My 18 month old Male GSD is diplaying agression during"play"

[Merlin]

Hi All, I have a 18 month old complete Gsd male called Merlin who on the whole is a fantastic loving and wonderful dog, however...... when im walking him he happily runs for his ball and retrieves and mostly plays chase with other dogs but on occasion he seems to be playing a bit aggressively in that he chases them but then bares teeth and tries to bite their backs and pull them down whilst growing in what seems an aggresive way. He's been socialised from an early age and hasn't had any bad experiences that i can recall. He is also on occasion wary (growls and barks until told to stop by a member of family) towards visitors no matter how many times they have visited(including my daughters b/f who is a genuinely nice bloke!!).
He is from a strong working dog line(excellent pedigree,s etc) and was sold as a pet as he seemed to be pushed to the outside of the litter (11) and therefore it was likely he wouldnt be assertive enough .
the problem doesnt yet seem to bad but im unsure as to how to handle it, He's my 3rd GSD and i've never experienced this before.


Any ideas?

[sezpet]

Originally Posted by Merlin

Hi All, I have a 18 month old complete Gsd male called Merlin who on the whole is a fantastic loving and wonderful dog, however...... when im walking him he happily runs for his ball and retrieves and mostly plays chase with other dogs but on occasion he seems to be playing a bit aggressively in that he chases them but then bares teeth and tries to bite their backs and pull them down whilst growing in what seems an aggresive way. He's been socialised from an early age and hasn't had any bad experiences that i can recall. He is also on occasion wary (growls and barks until told to stop by a member of family) towards visitors no matter how many times they have visited(including my daughters b/f who is a genuinely nice bloke!!).
He is from a strong working dog line(excellent pedigree,s etc) and was sold as a pet as he seemed to be pushed to the outside of the litter (11) and therefore it was likely he wouldnt be assertive enough .
the problem doesnt yet seem to bad but im unsure as to how to handle it, He's my 3rd GSD and i've never experienced this before.


Any ideas?

Hi ,
I too have an 18 month old male who over the last few weeks has been displaying similar things to what you are describing.Only this morning a fight broke out between him and my 2 yr old female over a toy that got so out of hand i had to intervene and i am still shaking!!!.He is a powerful dog and although normally he is the softest most placid dog i know,he appears to be showing aggresion to the others more and more during play.It has made me question whether it might be time to neuter him.I had held off as i believe its best to let them mature but i feel this behaviour needs nipping in the bud.Perhaps someone on the forum could give there opinions as he is the first male i have owned and i dont want to make any mistakes with him either.

Sarah

[Merlin]

Hi Sarah, interesting to read you have similar problem, as i understand it Neutering doesn't always work and in Merlins case he may well be put up as a stud dog depending on hipscores etc. I wondering if its a male dominance thing(rather like boys becoming men in life ! ).

Dave

[sezpet]

I do not know Dave but it certainly seems to be a recent thing, my boy is what i would describe as a softy and has never shown aggression to anyone or anything up to recently.In the rankings here(4 dog house) he has never been top dog and seemed happy to be led by the girls,however his behaviour lately when he does not get his way is not desirable and i have now removed all stimulus(ie toys,balls) so as not to have a repeat performance of this mornings events.He has never done that before and i was unsure if he would bite me, thankfully he did not but i just ploughed in regardless as i feared my female would be hurt. I wonder if it is a male maturity/hormonal thing, maybe someone with more knowledge will be along soon to tell us more!!

Sarah x

[kita]

What are you feeding him on?

When you go out for walks you say he runs for a ball and retrieves it, do you do any other form of 'game' with him?

He sounds like he is making up his own play a bit too much, these dogs need to be given 'work' to do and you could try engaging him in more mind games (like search etc.), if he is mentally tired he is less likely to play rough with the other dogs. Plus it will enforce rules and make him look to you more for his entertainment/directions.

It's like the old saying 'the devil makes work for idle hands' or in his case paws!

How do you show him that you don't want him to growl at visitors? When they first come in do you tell him how you expect him to behave - or do you just leave it up to him to make the decision?

You say he was sold as a 'pet' - does that mean that you don't have his papers, or that there are endorsements on his papers?

Sue

[Merlin]

Hi Kita and thanks for reply, Ive been thinking down the same lines and have just come back from walking him and spent a lot more time "working" with him rather than just play with he ball and while he still did some chasing it wasn't quite as bad , but i'll keep at it as he's certainly a fast learner.

As for when he shows aggression to random people (and it really is random , absolutely no rhyme or reason) we tend to verbally get him under control and then let them come gently to him so he has a sniff at which pint we praise him. With some people he's like a baby with others he gets "funny"..

We have all his papers etc and he's from a very goodline (Nizon Alfie is the Sire), but he was just the quiet one of the litter and was deemed unlikely to be as good a working dog as he might be ( or working show dog).

I would post pictures but for some reason it keeps rejecting my images .

Dave

[wildmoor]

it shouldnt reject your pics are you using photo bucket

what level have you trained him to?
are you in the UK Dave only I haent heard of the affix Nizon

[kita]

Originally Posted by wildmoor

are you in the UK Dave only I haent heard of the affix Nizon

Maybe he meant Nixon? The z on the keyboard is next to the x so maybe hit the wrong key?

Sue

[zaclucy]

My boy is now 4years old. He started displaying these traits at around the same age. He was neutrered at 2yrs old, which in his case made absolutely no difference. He is insecure, frightened of big dogs, a bully with smaller or submissive dogs, and is nervous arround strangers.

Having not been able to solve his issues, we are very careful when out on walks, he meets Pam and her dogs on a regular basis, and he is better with other dogs when he is in a larger pack situation, and he works off Pam's shepherds directions. If Zandi is calm and accepting of other dogs then Barney tends to be. I am resigned to the fact that he will never be good with other dogs etc, but we play games when out, he loves to be in the river chasing stones, his recall is excellent, he never strays, and he doesn't take off across the field after other dogs anymore. We have to be grateful for small mercies lol.

xx

[Merlin]

His sire was Nizhoni Alfie and the damn was loch naw bonnie lass.(kc registered and from a registered breeder)

In reply to ZacLucy, He's fine with all other dogs whether in a group or individually , its only when they "play" chase and it seems to be mainly labradors he has a problem with and it manifests itself in teeth bared while running and attempting to put pthe opther dog down sometime s accompanied by growling sometimes not.If the other dog stops the problem stops or indeed if the other dog growls back it stops, he onlys eems to do it with dogs a similar age and size, never a small dog. Once they stop running he is fine , the problem is that its upsetting for the other person whose dogs he appears to be trying to down and im concerned it will escalate..


May Magic Boy - German Shepherd Dog