Hello! I am the proud owner of a German working-line, 9 wk old GSD, call name Achilles. I've had many dogs before, but nothing bigger than my hound (she's about 35 lbs). So far we're quite pleased with Achilles' drive, and have had great success with recall commands and release commands.

A few days ago (when he was just 8 weeks old), I had him in our front (unfenced) yard going potty. He was on his leash. Up until now, he's played very well with other dogs and never shown one drop of agression. A man walked by with his 13 week old rottweiler (off its leash). Achilles stiffened. The man told his dog it was okay to go say hi, even though I started to shake my head and say I didn't think it was a good idea. The rottie (female), walked up to Achilles wagging her tail and went to sniff his head. He immediately lifted his lips, growled, and lunged at her. I jerked back on the leash quickly, and the rottie ran screaming back to its owner. He was very upset with me and said that my dog was a killer.

I've not seen him do it since, and several dogs have passed by and said "hi" to him. I've taken him to my parents' to play with their dachshunds, and he plays with my hound just fine (and our cat..quite a sight to see a GSD pup pinning a black cat).

My question: is this normal? What might have made him show this sort of aggression? What does this behavior say about his personality, and what sort of things am I going to need to watch out for? What can I do to correct this problem before it gets out control?

Thanks so much!

Welcome to the board, Stacy. Thanks for taking my advice and coming here. You should get lots of good information, especially if you're wanting to get into schutzhund or protection with him.

I'm not sure what to say about your pup's behavior at such a young age, but a face-to-face or nose-to-nose greeting is often perceived as a threat in doggy language. It could have been nothing more than she was in his face and he didn't want her there. See what others have to say, as I have no experience with working-line dogs.

Thanks, Kristen.

I don't know if we're going to do SchH or not. We're meeting with a trainer this weekend to have him "looked over" so to speak, and we plan to ask a ton of questions to figure out if it's really what we want. On one hand, he comes from solid lines and was bred for this sort of thing, but on the other we've never done anything remotely close and it takes a great deal of time. We'll just have to see...

I think he views our front yard as his territory since it's the place he most often potties. I do think he felt threatened...he bristled immediately when he saw this dog. Since I'm no expert in doggie language, I'm not sure what cues the rottie was giving him, but she made him very nervous. The fact that her owner had no leash made ME nervous. 13 wks or not, never a good idea to allow a dog to walk around unleashed. I'm adament that Achilles stays leashed -- he may be 17 lbs of fluff now, but he will grow up to be a large, heavy, powerful dog and you just never know.

Thanks for letting me know about these forums. I'm hoping to get good advice as Achilles is the 1st GSD we've ever had and we want to do things "right."

No one gave any advice here, so I'm bumping it back onto the "active topics" list.

Your dog was on a leash, this dog was not. Two drives with a strange dog, fight or flight. The leash took away option "B" so all he had left was "A". You mentioned that your dog doesn't act this way all the time. Are the other times when the dog is off leash? If so, might be the possible answer.

my 2 cents.

Grant

It sounds like you have a very dominant puppy, and he is showing it,Remember he was also on his own territory, and perhaps he saw her as a threat.I agree the tension on the lead could also have been a trigger, tight lead could put him on the defence, so he reacted accordingly.
Unless it happens all the time I wouldn't worry about it.