Hello all, I am looking for some different view points, advice, suggestions, anything. I am having a problem with one of my GSD. I have owned them all my life and never had anything like this. I have three GSD. Finn, 6 month old male. Santana, 2 1/2 year old female and Zada, almost 3. I have had Finn and Santana since puppyhood. They are both very well behaved. A friend asked us if we would consider taking Zada from thier friend. All we were told was that he had bought her for his 6 year old daughter and it wasn't working. We agreed to meet her. He pulls up and as I walk outside my front door, she jumps out of the car, hair up from her tail to her head, teeth showing and rushes at me. I told him to put this silly witch back in his car. I am done with the meeting of the dog but my husband stays outside and visits. I am shocked when he comes in with the dog and announces we are her new owners. He is usually very level headed, he said something about her just grabbed him. whatever. I now own this ill mannered insane dog. I quickly realize that she isn't aggressive mean, she is aggressive out of fear. She's terrifed of her own shadow. Within three days this dog is stuck to me. I have had her for almost two years, in that time she has learned to walk on a leash, sit, lay down, no chasing chickens or peacocks, she is no longer allowed on furniture, she comes when called AND she no longer rushes strangers like she did me that first time. She really has come a long long way. Guests still make her nervous, anything out of the norm does. But like i said, she no longer postures and rushes at them, she announces thier presence then heads up the stairs to the landing where she just watches. As a sidenote, i will add that I have often wondered if she didn't have some wolf in her background. Every now and then, something about the way she looks, and stands tugs at something in my brain. She also has the characteristic shyness. Could be bad breeding, I really don't know. Now to our problem(S). She has never fully accepted the other dogs. There isn't any agression over food or where each dog sleeps, they all have thier own area's. She will rush at one of the other dogs, hair up, tail stiff and full bared teeth, do a fast bite and jump severl feet back. She has never inflicted damage with these bites. She does this CONSTANTLY. I have corrected her over and over and over....she just won't stop. If i walk in the room, she will jump up and immediately rush a dog. If I walk down the stairs, she will do it. She walks around the house CONSTANTLY posturing, bristling, snarling. She is mostly ignored by the other dogs, but here recently Santana has been thrashing her ass for her. Terrible fights. Zada come out of it with puncture marks on her face, Santana is unscathed. It is reaching a climax, Santana never initiates the fights but she now always reacts to Zada and Zada is usually hurt before we can get them broke apart. They are excersised daily. We live on a farm and twice a day they are taken for long runs over our farm while we do a head count on cows/calves. She loves to swim and play in the creek. She gets along with the other dogs perfectly outside, they play together like they were best friends, the minute we step back in the house, Zada begins her posturing and snarling. The sound of this is like a vice around my head. I now bring them in separately, in two different doors. I hate to even think of getting rid of her, she has come so far since I have had her. I don't know what all this mess is about, if I did maybe I could then figure out how to address it. Maybe I have racked my brain for so long and so hard and the answer is obvious to anyone that reads this but not to me. She has the ability to learn. She has proven that as she is just not the same dog that came to me almost two years ago. Any, ANY imput is so appreciated.

Have you tried tethering Zada while in the house?--putting her on a 6-foot leash and tying it to your waist. The technique is helpful in 2 ways: it forces the dog to focus on you all the time (it may also help provide some confidence to a shy/nervous dog)---and it gives you the ability to control/quickly correct any unwanted behavior before it happens. It might also give you the ability to better control "supervised" indoor interactions where Zada is praised/treated for ignoring the other dogs in the room.

Just a thought.

Welcome to the forum---thanks for such a good description of the situation. I think you'll get some good advice.

Alot going on from what you posted...this is some of what I see:

Two now adult females which can in & of itself create problems, depending on the dogs & the leadership in the household. It is often more difficult for females to get along then males.

Alot more territorial issues going on in the house than outside. Outside there is more space to get out of each others way, if they want or need to. More often greater feelings of possession inside.(closer proximity to each other can cause this)

Often dogs will get on pretty well alone, until we step into the picture & then they are like little kids saying: me first,me first, watch me now, watch me etc etc. vying for your attention.

Tracy suggestion to tether the biggest offender Zada & therefore be able to constantly supervise how & what she does...,correcting or praising as needed.

Superior pack leadership skills are needed to live with multiple dogs. You have a PACK with more then one dog, especially with 3 or more. Failproof/bulletproof obedience is mandatory of all dogs living in a pack invironment. Vigilance is to be of the upmost, every minute these dogs are out & about together in or out. No posturing,stink eye, lip curls, raised tails or stiff or rigid body language allowed.

Any of this from any offending dog need to be seriously corrected immediately. If you are having to repeatedly give corrections for the same infraction of the rules, then I would say that you corrections are not strong or severe enough to extinguish the behavior being desplayed.

No dog should EVER have to live looking over it's shoulder out of fear of being attacked or bullied by another pack member. It is YOUR job to see that this does not happen. If you can't do that, inside or out, then the dogs should not be allowed to be able to interact with one another & should be crated before a dog is seriously injured.

Some dogs once maturity is reach just cannot get along & should be sepoerated often permanately. They may have gotten along when younger but no longer can.

The more often these dogs are allowed to fight the greater the chance that they will never be able to get along. You are just reinforceing this behavior by allowing them the oportunity to keep doing this behavior. It's up to you to be able to figure out if & how much these dogs can be able to get along with each other or not at all. You actually may find keeping them sperated will restore greater peace to the house for the long term.

Good luck.

Thank you Tracy I will definitely start snapping a leash on her before we walk in. See I knew someone would have an obvious suggestion that I just couldn't think of When I correct Zada, she will immdiately stop what she is doing, THAT time. She just does it again the next time. I agree totally that no dog should be bullied, but I would have to say that the other two dogs def are not being bullied. They usually ignore her totally, only recently has Santana jumped up and Zada always comes out worse. She instigates these arguments, and doesn't even fight back. She is the ultimate in self sabatoge. These are her triggers: walking in the house. someone leaving or entering a room. All three dogs can be laying peacefully in one room and if someone gets up or enters, she will jump up and rush one of the other dogs. Why is that? If I am on the computer, she is under the desk at me feet. If another dog walks in she begins the bristling, snarling behavior. Santana will look at her and walk up to her, clearly asking her if she would like to step outside. I just tell them no and both dogs will stop,but it will happen again the next day. When they are outside, they aren't trying to get away from each other, they are side by side running here there and yon and there is NO displaying at all. It may be as Anne says and Zada just cannot live with another mature female

It's like Zada isn't happy with her place within the pack, she has no no no confidence in this attiude she displays but she puts it out there anyway. I have carefully watched the other dogs and they have no part in instigating this mess. No stiff legs, no hairy eyeball. My husband says you can't fix crazy. We have amused ourselves with the ad I would run for her. If you have no family, no friends, no pets, no company and don't want any, I have the dog for you....but in reality there is no way I could put her with someone else, her nerves just wouldnt allow it. One rule on our farm is harmony and we have always had that. I don't enjoy ill mannered dogs and there isn't any reason to have one, but this one is just bigger than me.

She may actually do better in an only pet adult only home where she has no competition for the owners attention or discomfort, for whatever reason, with other pets.

Having a fearful or fear aggressive dog is not fun. I've been there.

could it be resource guarding- and the resource is you?
I never thought of this till I started reading on this site years ago but I had a dog that did that and I didnt think much of it but when I understood what it was I realized it was totally unacceptable.

Yep, that's a big part of what's going on.

That was my instinct too--resource guarding the OP. Which sort of hints at a perceived void of leadership, IMO.

I'd put the trouble maker on a leash and give corrections that made it clear that aggression wouldn't be tolerated. If saying "No" only gets them to stop momentarily but they start up again, then the "correction" isn't being understood.

IMO, one memorable correction (it has to fit the crime and the dog) is better than a lot of little nags that aren't working. As it is, somebody doesn't think you mean it when you say "No."

yes, I think that may be what she is doing, what you are calling resource guarding. Wherever I am, she is. If she can't get under the chair I'm in, she's next to it. I wonder, why does she obey all the other rules but not this one? I can't express how much this dog has learned since coming here. She used to get on furniture, apparantly this was acceptable before. She had never been on leash, she has learned that as well as heel and other basic obedience. She has learned not to chase chickens. She no longer counter cruises, her reaction to guests is now acceptable. she no longer jumps up on me. I could go on and on, if there was a bad habit, this girl had it. Why the refusal on this one thing? I am a smoker and smoke outside only. The dogs usually go with me and poke around outside a bit. About 30 min ago i snapped a leash on her before we walked in the house, all in the same door and there was no focus on the other dogs AT ALL. What is OP? Thank you to all who replied