I have adopted a two year old German Shepherd mix two months ago from the Humane Society. I have discovered she gets excited around other dogs, but I think I now know how to deal with that.

There has been two problems that causes me concern and I need advice on whether this is fixable or I should get rid of her.

On Christmas day, my one year niece was visiting. The dog was fine for about two hours and then all of sudden, she started barking at the baby. We were right beside the dog and we took the dog upstairs away from the baby. The baby didn't touch the dog, but she was crawling on the floor. I figured the dog thought she was another dog. We have three boys all over the age of 10 and the dog seems super with them. We don't see toddlers very much, so I just thought we would keep the dog away from toddlers.

However, yesterday my 75 year old mother-in-law was visiting. The dog greeted her, sniffed her and seemed friendly. My mother-in-law wasn't paying the dog too much attention. My mother-in-law was standing in the dining room, the dog stated sniffing her leg and then all of sudden, she started barking at her. She also took her paw and scratched her leg. My husband was across the room and he grabbed the dog and told her to go down and then she seemed fine. My mother-in-law, however, was quite afraid (and I don't blame her).

The dog does not bark inside the house at all. The dog does bark outside the house, (sometimes) but the barking outside was different than the barking she did at the baby and mother-in-law.

The dog is very smart - she seems to want to please and obey. I have hired a dog trainer and she said the dog did not seem at all aggressive. The dog is very friendly to almost everyone - it was just two times she seemed to get cross for no apparent reason. Neither times were the people even paying attention to the dog.

I have a person coming into the house to let her outside while I am work. So far, the dog seems fine with this, but I a little afraid that the dog might just get cross (for not reason).

Am I correct to worry about this or do you think I'm overreacting? Do you think this will happen again? How do I correct this or is possible?

The dog could have been barking to try to get the people to play. Did it sound like the dog was playing? My dog will bark and paw at me to get my attention (wake me up in the morning to get me to play with her mostly). She's the überfriendly type that has never met a stranger and must lick your hand to say hello (I hadn't had guests in a while and last night she was nosing them too from the excitement). It's really impossible to say without seeing the dog.

One of my dogs did the same thing to my nephew when he was young. We got the dog when he was about 4 or 5. if my nephew was running around, the dog would get excited and move around him in circles, sort of yipping at him. It wasn't aggression, and he didn't want to hurt him, I think it was just prey/play drive that got a little out of control. I also always thought it had something to do with the herding instinct. The dog was less than a year old at the time. At first he only did it if my nephew was running around and/or yelling, but then realized he could make my nephew scream (he was bitten by his babysitter's dog as a baby and was always a little scared of dogs unless they were asleep) by doing this and that excited him even more.

We fixed this by letting the dog out with Evan (my nephew), with the dog dragging a leash around. If he started to act up, he'd get a good pop on the leash. Eventually I took off the leash and put on my e-collar (once the dog was older), just in case he started again. I didn't have to use it, once the dog realized he wasn't supposed to do this, he was fine.

Not sure if this was the same thing with your mother in law, especially if she was just standing there. It doesn't sound like agression, not with the scratching of the leg. I am going waay out on a limb here, but I have heard of dogs that will react like that if they sense some sort of cancerous mole on the leg...I doubt this is the case, but it's possible, so I thought I'd ask.

The bark did not seem like a yip or playful bark. The dog was sitting back on her haunches and it sounded aggressive. The dog rarely barks - never inside. She has only barked inside two times - the time with my mother-in-law and the baby. I do forgive the baby incident, but my husband thinks we shouldn't forget it.

Most people that come into our house seem to love the dog. Even though we had the dog only two months, she seems exceptionally well-behaved. If someone comes to the door, she sits and waits until they come into the house, she never jumps up on them, she won't bother the company unless the company wants to give her attention.

What concerns me is the unpredictable nature of these two outbursts. I know the dog was just barking, but it seemed aggressive and she started barking for no apparent reason, just out of the blue. I'm not sure whether this is normal - my husband seems to think it is not good and we should be careful. I just don't know what to be careful about. After the incident with my mother-in-law, I put the dog outside. The dog seemed really angry. She started doing unusual behaviour, like rolling all around the ground. I assume she was just angry??

I would tend to agree w/ your husband, this does seem to be an indication that your dog must be carefully controlled.

1st thing is that...... you have a 2 year old dog that you do not know the background of. While your new dog may in fact be fine w/ you and your hubby and kids...DO NOT assume this will transfer to any person who walks into the house.

To me this behavior does not sound like anger, a dog does not get "angry" at a person sitting in a chair or towards a baby. However, it could be a display of 2 different things. The first thing I think of regarding the baby is prey drive kicking in, and then w/ the mother-in-law I see the behavior as dominance aggression. Going over to a person who is weak and picking a fight( ie, barking in her face loudly) is the dog being bossy.

I would definately be doing strict OB with this dog. And stop leaving your dog out to mingle with your company. It is possible that your dog is protective in nature and now that she is settling in and feeling more secure she is starting to be territotial. If you don't already have a crate, get one and use it when you have visitors.

Good luck!!

Perhaps the dog was being territorial. I never thought of it before, but the youngest boy was around the dog both times the dog barked. He was playing with the baby and beside his grandmother.

I really like this dog, but I do want a dog that I can take places and interact with people. I go to a cottage in the summertime with my sister and her family and I really need a dog that won't get territorial or aggressive. Question is, Are dogs that are territorial easy to train? I do put the dog in a crate, but how do you know when I can trust them around other people or can you ever trust the dog around other people?

Well, I guess I would say to you that it is best to perfect your dog's OB, then you will have control over the dog and then you can take the dog and put it in a down and know that it will stay there, etc.
Perhaps this dog may be more dog than you or your family situation is capable of handling, only you can really assess that.
Try working with the dog for the time being, by doing OB and then putting the dog away when company comes over.AS your control increases over the dog then reintroduce the dog to visitors gradually and as obedience excersises. Example: Mother-in-law is in the kitchen, bring the dog in and make the dog do a down stay for 10 minutes, then reward the dog and put it away, next time 5 minute sit combined with 10 minute down, put away dog, etc...or whatever you feel would be best, but I'm sure you get the idea.

I would suggest the OB to establish a sense of authority with this dog, and then you will see how the dog responds. You may find that with good Ob trainign, the dog respects you as authority and you don't have any more problems. But take care of this now so that it doesn't have the chance to develop into a problem.
Also, many dogs that are territorial in the home are fine when out and about in another setting.
Good Luck!

Tonight my mother-in-law came over again. We put the dog in a down stay position in another room while we ate dinner. The dog has no problem staying in a down position for as long as we tell her. We let the dog come out after dinner and the dog smelled the mother-in law. The dog was fine and seemed really friendly.

When the mother-in-law left, I put the prong collar on the dog and the mother-in-law hugged the kids. The dog started whining. The dog did not move as I told the dog to stay. However, I could tell the dog did not like the mother-in-law hugging the kids. If I did not tell the dog to stay, she might have started barking again. Thus, I have come to the conclusion, she does not like the kids being touched by anyone else, especially in the house. When the dog trainer was over at our house (outside), I asked the dog trainer to play with the kids. The dog didn't seem to care.

Am I overreacting or should I be concerned if a dog becomes territorial?

Probably going to get in trouble with this one but I'll bet a lot of people would pay good money to get a dog that chases the mother in law out of the house!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Well, you may be contributing to your dogs behaviour by being tense and transmitting that unwittingly to your dog now, when the mother-in-law is present. ( Just a guess here, but it is possible)Dogs are very sensitive and you may now be sending an unconsious signal of anxiety to your dog, ex: holding the leash tight and expecting a problem from the dog to occur. This may be why your dog didn't react at all to the trainer. Perhaps you don't like the mother-in-law?( Again, just a theory, you may in fact love her!!)Dogs can sometimes sense that too. There may be alot of contributing factors to this behavior.
The bottom line is that you have control through obedience and if you really don't trust the dog around this one person, then put the dog in the crate when she visits! Then you have no problem.
As for camping ,etc, work on the OB and take things as they come. Your dog may very well be just fine out and about with others. You just want to be sure you have perfecr obedience so you know you have conrtol in all situations, sooo. Good luck with your trainer!!