I have a question for everyone. I am an experienced dog trainer, and have a male german shepherd that has me stumped. I have contacted all of our local trainers to gather input but with no success.

He is a very soft temperament boy. He is a bit of a spook though, jumpy, and shy. We have over come the human shyness and have no problems in the show ring, both obedience and conformation. But we are still having huge issues with other dogs getting to close. It does not matter if they are puppies, or adults. the only dog that is acceptable to him is a female german shepherd, then he will socialize.

we have tried a host of correction techniques including a dominant dog collar, prong collar, slip collar, shock collar.... all with only limited success. He does "work" along side other dogs with no problems, even off leash. but he can not be left alone, the second he is not in a working state of mind he will bite. he does not run after to attack, only bites when another dog invades his space. He will even back away. His crate is a huge issue! he lunges every time another dog approaches his crate.

If anyone has any ideas at all about how i can better socialize this male, please fill me in. He is 4yrs old, I have had him from birth.

Thanks
Stefanie

Sounds like a PSD I know. Just doesn't like other dogs. Sometimes they just are what they are. Your dog doesn't like his personal space invaded. Seems reasonable to me.

How old is this guy?

Have you tried anything other than corrections for his reactions? Knowing he has soft nerves leads me to wonder if his reactions to other dogs are fear based (hence being able to socialize with female GSDs, who he may feel more comfortable with as they resemble his mother).

I personally would try clicker training with this dog. Try to form a positive association with other dogs as opposed to creating more and more negative association via corrections.

Edited to add: Whoops, missed the age ... strike that.

What you are describing sounds like an insecure dog that is really uncomfortable with other dogs being in his space. If this were my dog I would lay off the corrections, and start building up some tolerance with desensitization training using markers and positive reinforcement. I want the presence of other dogs to be a neutral-to-pleasant association for my dog, not something he associates with a painful correction. Often using corrections for this type of thing can really make things a whole lot worse.

I'm not sure what your expectations are for this guy. It sounds like he can work and function just fine without showing any reactiveness. How close is too close? There are many dogs who have no interest at all in playing or socializing with other dogs, and it's just who they are. Socialization for these guys might look like walking or training with other dogs, much like you describe, but nothing more.

 Quote:

He is a very soft temperament boy. He is a bit of a spook though, jumpy, and shy. We have over come the human shyness and have no problems in the show ring, both obedience and conformation.

I would leave it at that and give him his space.

I agree with Jessica.

This dog may not ever like to "socialize" with other dogs. My female won't unless we are at home. (When I board dogs she will play with them but not much, she is agressive to dogs who try to play with her off our property though)

So what I did was desensitize her to having dogs close to her and her ignoring them. So first we taught the heel, sit, down, stay. Then everything with a focus. Then everything under varying levels of distraction, making each session a success for the dog. We used marker training for everything, with corrections during proofing. Then we put everything together. I had her in a heel with a focus then we practiced walking and stoping around the other dogs while completely ignoring them. Then we practiced sit stays/down stays each time moving closer and closer. Now I can tell her at anytime "sit, focus, leave it" she will sit in front of me or in a heel position and just focus on me and completely ignore the other dogs.

I now have worked her up to being in our puppy class with puppies smelling her and sometimes running into her during play. The whole time she sits and focuses on me.

Now she does make mistakes, she is only a dog of course, but she will usually have a low growl, so I get her back in her place and ask her to focus again. When she is back to being calm, she is released and we make sure to party down.

I guess the whole point of the explanation is that, like Jessica said, he doesn't need to like everyone. He just needs to tolerate them and be respectful. So for him I would just work on desensitizing him to having other dogs close by, there is no reason to leave him alone with another dog.

With the crate issue, you could walk by with the dog starting from far away and moving closer and each time you approach throw a treat in the crate. Eventually he will think the dog walking past means food is coming. The catch is you have to catch him before he reacts. So that is why you start from a point where there is no reaction from him.

In my house, if there would be a dog with this problem I would use the above method combined with covering the crate when I could not supervise.

I also have a GSD that was a nervous wreck when I first acquired him (with people). One of the most beneficial things that I was able to do for him was to convince him that I was in control of the world. I control him, I control his environment, and (most importantly) I control the people around us.

This meant not allowing (to the point of sometimes physically preventing) people to harass him in any way. Once he trusted me and my ability to handle the world around him he was then able to gradually socialize with people, he knew if they got out of hand that I would handle it

It may help your situation if you make it a point to prevent other dogs from crossing his threshold of comfort. Don't allow them to get up to his kennel in the first place, and things of that nature. I personally walk my pack with a headless golf club in hand in case of off-leash dog encounters. My ability to fend off strange dogs has gone a long way in solidifying my pack's trust in me. Important when you consider the initial dog aggression that I had to handle with my other GSD, Kobi.

Thanks for your reply. His aggression is fear, he backs away before lunging then its one bite and he is backing up again. We do use markers as our primary training technique. And Possitive association is the first thing i have tried. This is also how we got him past his fear of people and are now able to show him. However it has only taken us so far with the other dogs. so then i turned to corrections. I only correct if i see negative body language. I encourage positive interaction and keep it short so it doesnt turn into something ugly. He is an 80lb 4yr old male.

uhhhggg im at a loss. its weird because when he is working he totally ignores other dogs and people...

stefanie

Thanks so much for your reply. Corrections is my last course of action. we definately use positive marker training and association and have been his entire life. He is for sure insecure. He works great, to close is within 2 feet. sometimes closer if it is very brief. It is only the eyecontact that sets him off, if a dogs rear gets close he just ignores it.

In the beginning he was reactive to EVERYTHING,,,, I was able to take him beyond that to no only dogs.

My plan for him is the AKC obedience competition ring. I just feel like he would be a much happier boy if he could socialize better with other dogs. Also i hate telling people "please stay back"....

We are in training with groups of dogs 4 nights per week as i myself am and instructor so he has tons of chances to interact in a positive manner. He acts like he really wants to but when the contact becomes to close he freaks out. So i keep it from going that far by walking him away beforehand. Then praise and reward for a job well done. we just cant seem to get any further.

stafanie