Dog Community

Fear/aggression?

Posted : 2/8/2011 6:49:16 PM

Hello,

I have a 1.5 year old German Shepherd who I've been around since he was 3 months. My dad bought him, but up to about 6 months ago, he fell ill and hasn't been able to take the dog out. From when the dog was a puppy I would take him every weekend (at the time I lived in an apartment where GS were a no-no) and even took him to obedience class. Since my dad got sick, I took the dog, since I've bought a house since, so he has plenty of room and backyard space.

The problem now is, since I've moved him into my new home, he's become overly protective of me and the property. Visitors that don't own dogs don't come over because he barks and lunges at them with great aggression. Visitors that have experience with dogs, he barks, but doesn't lunge, then eventually chills out after 5 minutes. If somebody comes to close to me (hugging, sitting), he starts barking and growling at the other person until they back away. If he senses somebody walking up the driveway, he barks non-stop. If he sees somebody on the sidewalk, he barks non-stop. I try to keep the blinds closed, but when he hears something, he's been sticking his head through the blinds to look out the window. It's so bad I feel like he's going to break the window (he jumps and claws when he gets that way).

I tried taking him to a special class I was referred to, that happened to be for rescued pit bulls. He was DENIED entry! The teacher tells me she can only work with him one on one for $$$$$. I would do it, but the dog fell into my lap, and I just bought the house that needs a bit of repair, so I can't exactly afford one on one teaching right now.

I've been online and I've tried rattling change in a can whenever he barks = no results.

I've tried ignoring him to try and signal that its not important enough to bark at = no results.

I've tried telling him quiet in a stern voice and making him turn around to look at me (I can't keep him looking at me for more than 2 seconds before he starts up again!)= no results.

I've tried giving brave visitors hot dogs to give him to show they're friends (it works after 5 mins of barking, but each time they come over, he apparently erases them from his memory and starts all over again) = no results.

What else can I do? I have been very patient with him. He's never been abused, and I play with him every day after work for an hour, which reminds me, he is left alone for 12 hours a day while I'm at work... which is a very long time, but he is in the backyard that has room, all his toys, bones, shade, food, water, everything he plays with when I'm home. On the weekends I take him to the dog park where he behaves like a little angel. He plays well with other dogs, doesn't bark at the dogs or the people and lets them touch him. I take him to several different dog parks so he doesn't feel like that behavior is only okay in one location. When the weather is clear again, I'll start taking him for more lengthy walks after work so he burns his energy like I've done in the past, but he still acts up at home.

Sorry for the lengthy article, but what else can I try to do to get him to behave around strangers? He barks at dogs too (outside of dog parks). I feel like I'm going insane because I can't seem to understand him!!!! Is there somebody who has any advice?

Thanks for your time!

Liz

Liesje

Posted : 2/8/2011 7:46:35 PM

He sounds like a young dog that needs to learn his place. It is not that he is overly dominant but that a GSD looks to their owner for guidance and support and without that, the dog becomes unclear and overly protective and reactive because he feels he has to look out for himself. He needs to form a stronger bond so that he can relax a bit and know that someone has his back, and also have a good reason to trust his owner and be more biddable. If you are planning on keeping him for yourself I would immediately start NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) type training. All rewards and positive motivation BUT the dog must earn his place in YOUR household. It sounds like he has way too much freedom and time on his hands. He should not have any access to visitors until he is under control so he should be crated or somehow confined so that you can have guests over at your house without him running the show. YOU decide who comes and goes, not him. Honestly he's probably always going to bark at people coming on the property because this is a breed thing and if he is left outside all day, you don't have any way to control this. He is very very young, still very much a puppy with an immature brain, so he may settle over time but don't be surprised if he is always naturally "guardy" of the property. My GSDs will run the fence and alert bark at anyone including myself. You could unlatch the gate and walk right in without any confrontation but they still bark when people approach the fence.

Jewlieee

Posted : 2/8/2011 7:55:24 PM

Well, I will start by saying a dog with issues like this is not going to be cheap. I feel you, I have a house to pay for a new car student loans and a medium income which means I have no extra money laying around. I did not think paying $$$$ for a one on one training session was even reasonable or possible. However, the more things I tried on my own, with no results I decided that I needed to just figure out a way to afford it. Meaning, giving up cable tv, eating out, etc. Because the other option is to give the dog up (which ultimatly means a death sentence for the dog). So you have to make amends with the fact that professional help is the only way to go.

Saying that, there are a number of books you can read to get you started (but I still can't emphasize enough how much you need professional help). I'm really bad with names so someone else can fill in the book blanks but google fear aggression positive training. A couple great authors are: ian dunbar, brenda aloff, leslie mcdevitt, karen pryor, etc.

Please make sure you go with positive training methods only. Yanking collers, poking the dog to interrupt it, etc will not solve the problem in the long run.

The other thing I would suggest is to start working the dogs mind. Give it something to do: agility in your back yard, teach it to carry things around and drop them in command, make it work for its food - like hide kibble all around so it has to find its food, so on and so forth. A job, exercise, etc is really important for an explosive dog like yours.

Karla Welch

Posted : 2/10/2011 6:01:53 PM

Any luck with your Shepard? Have you come up with any ideas?

AgileGSD

Posted : 2/11/2011 11:37:53 PM

What sort of training and socialization has this pup had so far? How much do you know about the breed?

GSDs by nature are a protective, territorial breed. It's part of what they were bred for and most GSDs have some degree of guardy nature about strangers coming into their home or approaching their yard or car. For right now, you need to put him away when guests some over so he can't practice being guardy with them. If you continue to allow him to do this when people come over, he will likely escalate his reactions and may end up biting people.You are putting a dog who's instincts tell him he is to be territorial into a position where he has to decide what to do about the strangers coming into the home. When you put such a dog into this scenario, he will likely decide wrong.

If you have visitors willing to help you, put him away until they have been in the house for 10 or 15 minutes (and be sure he has stopped barking where ever he is) and bring him out, on a leash and avoid dog and visitor contact, just reward the dog for remaining calm in the presence of the stranger for short periods of time (maybe 5 minute sessions before putting him away again). As time goes on, you can gradually reward the dog for close and closer proximity to the guest, providing they are not reacting. Often, especially with young dogs just not having the dog present while the people come in the door helps reduce the territorial behavior - the dog is no longer in a position to have to make a quick decision about what to do. If you have guests who don't want to be near the dog, respect that and just leave the dog confined while they are there, as he may sense their apprehension which can make matters worse.

poodleOwned

Posted : 2/12/2011 9:54:24 PM

Liesje
He sounds like a young dog that needs to learn his place. It is not that he is overly dominant but that a GSD looks to their owner for guidance and support and without that, the dog becomes unclear and overly protective and reactive because he feels he has to look out for himself. He needs to form a stronger bond so that he can relax a bit and know that someone has his back, and also have a good reason to trust his owner and be more biddable. If you are planning on keeping him for yourself I would immediately start NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) type training. All rewards and positive motivation BUT the dog must earn his place in YOUR household. It sounds like he has way too much freedom and time on his hands. He should not have any access to visitors until he is under control so he should be crated or somehow confined so that you can have guests over at your house without him running the show. YOU decide who comes and goes, not him. Honestly he's probably always going to bark at people coming on the property because this is a breed thing and if he is left outside all day, you don't have any way to control this. He is very very young, still very much a puppy with an immature brain, so he may settle over time but don't be surprised if he is always naturally "guardy" of the property. My GSDs will run the fence and alert bark at anyone including myself. You could unlatch the gate and walk right in without any confrontation but they still bark when people approach the fence.

Hi

The things that i would like to add, are You have to work with your dog with the understanding that he is just showing an inconvienient excess of what he is bred for. You need to work to get the behaviour to work with you! It is akin to the problems that Labs have with mouthing,and chewing and picking things up and of course , my breed wanting to check out every poodle saloon. :) Actually the truth is keeping my two out of dirty messy things and away from anything that is living and moves..

Having said that, many breeds exhibit ott guarding behaviour. Just yesterday i saw a full on threat display form... a 6Kg mini poodle. The answer was quite simple, she needed to be shown as to what was required when she was close to other dogs and handlers rather than make up her own mind as to what is appropiate. In this case it meant using a clicker and rewards. Sometimes quite dramatic displays come from adolescents and really they are quite shallow experimental behaviours that are over diagnosed by trainers at both ends of the spectrum. I certainly am not suggesting that you suddenly flood a fearful dog, but you need to have look at the body langauge before and afterwards. Again this is the stuff of experienced careful trainers , not internet advice columns.