Bruno, 8 month old male GSD is nothing like any other I have raised in the past. I think I might have an aggression issue with Bruno While my wife, was at her doctor I walked Bruno around the building. There is a narrow walkway between two buildings. Bruno and I were off to the side about 15 feet from the side walk. We had already been around that building several times today as we had many times before. Bruno and I were working on his sits and downs. Then out of the blue there was a women and her 12 or so year old son walking through the alley way. There is a private boys school on the property and she was just picking up her child. At first Bruno just watched them, but when the distance closed to being 15 feet or so away (as in they were now directly across us, Bruno "flipped a switch" fur went up slightly, positioned himself (not against me but as far as the leach allowed him) between the strangers and I. He started letting deep barks and tried to lunge at them. I grabbed his collar to get better control of him but that seemed to encourage him even more. All I had on him was a standard collar, so I grabbed him on the back of the neck and pinched him hard as I scolded him. That action seemed to have stopped him cold and when I look back on it, I am trying to remember his posture. If I recall correctly, his ears were in normal position, as in not back, tail was up but not moving, there also was no growl or show of teeth.Both mother and son seem to have made direct eye contact with Bruno prior to his action (for I remember thinking what are they stairing at us for). Earlier in that same alley, we were walking through and behind us a boy in football gear, slammed a door shut. Bruno spooked slightly and ran forward of me for a couple of steps but recovered quickly. After the incident with the mom and son, we were walking behind some parked cars, and a teenage boy got out of the rear passenger side and ended up less then a foot front of Bruno's muzzle. This time around all Bruno did was sniff at the boy and continued walking.The boy never made eye contact with Bruno. I praised him for his good behavior.
Last Saturday we had another incident but with him behind the fence. Our neighbor across the street is an elderly lady in her 80's and she routinely goes to bed at 8 PM. When I got home at 2 AM, her door was open, lights on, and curtains not closed. We decided to call the police and have them make sure she was OK. After they checked things out, the two police officers came over to let us know that they had found out. My wife and I were standing behind the fence and were waiting on the officers to come and talk to us. As the distance between the two officers and I closed, Bruno placed his body across and in front of me. Bruno started pushing hard against me, almost as if he wanted me to get back. He did not remain against me or back up. When both officers were 5 or so feet away from the fence, Bruno went ballistic, fur up, deep bark, growl, lunging at them and trying to get over the fence (too high for him though). The officers stopped where they were.I was shocked at his behavior. That incident added with today's worries me.
Thinking of it there was another incident today. I always pet the chocolate lab puppy (female about 5 months old) next door and give her cookies (she is very neglected by her owners). I always give Bruno cookies as well and pet him as well. When she saw me she came running to the fence to greet me. Bruno literally flew into the fence and snarled and growled at her. A sharp scolding from me and he stopped and became a gentleman with her again. Perhaps the answer is for me to start serious obedience work with him. Starting last week though we seem to have entered a very rebellious stage. He responds to sits and down, especially the downs with lots of barking, eventually he does obey. As for recalls, forget it, he ignores me completely regardless of the treats I have. The commands have been based on reward and not compulsory (as in correction with fur saver choke chain).
This behavior is new to me for none of my other dogs have done this type of thing. Would now be a good time to start compulsory obedience as with a fur saver? Until now all obedience has been with treats rather than forced. Or are we just in a phase. As for socializing, he goes everywhere with us and is constantly meeting new people and experiencing new things. until today , he usually has been a gentleman when meeting strangers. I take him everywhere I can. I have strangers give him treats, he allows the postman and delivery person to pet him. Is the answer to this issue to start doing compulsory obedience? Also if he should react like this again, how should I handle it? As in should he be delivered a sharp correction?

Hi philippe,
This sounds like a dominance issue to me. He seems to only do this when people approach, and his placing himself between you and the approaching person, both tell me that.
I would work on making sure that he sees you as the leader in general, and that when people approach, be proactive and have him sit, and place yourself in between him and the approaching person. Make sure that you're not acting nervous or tense, but that you do these things in a confident and relaxed manner. These things will tell him that you are in charge.
What does everyone else think?

yes that seems to be the pattern. He does not get behind me or have his tail down. I am hoping that this is something that can be resolved through training and also hoping this is not the begining of a fear bitter.Overall he is bold and confident with most new experiences. Should something "spook" him, he recovers quickly and if experienced again it no longer spooks him

The pup is showing classic fear based aggression. There is no dominance to it. Unfortunately, owners too often misinterpret this behavior as *protection* which it is not. Philipe recognizes that there is a problem, at least.

I agree with Joy. This seems like fear-based not dominance based. I do agree with JParker's advice to act confident and show him your in charge. At 8 months you can help this dog. Get Ed's tape Basic dog Obedience and a prong collar. Obedience train this dog. Fearful dogs take comfort in a strong leader. Obedience training gives them a purpose. Read Ed's articles on his site regarding shy dogs and fear biters. Good Luck. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Philipe and I discussed this quite a bit on another board, so I didn't go into more detail, but yes definitely, obed is the right thing for this dog.

I think that maybe all of this is my fault because when I got him he was very bold and very dominant. He came to me at an ackward time because my dad was in his last stages of cancer. Hospice came by most days (and required us to put away any dogs including puppies) and I did not socialize the pup until later on, whereas I would have been socializing him with people and going to many places if it were not for the situation at the time. For the first couple of months we had him, we were tied down to home because my dad lived with us. Joy I am not trying to rationalize or excuse his behavior. A short time ago, the gas meter man tried to unlock the gate and come into the yard, nevermind the sign asking anyone wanting into the yard to ring the door bell, never mind the concrete slabs blocking the gate from being opened. My wife tells me she heard him barking and saw the gas man trying to enter the yard but Bruno was staring him down. At the time I was way in the back yard and in the storage shed. My wife says that when he saw her approach the gas man, he ran to the back yard. He came to me and tried to get my attention and follow him to the front. He was barking and running like a maniac. I followed him back to the front as did our other dog. I went ahead and put both dogs in their kennels and let the gas man into the back yard. I now have a big pad lock on the gate and have asked the gas man to please ring the doorbell next time. Since then, whenever someone walks, goes by the house , parks in our drive way or a loose dog is in the front yard, Bruno barks at whatever it is and comes to find me or often times I am already checking on what he is barking about. Now is this wrong for me to do as am I reinforcing a bad behavior. Now if he reacts to strangers agressively again, should a strong correction be given? or what actions should I take? Calm him down and maybe try to get the stranger to give him a treat?. One of my favorite places that i use to take my pups to socialize were airports but now days I don't think that would be possible. I realize I have a behavior problem and want to nip it in the bud before it gets worse. Monday I will begin formal obediance training with him. One more thing , can medications also cause this type of behavior?

What kinds of medications?

rymadil (spelling?) for pano and also had a second dose of medication (sorry not home so can't read the bottle) for tape worms (he received 4 pills the night before the incident with the Mom and child, this was the second of 2 doses the other one 2 weeks before). Each time he received the dose of tape worm medication, he whined and whined all night long including the morning of the incident. The vet said it was not unusual for them to be cranky after receiving the medication

I guess I was thinking dominance in the respect that if philippe had control over the situation and the complete respect of his pup, then he would most likely not be seeing the behavior (at least not to such a degree), but yes, fear is at the root of it.
Philippe, any time a dog is not feeling his best, it's possible that he can behave in less than desireable ways, but it sounds to me like this has been going on longer than that? I wouldn't chalk it up to meds.