I have a 11 month old GSD who is quite playful. I noticed recently he enjoys play biting on ankles. He goes after ankles as they were some type of prey but he doesnt bite down hard. Should I stop this behavior w/ a correction? I want to make sure I don't want to mess up his prey drive for any type of future bitework. Is he just being playful or could this lead to more aggressive behavior in the future?

At the park when my dog and my friends 6 month old Lab are playing together, I noticed my GSD starting to be dominate. My GSD would put his head/paw over the other dog. If the lab becomes submissive and goes on his back, my GSD would not allow the lab to get up and would try to keep the lab on its back. When I see this happen, I call my GSD and tell him no, he stops and comes to me. The other day I threw a ball so both my dog and my buddy's lab can chase after it. The lab got to the ball first. My dog started to growl and wrestle the lab for the ball. Again when I tell my dog "no", he stops and comes to me. I have him do a long down before I release him from it. Should I be doing a correction or should I not allow lab to play together anymore? I also notice theres less squatting and more leg lifting when my GSD pee's.

I am just wondering if my GSD is being overly dominate for his age or is this about normal.

While this is normal for dogs to start being dominant at that age, it should not be exceptable.
First thing, I would stop them from playing with one another. This is not to say that you cannot got to the park together but the dogs should be on leash and not allowed to show aggression. If your dog starts to growl, I would correct it. Dog aggression is a useless behavior. The correction should be strong enough that the dog understands that you will not allow this.

As far as the leg biting, I would also stop this. I think that there are a few ways to address this. One would be to make a yelp sound, like he is hurting you. I would make a sound like a dog that has just had his tail stepped on. I know this may sound wierd, but it has worked. If this fails, you can give him a light tap in the head, and tell him no. If this does not work, then you can give him a leash correction. I can pretty much guess that this will get worse as he gets older if something is not done. You are not prey. And I suspect that he is trying to dominate you.

I would also if you have not already, start ob. training with him. If you are going to do sport or service work, get the tape Training Drive Focus and Grip that Ed sells. If not get his basic ob. tape.

What are your goals with this dog? Also where does this dog live and sleep?

Thanks for the suggestions. I have Ed's basic obedience, training drive and focus tapes, beginning bite training and have been doing alot of my obedience based on what Ed talks about in the tape.

My goal w/ my dog is to train him to be a ppd/tracking. The dog has his own sleeping pad on the floor at the foot of my bed. During the day my dog is outside most of the time. When I get home from work, the dog is with me almost 100% of the time.

Originally posted by explorer1046:
The dog has his own sleeping pad on the floor at the foot of my bed. During the day my dog is outside most of the time. When I get home from work, the dog is with me almost 100% of the time. I would not allow him to sleep in the room with me. This dog should be should be crated at night. Allowing him to sleep in your room is contributating to the problem you are having.

I think that a lot of what you're seeing has to do with your dog's age and developmental stage. GSDs take a firm hand, and as long as you are consistent, firm, and fair, allowing him to sleep in your room on his own mat, NOT on your bed, should not be a problem. It's entirely up to you. I'm not reading anything in your post that tells me that letting him sleep in your room is a problem.

I agree with L.Swanston.
The only thing I would add to that is, if the dog sleeps on a mat in your room, and you have husband/wife/significant other, that person must also have firm control over dog.

I do not allow my dog to sleep on my bed. Its always on the floor nx to the bed. Its never been a problem w/ my dog sleeping on the floor. Sometimes my dog sleeps blocking the door. My wife either tells the dog to move or starts to open the door, my dog moves w/o any problem.

I also notice whenever my 2 yr old son is playing w/ his own toys, my dog tries to steal my son's toys from him.

Whenever we are out of the house, I control my dog either w/ a prong collar or ecollar (tritronics 500xl pro)

I had a Kerry Blue years ago that slept on the floor on my side of the bed. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, he would go over to the wife's side. She swears to this day, this was just to trip her, which happened every time when she got up in the morning. The dog always obeyed her, but on these ocassions he always seemed to have a big grin on his face. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

It might be a good idea for your wife to do some obedience work with the dog also. Depending on your plans for the dog, there will be different views from the board. Since it is a living in the house, your wife should have some control over the dog. If not, that could be a trouble spot.

Originally posted by L Swanston:
I think that a lot of what you're seeing has to do with your dog's age and developmental stage. GSDs take a firm hand, and as long as you are consistent, firm, and fair, allowing him to sleep in your room on his own mat, NOT on your bed, should not be a problem. It's entirely up to you. I'm not reading anything in your post that tells me that letting him sleep in your room is a problem. I do not agree. At this age, as you have pointed out, the dog is developing. He needs his own den to live in. He is starting to exhibit sighns of dominance. While I have had older dogs sleep in my room before, I never allow this with a young dog. While it may not be contributating to the problem, it very well may be. This is my view.

As for the owner of this dog, I would caution you with having this dog around a young child. Playing or not this dog can hurt your child in a second. Your child is not capable of controlling this dog, or understanding what is correct behavior around a dog. They are both babies at this time. Good luck.