wants to dominate another,.. not hurt

We all know that Shepherds are very vocal in their play,...I dont think you will ever stop that,............ so the only thing left that Maya is doing not so well is greeting she seems to have few manors,..even this is ok, untill she meets a dog that takes offence, so it does need sorting out really

Yes I did try to say to him that she is a shep and that is normal behavior for them but he kept saying "no no" ,this is not normal" ..anyway..he did confused me when he asked me to hold her lead when she was sitting calmly next to me..he just stood there stroking her and saying "see see " "I train my dog myself" and a couple of other things I did not understand as he souded Scottish ..can you imaging me being Italia trying to understand a schottish..anyway..nxt week we going for training finally I think I found the right person who understands about GSD..

[raffaella]

Originally Posted by Sylvieliz

Totally agree with Stuart, as for the other man wanting to hold her I would never let anyone take my dogs off me.

He didn't really take maya off me,we where just standing talking with both dogs sitting next to each other and he just asked me to hold the lead..as I said he did confused me a bit,I just let him get on with it..he didn't walk off with her...I'm a bit of a lightweight in confrontations..

[Tedsmum]

Hi ya, I beleive I replied to you last time about this problem as my dog does exactly the same as you describe.
I have had a lot of success with him lately and I think it is because I have stepped up the training and he has matured a bit now (he in 21 months old).
We have been working on his off lead heel work. I can get him to heel without distractions very well and now we have that as a basis, we are using it out and about too.
When we are approaching another dog, I call him to heel and MAKE him stay at heel with a stern voice until we are almost on top of the other dog. He is not allowed to go ahead or to stop and stalk. Once very near the dog I give him the command "go on the" and he trots over in a much more controlled manner. If I don't do any of this, he will stalk and tear up to dogs.
I would advise you to practice this technique, using the lead if necessary, as soon as you see other dogs approaching. Call out ahead to owners that she is just playing to reassure them and only allow her off the lead once she has approached nicely and calmly.
Eventually you should be able to do this off lead. You have to be really on the ball and ready to act but as I have said, we are getting results with it.
I am sure your trainer will give you further advice too.
I think you were unlucky and got a stroppy idiot today, try not to let it bother you as you are trying to correct this behaviour and she is not aggressive, just bad mannered!

[Caryll]

The only thing that would worry me is the fact that you don't always know what the other dog is going to do. For example, if a dog did that to Dempsey he would likely pounce & pin down the stalking dog, which could well lead to a fight.

If you don't know the other dog, and so are not absolutely sure that it it 'safe' then your dog should be kept away, either on a lead, or just walk in another direction. If your recall is 'uncertain' then really you shouldn't be walking your dog off lead where there are other dogs.

I know that sounds harsh & I know it isn't very helpful to you in stopping the behaviour, but, well.........that's how I see it.

[sami]

I agree 100% with Caryl I am accused of being over cautious but I prefer that to the "unknown" At bthe end of the day your dog is still very young and bound to be unpredictable.

[Caryll]

Originally Posted by Tedsmum

Call out ahead to owners that she is just playing to reassure them and only allow her off the lead once she has approached nicely and calmly.

Please, though, make sure that the other owner is happy for your dog to approach theirs. Some dogs are very nervous, others aggressive. You may not know about the latter until it's too late.

[MARYLOU30]

Hi, like Stuart, Caryll and Sami have said above, the stalking behaviour and play growling is quite normal for young sheps, but I would be careful about who she approaches as I know that if she approached my youngest one (Kirk - 15 mths) like this, it would definitely end up in a fight as he is quite nervy around playful/ energetic dogs. I would keep her on a long-lead when other dogs are around just until she has learned some more manners and I wouldn't want her to get hurt. She quite obviously only wants to play, but unfortunately not every other dog does. TBH, I wish that Kirk was more like Maya, but he is a work in progress and really I wouldn't want to change his personality, just his confidence, which will hopefully get better with age and training.