Many of you have read my previous postings on my GSD who is 18 months old this month. I have been socializing him as much as possible, taking him on walks all over the neighborhood, to pet stores and hardware stores and allowing him to meet strangers. Been working nearly everyday with the leerburg basics video and he was making excellant progress. He no longer was barking at every moving thing on our walks or lunging at people. Its been a month since I started working with him nearly every day. I tried as much as possible to follow the video. I know I was learning to read him much better.

Today on our walk in the snow, I got around the block and there were 3 couples walking, they kept a good distance and said hello and did not approach the dog or me. They were friendly, and I had the dog do the command to hee, we kept walking and as the last person passed him he jumped up to grab the guys arm and has I pulled him down he did a small growl and I corrected him and kept walking, thank GOD the people didn't notice him do this or at least chose not to do anything...I kept walking pretending nothing happened. What the heck is this dog thinking? Or trying to do? He didnt' brace himself, he didnt' growl or lunge or bark or anything just calmly walked by them till the last person and then jumped up and snapped at their arm. I hardly doubt this was a game. I kept going towards our house, now the dog all wound up, he lunged at a little girl who walked by, I of course now had him on a shorter leash so nothing happened. I corrected him again took him home and put him in the garage to calm down. This is the end, if I cannot fix this or understand this I will have to put him down, he is too unpredictable. This is definetly not the first time he has tried to grab someones arm without growling, barking or any warning signs. But it has been at least 4 months so I thought all my training and socializing was starting to make a dent. HE is definetly happier, playing more and smiling much more.

Any Ideas?

Originally posted by Julia Smith:
as the last person passed him he jumped up to grab the guys arm and has I pulled him down he did a small growl and I corrected him and kept walking, Can you describe your correction?

He has his prong collar on and immediatly when he lunges or growls or is about to do this behavior if I see him I give a quick pop, sometimes he whines after for a sec, showing it hurt or if he is in the process of growling or barking it immediatly silences him. I believe though, that my correction is not hard enough because he continues the behavior again after a few days or even one day. I believe his prong collar does fit properly, I took out some links and sized it as shown in the article on sizing a prong collar, so it sits high on his neck.

I had to go back and review some of your earlier posts to remember the story on this dog, but he was evaluated for k9 work and found to be lacking in self-confidence. THat fits perfectly with the way he shows his aggression - he waited until the people had passed by and then went for the 'sneak attack', thus avoiding direct confrontation. Unfortunatly, it does sound like this dog has two traits, which in combination, can make him a dangerous dog: fearful PLUS aggressive. If he were fearful and avoided, it really wouldn't be a big problem, but when a fearful dog solves his problems thru aggression, this can be a dangerous situation. From your earlier posts, you say you really aren't willing or able to commit to a rigorous training program or the financial commitment of hiring a trainer. I am not aware of any easy solution to this type of temperament problem. In all honesty, he sounds like a liability.

The fact of the matter is, he is not my dog, it was my brothers, he got a full time police officers job, left the dog with my parents, moved and my parents dont know how to train a dog, nor obviously to me the dont intend to, so I thought to save the dogs life I would train him. But I am in school and I can really only train a couple times a week. The only trainer that I found that would really know how to deal with this dog is in a town 2 hours from here. I really have spent a great deal of time working with him the past month and a half, he made a great deal of progress, but honestly I dont know what I am doing, the leerburg video is a help but its not the same when you need more feedback on how you are doing and so forth. I have put him up on rescue sites, but I really dont think he could go to very many people. Someone, like the members of this site who know what they are doing would have to take him. So anyways that is where I am left.

Julia,
Its too bad you are the one left to decide this dogs' fate. Like lee saiid, this is a dangerous dog and a liability. Dogs like this are the type you read about or hear about on the news. You have a tough choice to make in what you have to do. I once had a Lab/Chow mix that exhibited the same behavour. He was well mannered until we got near strangers, then he was a back biting S.O.B.. I ultimately had to put him down to prevent a lawsuit or an innocent person from being harmed. Its not an easy thing to euthanize an animal. If you feel you need to and arent up to it maybe you can get a friend who isnt attatched to the dog and have him/her take the dog to the vet...muzzled of course. Good luck.

I mean I really feel bad for the dog, but I really tried, he has been socialized from the time we got him. That dog has been more places than my personal dog. He has been to private outdoor gun ranges, even been to watch a parade with horses and bands, been to bars, been to apartments. He was fine up till he was a year old, then he bit some one unprovoked, other than the fact she was jogging by and he did this by running all the way out from inside the garage, through the house outside to get her. He is a good dog till we get him around strangers. I have been so careful to step it back, make him work for everything, only take him out when I know there will be few people around, take him to stores and in the car, around the neighborhood. Slowly starting to take him out when I know there will be more and more people around. I mean I excercise the crap out of him and he still just does these things. The vet doesn't have any trouble with him, he is a perfect angel for her...I dunno maybe he is just getting worse, bad genes. We have double locks on the gates so hopefully nothing will happen till I make an appointment to put him down. I dont see why I have to be in charge of his fate. But its better than a lawsuit for my parents.

Julia,
I am sorry that this decision has been left up to you. It is really not fair to you.
You need to do what you feel is right for both you and the dog. It is a very difficult decision and one that only you can make.

Good luck with whatever you decide! I am really sorry that you have to go through this.

Julia, has this dog actually mingled with people (touching, petting and such) while out and about at all this places you’ve taken him to?

How is he around the extended family and friends of the family? Is this a dog you have to ‘put up’ when people come over?

i have a question maybe lee or somebody else can answer in regards to unsocial or unpredictable dogs: what happens when someone else takes the dog for a walk, plays catch or frisbee with the dog, or something else recreational/fun? by someone else, i mean sopmebody who knows what they are doing and can handle the dog if it gets unruly. i guess i was just curious if getting the dog away from its usual handler would make any difference....better or worse; or finding out that someone else could be fun to play with and not a threat. i realize some dogs are downright dangerous and this wouldn't be an option. we don't have dogs that cannot be trusted, so i really don't know anything about it other than i have a good friend who is really into show dals and those folks do a lot of dog-swapping especially as puppies, and sometimes even as adults to keep them social. i realize we have dogs of completely different termperament
but i wonder if we might be creating problems by keeping our dogs so isolated that the only contacts they have are with handler and helper. just a thought. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />