Hi, I have 2 German Sheperds, Romey 3, and Scar 7 mo. I had many problems with Romey and agression, whether it be towards other dogs on walks, at the vet and in front of my home, although I did work with him a lot from very young I failed to socialize him enough. Now at 3 yrs I think he has calmed down a little and is doing great on walks even when passing houses with barking dogs in the yard, however I don't think I can trust him to not bite in front of my house or at the vet if given the chance. I am wondering if this is solely from my lack of socializing him sufficently or if it is bred in him, would he be this way if I had socialized him better. I am now having the same problem with my 7 mo. old, he comes to the office with me everyday due to an esophegus problem, and he sees the mail man, the people in the next office over, UPS, Sparkletts, etc. and he was always fine, nice and calm, all of these people pet him, say hi, rub his tummy. I thought this was somewhat socializing him with people anyways, now all of the sudden he lunged out the door the other day after a papion and the mail man came in today and he was barking and trying to get at him. I tried to take him for a walk the other day with a pinch chain cause I already know how he is towards other dogs and we had to turn around cause as soon as we got to a house with a dog my husband could not correct him and gain control and this was with a pinch collar. I don't understand why the socializing is now not working and I don't know how to gain control with the walks so that I can continue walking. So that you know both of my dogs are the sweetest and gentlest dogs in my home with my 4 yr old, my husband, and me. Please if you have any advise or input as what I am doing wrong or what I should be doing let me know.

labman

I don't have a quick and easy answer. Protectiveness and distrust are bred into most Shepherds as part of their herding heritage. The relationship between genetics, socialization, and behavior isn't fully understood. Penn State is doing a big study now. Different lines of a breed vary. Even littermates with similar socialization show variation.

It sounds like you are doing a good job on the socialization. Were you able to get Scar out before 12 weeks? That is a very important time. Too many breeders hang on to the puppies too long, making proper socialization more difficult. 7-8 weeks is the best time for a puppy to go to its home. It could be that he is going through a fear stage. Even the best socialized puppies can go through that. Much of the aggression is fear based.

Have you obedience trained him? The dogs see all the
people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in
the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members
outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by
reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class
or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with
a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/. The dog that has a strong leader can let the leader worry about the dangerous people. The other thing is to control your stress and effusively welcome the people, pushing the limits of acceptable human behavior. I once had a dog that was afraid of ladies in broom stick skirts. The advice was to go right up to what the dog was afraid of and pat it. Yeah, and get slapped silly? Hopefully you can work him through this and it will pass.

You may want to try a head collar in place of the prong collar. The leading brands are Promise, Haltie, and Gentle Leader. They have a
strap going around the dogs nose looking something like a muzzle. They work
by pulling the dogs head around. No other way gives you such great control
with so little force. Did you have a highly experienced person help fit the prong collar? Fit is very important for them. Otherwise, they can be less effective or injure the dog. Most people can do fine with the head collars just following the instructions that come with them. You need to carefully retrain yourself not to give the snap you do with a slip collar or prong collar.

At 3, Romey's personality is mature and should not be changing much. Sounds like he is settling into a nice dog.

fredg

Hi,
I agree with training classes. I would look up some in your local area, and go talk with them. You should also ask the cost, and I'm sure they will show you around, and explain what they do, and what is involved.
I do wish you the best, and your dogs sound like very loving ones.

mryjne

Hi thanks for the fast reply's, to anser some of your questions, I actually do have a gentle lead or haltie that you suggested, the only thing is that the first time I tried it in the petsmart my pup just flailed and swung himself all over the place cause a man came in with a dog, and being that scar is so strong I was so scared that the little plastic clasp or whatever its called would just snap off that I took him to the car and have been a little scared to try it again. And Scar was probly about 3 mo. when I brought him home, the only thing different is that I got him from my mother of whom her female is the mother and my male Romey is the father. Just so you know Scar has a defect called Mega Esophegus, excuse my spelling, and he has to eat standing straight up on his hind legs so I do not work with him with treats as I did with Romey when he was a pup.(and he is not nutered yet but he will be, I know that you cannot breed a dog with a defect such as his) I also did the rope training with Romey and worked with a trainer so I thought I knew how to handle certain things but now I am finding that I forgot a lot and am finding myself unsure of how to handle certain situations. I am still not sure to handle the socialization, since the mail man thing the other day I am now locking my office door whick isn't helping the socialization but I am not sure what Scar will do and what I should do.

labman

Not everything works with all dogs. He may be Romey's son, but he is not Romey, not even his own littermates. It might help to work with him with the Gentle Leader under less distracting situations. Never heard of one breaking, but most dogs just don't pull hard with them. I would think with the esophagus problem, the conventional slip collar and prong collar are out. I have seen references to training harnesses, but don't see how they would be effective with strong pullers. You might do a net search or ask about them at a good pet store.

Maybe you can train your visitors to use verbal praise instead of treats, ''Good dog!'', etc. They need to crouch down, keep their teeth out of sight, and not make eye contact. It is funny, stand straight, a toothy grin, and look them in the eye works so well with people, but is dead wrong with dogs. If it is just a fear stage, don't push him too much and it may pass. For the average dog, I feel most people can do fine working out of a book, better than some classes. For one with some problems, letting an experienced person see him may be important. Another advantage of a class is that the only place you can teach a dog to stay on task around other dogs, is around other dogs.

My Nita is 8 weeks old today. She is already going to the door some. Still confused about having to go around a door that opens inward. She did her first trip to Wal-Mart today. I had to carry her most of the time.