Fear aggression / protectiveness ?

doolittle1489 · #1 13-01-12, 07:56 AM

Hi I have a girl white german shepherd - just 8 months. She is lunging and barking at strangers - more so when myself and my husband are with her - if she is with another member of the family who are walking her she does not show this behaviour - she is also like this in the vet - however if we leave the room she is fine!! any advice on how to rectify this behaviour?

jesterjenn · #2 13-01-12, 08:58 AM

I'd be taking her to dog training classes so she can see that YOU'RE in control of the situation and she doesn't have to be.

jayne5364 · #3 13-01-12, 09:15 AM

My girl, also 8 months does this. Only difference is, it's only my husband she does it to. She barks at him when he comes in the bedroom or when he comes home from work. She's never been a fan of his but we're working on it. I have been told it's resource guarding and you (and me) are what she is guarding.
I don't know how you deal with it being strangers, it's different for us being a family member. What we do is encourage her to take treats ect from him, build up the bonds with walks, anything that involves him spending time with her. I'm going away for a few days at the end of the month and leaving him here with the dogs. I'm hoping this will strengthen the bond and make her trust him more. If not I'll have to divorce him lol.

LindaM · #4 13-01-12, 09:55 AM

I don't know how you deal with strangers but each member of the family - according to Sassysmum (which I think was great advice) is that each member of the family has be able to provide all the dog needs, food, treats, play, discipline and so on and then the dog doesn't have to protect the 'source' of what he needs. She explained it much better than that.

I would say yes you are right to come on here because it needs sorting. Eight months is nothing, imagine when she is 18 months.

Lukey is our first German Shepherd and they are def different from other breeds. I have found my Lukey needs to know who is in charge gentley but firmly and I won't let him get away with anything. Also he doesn't like being overfussed (well he does) but then he thinks he is in charge but he can't be allowed to be as he is only a dog LOL albeit a clever dog.

Also I love him to bits but I cannot treat him in the same way I did my lovely English Springer girlie as he would walk all over me.

This is a good forum and I'm sure some others will come in. She is so young you have lots of time to change this and to really enjoy your lovely girl.

Linda

LOVEGSD · #5 13-01-12, 11:18 AM

Are you nervous when you walk her? She's probably picking up on this and therefore reacts, I would suggest you undertake some training in a controlled environment so you can build a better bond with her whilst around other dogs and people.

Is she food or toy orientated? Are you able to distract her in any way and re-direct her focus when strangers approach?

stillalsations2me · #6 13-01-12, 02:11 PM

I think Jesterjens advice is bang on, training so she knows you are in control and do not need protecting. I am guessing she doesn’t show this behaviour off leash

Stuart · #7 13-01-12, 04:43 PM

Agreed training classes, she has to learn [ along with you ] that she doesnt need to protect to such a degree

Beki · #8 13-01-12, 06:25 PM

Just be careful that you do it at her pace do it too quick and it could completely over whelm her and make it worse maybe go somewhere where there are people at a distance she is happy with reward her for good behaviour and slowly work at getting closer.

stillalsations2me · #9 14-01-12, 02:49 AM

I think what people mean by training Beki is basic training not trying to introduce strangers. If you tell the dog down she lies down, if you tell her to stay she stays no ifs or buts when this is 100% she knows you are in control and hopefully she should not feel the need to protect you unnecessarily

ArchandEbs · #10 14-01-12, 05:19 AM

I had this issue with Addison. In case you don't know Addison's story - she was rescued from Townsville pound weighing just 17kg. She was terrified of everyone and everything.

Whilst she is so good with me and my husband she would charge people and dogs she didn't know.

We used a behaviourist as although we're experienced with the breed - we'd never taken on such an extreme case of cruelty.

Addison is around 3.

A very simplified version of what we did was to make sure she was calm before going out - so she had to sit and be calm before the lead went on, then she had to sit by the front door and be calm before we walked through, sit before getting into the car and again calm then we repeated the process at the dog walking park.

Normally it takes 10 minutes but the first time we did this it took nearly an hour and a half.

We also make her sit before coming into the house or before walking through a door into the house.

The hardest thing is not feeling tense when she's off lead as she picks up on my tension and thinks she needs to protect me.

We have seen a MASSIVE improvement. On lead she's as good as gold and off-lead she no longer charges dogs when they're walking past her on the other side of the fence at the off-leash area.

She also wears a pink bandana to stop people looking in her eyes - they look at the bandana first.

I think all the advice given so far is good. You need to find a trainer who you feel comfortable with otherwise you won't follow the routine and something you feel comfortable doing so it comes naturally.

I also have Addison on a herbal remedy to relieve her anxiety.