I have socialized my gsd around people. My question is how to handle her when we are out and other dogs are around. For example, when I take her to the vet. She barks like an idiot and the hair goes up on her back. Other examples are when I take her for a walk, or go to a park, (not a dog park). I want her to just mind her own business and be level headed. I did not have this problem with my last dog, she was friendly with everyone.

I use a prong collar and/or shock collar and correct them when they lunge at other dogs or bark and don't shut up when I say "no". I have 3 gsd's. My male is cool around other dogs as long as they don't get in his face. My 2 females are both dog aggressive but are manageable when on lead.

She needs training. I would imagine the vet's office would be too intense for her just yet, so would it be possible to bring her in a side door, or schedule her appointments for the end of the day? Also, don't wait with her in the waiting room. Leave her in the car until they're ready for you, then go out to the car and get her and whisk her right through the waiting room.

As far as walking where there are other dogs, start off by keeping a distance. Find the distance from other dogs at which she is aware of their presence but is not barking and lunging, and is able to follow commands. At that distance, ask for and reward eye contact with you, heeling on a loose lead, sitting on command, etc., without moving any closer to the other dog. Teach her to look to you for guidance when there are other dogs around. Over time, the distance that she can tolerate other dogs and still be focused on you will decrease, but it will take baby steps. Don't shorten up the distance too quickly, or she may backslide into her barking and lunging behavior.

colleen, how old is your dog? How long have you had her.

Have to say, I'm much more along the lines of what Lisa is suggesting. Specially with the vet reference. Heavy corrections and the e-collar would probably not be a real help in this extremely stressful situation.

And what does your obedience class instructor recommend? Does your dog behave better in class and then not in 'the real world'? I always found if what I was fumbling thru in training didn't seem to be working, heading of to the professionals gave me alot more (and quicker) help. Go figure, someone who's raised/trained hundreds of dogs having more knowledge/skill/abilities than I do having raised just 3 dogs!

Additionally, the reactions seem more from fear than real aggression. So anything you can do to show you are in control of the situation, and continue to socialize your pup in all situations the better. Continuing classes will be a huge help.

Have you ever seen the video/dvd Calming Signals? Think there would be some real help for you there.

Also may want to read up on the following:

http://www.flyingdogpress.com/aggressionbasics.html

http://www.dogstuff.info/inapprop_aggress_responses_puppies_macdonald.html (if your dog is a puppy)

http://www.goof.com/~pmurphy/shy-k9s-faq.html

The prong collar is worth it's weight in gold.
IMO, it isn't a 'heavy correction' at all, merely a reminder to your dog that he must obey you.
He should be getting his cues from you- here comes another dog and we don't care, we'll just ignore it. Follow my example or be corrected.
Pretty soon he'll get it, and learn to ignore them too.

Cynthia, you're putting the cart before the horse. Before she can successfully be near other dogs without barking and lunging, she needs to be taught an alternate behavior. Just as with any obedience exercise, once the motivational groundwork has been laid in a solid foundation, you can then begin adding in the corrections. But at this point, all the dog knows how to do is bark and lunge; every cell in her body is screaming at her to fight or flee, and since she can't flee because she's on leash, she puts up a big bad front to keep the other dogs away. When a dog is in fight/flight, they are not capable of learning; their brain is basically shut off because their whole system is flooded with adrenaline and is keyed up for survival, not for learning new tricks. The first task is to raise the dog's threshold of tolerance for other dogs, and to do that you need to use a stimulus gradient (distance being the easiest way to control the intensity of the stimulus) to gradually desensitize and countercondition the dog. Prong collar corrections when the dog is already in fight/flight are too little too late. The learning needs to happen when the dog is capable of learning, hence the stimulus gradient.

JMHO. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Maybe you're right, maybe for you that's how it's done. In my experience, having encountered this behavior with an older GSD I adopted, this didn't work. All people are different, and all dogs are different too. Some techniques will work, some won't...you have to try them out,if it's not working, move on. If you feel more comfortable psychoanalyzing the behavior, rather than address and correct it, by all means go ahead. IMHO, the longer a dog has to ingrain a bad habit, the harder it is to break.

I have a 3 yo (got her at 1.5 years) great granddaughter and a 1.5 yo (got her at 10 weeks) great great granddaughter with Mink in their pedigree and I was warned before I got both of them that they would be very dog aggressive. The older one I had to use a prong collar on and now she's not as bad. She responds well to a voice correction when I see her starting to get tense. The younger one is a tad more aggressive and needs more work so I'm about to start level 10 prong collar corrections with her. She's cool as long as the dog doesn't move and/or doesn't bark. If it does either she goes balistic and I usually just leave where I'm at to get her away. The litter the younger dog came from had I believe 8 pups and all of them turned out to be extremely dog aggressive. A couple are in training and every once in a while you'll see it come out in them. My 3 yo just came into heat and I have a male that I'm considering and it's a 4-3 linebreed on Mink. I'm looking forward to seeing what I'll get from it.

 Quote:

If you feel more comfortable psychoanalyzing the behavior, rather than address and correct it, by all means go ahead.

Cynthia,
The effects of norepinephrine (adrenaline) on the sympathetic nervous system is physiology, not psychology. By using distance to prevent a mass discharge of the neurotransmitter into the dog's blood stream and slowly increasing the dog's threshold for tolerance to the proximity of other dogs, you're actually using physiology combined with learning theory. This is not psychoanalysis. This is very proactive training, so I'm not sure how you got out of what I posted that I am advocating doing nothing to address or correct the behavior.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

In a nutshell- good dogs are happy to please their leaders, and Colleen's dog sounds like a good dog to me.
It should be easy to teach this dog to ignore other dogs, simply by letting him know that this is the desired behavior.
We don't know much about this dog, but what we DO know (barking and raised hackles) could be the result of more than just 'fear'. Excitement, for one...who knows what he's really thinking?
His first and foremost concern is Colleen, everything else pales in comparision.
Does this make sense?

I have a hunch you just don't like the idea of the prong collar. Lots of people have formed an opinion on them based soley on the 'look' of them.
What do you think would have a more damaging effect on a dog that loves you- a nip on the neck or constant criticism? I certainly don't condone animal abuse-I think that acting negatively towards your dog is abusive, whereas
teaching correct behavior is not.