Grizzler

[aitchparki]

My woof has always been very interested in other dogs and loved saying hello to any other dogs he met. We took him to dog training classes for 8 months where he socialised with other doggies and was fine with them. Recently though he has been quite grizzly with other dogs he meets on walkies and tries to lurch and / or growl and bark at them. This may be because he's had a couple of bad experiences when out with us where other dogs have been off lead and attacked him so perhaps he is now a little paranoid and thinks attack is the best form of defence or the bullied has become the bully!
It upsets me when he does it though, has anyone else had this problem and have you any tips? Help!!

[GSDOWNER]

I think "Aggressive behavior" is actually fear or protectiveness made worse when they can't escape (lead). If they are close to the same size it is unlikely that there will be any serious injuries. I would start correcting it tho, before he thinks it acceptable. Try taking his favourite toy out with you, divert his attention and start to play with him when you know he is about to be grizzly.

To me it doesn't sound like your dog is aggressive just normal. Be sure to let the lead go so your doggie can escape if necessary (or defend himself). Do you know anyone with a dog of similar size and build? I would take these into a field somewhere and let them off the lead (NEUTRAL TERRITORY)

Don't expect your dog to like every other animal but he should slowly learn to accept them with indifference.

[aitchparki]

Thank you for replying, that's really good advice and we will definitely try it out. x

[LOVEGSD]

Sorry to join this late....I have experienced the same with Deez. He was totally fine as a pup, never had a problem and always socialised well with other dogs. However when he got to 1.5yrs, he started to become quite bolshy and would display the same signs you are talking about. Deez also had a bad experience, when a Lurcher turned on him (they'd been fine together) and ripped his ear so we weren't sure if this was related to this or he was just being a teenager!

We did end up castrating him, and going back to basics with his socialisation and he's now brilliant again with other dogs...but he does tend to be more tetchy if leaded. Although to be fair he does have a lot of little dogs on leads that lunge for him...but he's learning that we won't tolerate aggressive behaviour and that when we say leave we mean it.

I hope we're doing the right things for him in this case but if we're not I would always welcome any advice.

[wildmoor]

I have a dog who became fear aggressive whilst on lead this was due to 8 attacks on him within a 3mths period by various bull breeds and xstaffies, plus 2 westies, these all occured whilst on lead 12mths later with a lot of perseverence and praise he will ignore all dogs whilst on lead ubless in a confined space, although will still use defencesive body language if he sees this type of dog, white dogs or nearly all white plus any bullbreed.
Pam

[LOVEGSD]

Great so we should carry on reprimanding aggressive behaviour and praising him when he ignores other aggressive dogs.....thanks for the advice

[prae21]

Wow Pam, now I understand why the white dog issue - I did read that you can buy cans of something harmless (you can tell I pay attn eh) which emits a loud hissing sound at a fair distance. The idea seems to be that as another dog approaches which is obviously in an aggressive mode, the can is there to distract them. Has anyone else heard of this and if so, did it work?

Or is this just daft?

Paula

[LOVEGSD]

I haven't heard of this, so I would be interested to know if anyone has too and if it works.....x