Hi all.

First post. I have 2/3 year old male German Shepherd. I rescued him from the pound about a year ago. When I got him he was all bones, kind of timid and had had no training. In the last year he has learnt all the basic commands, ie sit stay etc, can work on hand signals, and in the last couple of weeks he has figured out heel. He hardly barks. He gets on very well with my other dog, a female 4 month shepherd x staffi (another death row rescue) and before her a 12 year old female shepherd who is no longer with us. Overall I'm pretty happy with his behavior and he has come along way from when I first met him.

Now, the one behavior he has that I can't quite figure out how to change is he 'lunges' at other dogs when on the lead. If I am running or walking him, as soon as he sees another dog his attention just switches to them. Depending on the dog, he will race of towards them. A quick check on the chain does little to snap him out of it. Its not that he wants to attack the dog, he's happy to see them. He is just so keen to meet them that he focuses on nothing else. He will go to the point of the leash where it is tight and even end up on his hind legs in his efforts to get there. Once I get him back we continue our run.

He gets at least an hour walk/run everyday so I don't think its an issue caused by lack of exercise. Even on the end of an hour run when he is getting tired, he can still muster up enough energy to get as excitable as if we had just started.

I have just starting taking him to the dog park. I am leaving him on the leash and just letting him watch the other (better behaved) dogs before I'm going to let him off. I am going to a distance where I can make him lie down and stay, so he can calmly watch without getting himself worked up. Once he's calm I'll take him a bit closer. Once he is calm, I'll take him to fence and let other dogs approach him where they can sniff each other through the fence. If he starts getting exciting, jumping or barking etc, I walk him away and make him lie back down till his calm and we start again. I also walk him along the fence in heel position so he can get used to seeing other dogs without trying to drag me.

I don't think he is aggressive and he definitely isn't trying to attack the other dog. He doesn't bite or growl. I think he overwhelms the other dog who might snarl at him out of fear, because he is a bit 'full on' as he introduces himself.

Can anyone see problems with this approach or have a similar experience? I am aiming to get rid of this behavior so that I can safely walk both my dogs together when my X is old enough to go on bigger walks.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

He sounds very similar to Roxy my GSD. She had various 'problems' when she first came to live with us which we have managed to overcome but her reactivity to othger dogs (when leashed) was still a big problem.

As we live in the countryside most of our walks are alone & we rarely encounter other dogs. I did manage to meet up with one lady & we began walking together which was a massive help.

Roxy is just OTT in her approach woth other dogs which builds her frustration & can then tip her over in to becoming snappy which is obviously something I don't want. She is blind to treats/rewards/toys when she goes in to (what we call!) Mrs Nutcase mode of barking, whining & lunging at other dogs.

You sound like you are doing everything right tbh so i hope you start to make improvements.

Roxy & I have now started with a new trainer & are actually starting with a class of other dogs at the end of Feb (after several 1-2-1 sesssions) so that will be 'interesting'!!

My new tariner has recommended I practise more 'leave it' with Roxy which is working well. Yesterday we met with the trainers other dogs & as soon as we entered the classroom Roxy went to go nuts as usual but the trainer used a noise distraction (bottle loaded with stones - which I know some people don't agree with using, etc & probably aren't for all dogs) but .... this worked amazingly well for us. Roxy shut up instantly (she wasn't scared btw) & by the end of the hour we were walking all dogs together (& to heel) which we AMAZING for us.

At one point she wa sofflead, I called her past the other dogs & she recalled perfectly. This has taken us a long time to achieve but, homnestly if we can do it then anyone can!!!

This is pretty common behaviour with on-lead dogs who are a little anxious. They find out that leaping at what they are worried about and shouting makes it go away. So having found that behaviour works, there is no reason to stop.
GSDs are big dogs with a soppy centre. They do get worried easily. When you see your dog stiffen or you see a dog approaching you think might provoke a reaction, turn round and move away from it with your dog. When he is calm, ask for a Sit and reward him.
This simple exercise teaches him first of all that you will take charge (so he doesn`t have to), that you will avert the threat, that there is a better strategy (avoidance) and that he is a Good Boy!
There`s a nice website on the BAT technique if you want to train that way -
Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) | Official site for BAT: dog-friendly training for reactivity (aggression, fear, frustration) by Grisha Stewart, MA

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Hi
Interesting topic that should be useful to me as well.

When I got Woody over two months ago he wasn't interested in other dogs and was happy to walk past but now it is a must for him to go and meet the other dog by what ever means necessary. I have to shorten his extending lead and stand still waiting for the other dog and owner to go out of sight before Woody will respond.

It would be great to get this problem sorted out so will keep checking.

Colin & Woody

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If you can meet up with a regular set of dog walkers at your dog park this would really help your dog.

If he is leaping about all excitd to see them and wants to play then a regular bunch who know him and are willing to allow him to interact with their dogs will bring him on. He sounds like a GSD I had that was a 12 week old pup in a 18month old body so it was all guns blazing trying to play but not quite getting the introductions right. Only dogs can teach dogs how to be dogs, what is acceptable to them social etc.

If you get in with a group then don;t stop at that. Run some training with the lad whilst the other dogs are knocking about such as recall, sits, wait, etc. and use really high value treats. You'll find that soon other dogs will merge into the background and things will settle down.

Does not sound like aggression at all to me (although nobody can diagnose over the ether) it sounds like typical "barrier frustration" ie the dog is frustrated by the lead in its attempts to interact with the other dog.

I certainly do not agree that GSD get worried easily! If they did they would be pretty useless as in their various roles as herder, police dog, assistance dog, sniffer dog etc!

This link may help.

Flying Dog Press - Suzanne Clothier - Handling On-lead Aggression

A little impulse control might also be helpful

The Learn to Earn Program: Developing Leadership in Humans and Impulse Control in Dogs | Animal Behavior and Medicine Blog | Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS

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For those following. Took him to the dog park this morning with one of my friends dogs. He has met this dog before, and as was his style after an over the top introduction they played for hours. There were also a couple of other dogs there already. I introduced my GSD to them through the fence so he couldn't be over the top in his introduction to them. Once inside they had a sniff of each other while he was still on the leash. I let him off and there were no problems (except he has forgotten what come here means). They just ran around after each other be the best part of an hour.

I am hoping with repeated introductions to other dogs it wont be so exciting to him to see a dog on the street!

I am following this thread with interest because I have an excitable black lab pup who does all the same things. She is only 5 mths and we are going to training classes ...BUT, although she is very friendly and submissive when she gets close to an adult dog; her lunges on leash & often earns a rebuke or nip from them. At the vets' puppy parties, only the larger dogs (rotties, mastiffs, dobermen and great danes) could cope/were allowed to play with her off-leash

She is so well-behaved in most other situations (sitting when we pass a pram or wheelchair; waiting at the curb; waiting for her food etc) but gets very excited with other dogs (& our cat ) and is now getting pretty heavy and difficult for me to restrain. Even with my friends' dogs (various breeds) it is proving difficult to calm her down when she greets them. I do not want her to get attacked because of her rudeness and I need to calm her down before she hits the 'teenage years', so the advice on this thread has been very useful - thanks all and please keep the tips coming x

Op: no intention to hijack the post, just wanted to say that I think this is a common problem with puppies (even with excitable less-powerful breeds), so taking yours back to basics as you are, seems sensible, especially if he missed out on early training. I am sure/hope we will all crack this eventually ....won't we....???

p.s. can anyone lend me a cattle-prod

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

He is just a big pup still and the more you can allow him to catch up on his missed epxeriences the better he wil come round.

When he comes back to you give him praise and then send him off to play again as that will be the biggest reward for him in that situation. I can see them charging about like loons in my imagination. You'll have a different dog in a few months so keep it up