you say he is 2 yrs nearly, is he entire? because this could be a possibility ... get him castrated. i would seek advise from another behaviouist. i am training at the moment. and bit of advise for you. no training instructor would give a diagnosis without seeing the dog for themselves first. have you had him hecked out at the vet? it could be hes a medical issue that needs checking out. the vet will probably advice you try a dedapter ( it is to help the dog relax). hope this helps.

Hi Candy. Yes we have had him castrated, and too be honest, this made him worse, rather than better! Every-one trainer/dog instructor I have spoken to, have also agreed with me on this......We just took the vets advice, and so had him done.
We haven't had him checked at the vets, its just a big problem he has, whilst on the garden with his agressiveness! Other dogs whilst we're out, he's just letting off steam, and he knows by running around with another dog, he will get his energy out (even though he has a good run around when off lead with me only)

**Update**

I contacted the police officer this morning, who wanted me too ring! He has said because of Zeus's age, it is against me, rather than for me! Which I agree with slightly, this is my own fault, I should have been strict with him from day one!
He is coming over tomorrow evening to see Zeus, and we'll take it from there....He has said, if it comes too, he will just offer us some advice, to stop the behaviour, but it all depends on how Zeus reacts around him etc!

I know I will be letting him down, and please I don't want anyone to judge me for this (not saying anyone would) It's a really hard decision, and one that will not be taken lightly!

Thanks for listening to my troubles anyway

i feel your upset. . i really do. you must not blame yourself! dog trainers , vets now the police. wow! you have tried to get this problem sorted. if he is not going to meet you half way there is pretty much nothing else for you to try, especially if you are getting no help from behaviourists. did you say you rescued him? if so did you get any information of his past?
keep us informed , i am here for you , i really am. but try not to beat yourself up. there is no point saying if only i had done this , or if only that. dogs dont think in the same way us humans do. they dont have the same emotions. we like to put our thoughts and expressions into what they do . but he knows only canine. sorry ! but they do !

you know you have people you can talk to on here love.... good luck!
be thinking of you ( both).

Hi GSD - Sounds like you are going through it at the moment.

A friend of my owner had a GSD, 'Otto' that they didn't train. Ended up biting the local Bobby that called to speak to them about their unruley pet.

Another friend of theirs was an RAF Dog handler and spent 10 minutes with Otto and had it sitting and walking on a short lead at a heal.

They admitted that Otto always thought he was the boss and wouldn't respect anyone unless they showed him respect. Sadly they took the hard decision to give the dog to the Police and he went on to make a great working dog.

It must be such a hard decision but think about yourself, those around you and what is best for the dog.

Good luck.

Thank you so much for that Candy, really appreciate it! Trouble is I will be beating myself up, I as a owner/mummy to him, have failed him terribly!

We have had him as a 14 week old boy, we brought him from a breeders in Flintshire, Wales!
The story...Will try and make it short!........

I was browsing Epupz, looking for a German Shepherd, not neccessarily a pup, something upto 2 years old (we hadn't long since lost Ralph who we rescued.)
I came across the advert for puppies in wales, with a breeder (Jotann gsds) and from the picture fell in love!
So spoke to hubby and we decided on the 17th December 2006, we would go and view the pups....with a view to bringing home a bitch.
There were 3 girls and 1 boy left...the breeder let them out the kennel, and Zeus was the first to come say hello, then he wouldn't leave us alone....that was it i was smitten!!
We took him home (after many stops due to him being travel sick, lol)...and he settled in slowly! After 4/5 nights of crying etc, he finally knew we were his mummy and daddy!
We started our training late, @ 6 months, (which again, things could be different now, if we had started before that!)
We then moved house and had to live in a touring caravan for 4 months, whilst waiting for this house to complete, so Zeus went to live with a 'so called friend of mine'!!
We picked him up 4 months later, he was skin and bone ...so was not a happy ending with them!
Anyway, I started training with him again, with a trainer in our local area, that was just a joke, you couldn't call it training, simply adults meeting for a chit chat! So I stopped. We then decided to send Zeus away for a week, to a trainer/breeder of german shepherds, thinking things should work out! Yes his Heel-work got better, but the agression and dog chasing (which we sent him for to sort out) was still the same!
I then had 6 week of training free after the week he had with the trainer...We went, and things were going good until another dog there tried to bark/run for him! I had it all on holding Zeus, and that was it!
We are here now, with no-where to go, except seeing what this police officer says tomorrow!

I adore this boy, and I want what's best for him.....I think I owe it too him....But we'll see, I'll update tomorrow evening anyway.

Thank you Chance.

Have you informed the breeders of your situation?

No I haven't Informed the breeders where we got him from, I may do though, but sent an update and picture to her about 9/10 months ago, and never got a reply, perhaps I could give her a ring...I do think Zeus would enjoy a working home! But we'll see.

Hi,

My friend had a very similar situation with her black lab. She treated him like a baby and in the end he had no respect for her so was a complete nightmare. This really knocked her confidence which was always apparent in her tone of voice when calling her boy etc.

She tried numerous trainers and training techniques and she has found that whistle training has worked wonders for her. She doesn't use her voice so her anxiety isn't fed through her voice and with doing this her confidence has grown and her lab now has much more respect for her and is now a completely different dog.

Have you tried something like that?