I have a 18 month old male gsd who is very aggressive towards strangers and other dogs. This is my fault because when I first got him I had just moved to a new city and not knowing anyone didn't socialize him well. I don't know what to make of his aggression because if I bring strangers in my house he is fine but when we go out on walks or to places with people or dogs he is fierce.
I know that I need to get him used to strangers and I purchased Ed's DVD's on raising puppies when I first got him. But I don't know how to do this without putting anyone in danger, although he has never bit our lunged at anyone, when strangers get close the hair on his back goes up and he begins to growl. If they continue getting closer he will begin to let off warning barks. It is never uncontrolled non-stop barking but more like I said warning barks and will begin to walk toward the stranger.
I never let it get past this as I will correct him and walk away from the stranger or they will walk away from me but I think that if I were to allow him to get to the stranger or dog he would attack. Naturally I don't want this but as I said before I don't know what exercises to do. I have ordered Ed's DVD on dealing with dominant dogs and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. Also, I made several mistakes when raising him such as letting him sleep and stay on my bed with us and going through doors first. I corrected this several months ago and have done so much obedience training the he heels even when I haven't told him to around the house.
On a final note I have two other dogs at home. One is my wife's male poodle that is the same age as Kaiser and were raised together, they get along great. The other is a 3 month old female gsd which has been living with me for about one month. she hasn't had direct contact with them yet only through the dog crates as Ed recommends. The poodle is very interested in her and stays by her crate most of the time when he is out smelling her and looking at her but Kaiser paid attention to her for the first couple of days never barking or growling just looking and smelling but now just mostly ignores her. Any advise would help. Thanks and sorry for the long post. (lots of issues)

Hello, Andres! Welcome to the board. One of the great things about dogs; it's NEVER too late to correct handler errors! You may want to enlist the aid of several friends in this. You say that it's a problem when walking outside, but not around your home? How are YOU reacting during these walks? Are you calm and collected, or are you thinking "Oh, geez, here we go again. I hope I can hold onto Kaiser"? The dog picks up on these cues that you are making without your even realizing it.

So, to a suggestion (SUGGESTION, mind, not SOLUTION)... Practice walking him around your block with an air of calm and control. Keep him VERY short leashed, and when you see somebody, correct the MOMENT he growls or hackles by saying "No" in your firm voice of command. If he amps up, give a solid leash correction. Here is where your friends come in. Set up a walk where the friend approaches you. Watch Kaiser VERY carefully; is he alert, or on guard? There is a difference. If he's on guard, correct verbally then with the leash if needed.

It may take some time before he gets good about walking the neighborhood without terrorizing it! :smile: YOU are the alpha, and need to show the cool leadership he needs.

Luck!
-Jim

I'd like to add one more thing to this. Look at your walks as a training session. Go into this walk situation in as controlled of a fashion as possible. Another words you set up someone to walk by. I don't know how aggressive he is but you can start by having someone walk by on the other side of the street and check his reaction. Gradually work the person closer as you pass. You'll see where the problems start to occur. This is the place to start from.

Since he's so consistant and doing this all the time to everyone, it sounds to me like he's picked up this as 'his job'. Not sure if it's a real aggression thing or he thinks he has to protect you cause you aren't able to deal with the world.......

There are some great articles I found that helped me figure out what was going on, and then modify and train issues like this:

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/onldagg.html

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/selfpg.html

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/wolfart.html

I do know that alot of time we 'blame' the dog and think it's all about their bad behavior, when the fact is there was alot we did or are doing wrong to either make the situation worse, or certainly not help. And it's not always just about corrections and saying 'no'.

He is suspicious of everyone. He is uncomfortable with the outside walks and the only way he knows to react is what he is doing now. He learned that if he acts the fool then he wont have to be near these strange people that scare him because you will stop any close contact. This happens alot to dogs that aren't properly socialized. He should be aloof towards strangers, or ignore them outright.

It may be the dog is nervy. Hard to tell without actually seeing whats happening. As already mentioned, he may be acting as protector. My guess is that he is just uncomfortable and doesn't know how to deal with it.

Have someone who knows behavour look at your dog and give an honest assesment, then go from there.

 Quote: andres jimenez

when strangers get close the hair on his back goes up and he begins to growl. If they continue getting closer he will begin to let off warning barks. It is never uncontrolled non-stop barking but more like I said warning barks and will begin to walk toward the stranger.
I never let it get past this as I will correct him and walk away from the stranger

A very important piece of information if you want to effectively fix this problem: If you are correcting him after he's been growling and giving warning barks then you are correcting too late. By that point, he's already engaged and isn't in proper "learning mode." He's either fully offensive or defensive at this point and it's harder to teach him anything in this state.

When you see someone approaching from a distance, keep your eyes glued to your dog. Watch him. The minute he becomes focused and does more than just glance at the person or dog...THAT'S when you correct. When training your dog, timing is invaluable.

Use a prong collar, and give a single decent correction so that his focus is off the dog and on to you. Repeat EVERY time he tries to "lock on" to a new person or dog.

Waiting until he's agitated to give a good correction is like adding 15 layers of burlap around his neck: It's going to take a lot for him to feel the correction.

I had the exact same situation with my GSD, Carbon. ONE good correction with a prong at the appropriate time got the message across. Does this mean that he loves strangers and their dogs? Not even remotely. He'd still prefer to be the only dog on the planet and thinks strangers are all evildoers. BUT, he looks to me for a response and knows that he has to have, as I call it, manners.

I'm still very mindful of my dog's reaction to new people and animals, but all it takes is an early "leave it" to remind him.

With my clients who have similar problems, giving a correction too late in the game is the biggest common denominator with people who say that they "just can make their dog stop" the behavior. A close second are people who get just as excited as their dogs do.

It's been my experience that if you can meet the following, this problem isn't as insurmountable as many people think:

a.) Be the clear alpha to your dog in your daily life
b.) Correct EARLY, SUFFICENTLY, and FAIRLY with a properly fitted prong
c.) Remain calm and consistant

Don't forget that even after your dog learns his manners on walks, you will still have to be observant to your dog's body signals. A dog can learn to behave around strangers and other dogs, but it's next to impossible to make them suddenly love them.

You can do this, and I really believe you'll have good results...I've seen it happen!

Andres,

Amber is correct. I remember thinking as I read that you are in fact correcting at the wrong time. I recently worked with a dog that was way more extreme than what you describe. I'm talking about going nuts even over big leaves being blown down the street. The dog has solid nerves but was not socialized and was cooped up until he was 10 months old. To add to the problem he was super high drive as well. Now he's acts normal. All he needed was to be clearly shown the rules with consitancy.

Howard

Thank you for all the advice. There are several things that you guys mentioned that were wrong that I am doing. First when I see someone on our walks I do tense up in anticipation of kaiser going crazy. Its just it has been alittle embarrasing when kids or even adults try to come pet him or bring there dogs and kaiser acts out. Second I have been correcting late, I never realized I was doing this until it was mentioned here but now that I analyze it I always correct him when he starts barking and by then he is in high drive.
One thing I forgot to mention is that he has a ton of drive and is very active. I am trying to take him to a local schutzhund club and wanted to wear him out so that he might not be so dominant, so I took him swimming for almost 2.5 hours and after he still was incredibly hyper. That might have something to do with it as well. Again I really appreciate all the help.

I'm curious, when we walk with Bruno he does not pay attention to anyone or anything except little critters crittering in the grass or woods. Dogs, people, cats...he pretty much ignores them. Should this mean he is well socialized? Now add to it, if someone were to approach him, he may, or may not, growl at them so I no longer allow anyone to touch him and I keep him very close to me when others are around. I also keep his muzzle on hand just in case.

In the yard is a different story. He chases after and barks at loud vehicles, people walking and on bicycles, other dogs and any slight movement in the woods etc. I love watching him sprint after the trask truck. His fur presses backward, he covers a long piece of earth before touching down again, it's amaizing the speed and power.