Wanted to get some others thoughts on a recent incident that happened.

We recently adopted a 3yr old gsd from a family that lives in a horse neighborhood. They have a young son similar to our boys ages (younger than 6). They had to give up the dog due to his dislike to their horses (herding, aggression, etc). He has been kicked by the horses too.

We have had him for 2 weeks now and he has been great. He has greeted all of our friends and strangers with confidence and no aggresion. Very mellow and calm. He has transition from a predominantly outdoor dog to spendnig most of his days inside the house with the family. He gets exercised usually around twice a day via walks/runs and playing fetch; plus a lot of attention. In additoin, he has started to learn some basic obedience skills.

We took him out for a walk yesterday with our two boys. The boys ahead on their bike and scooter. My wife had him on leash behind me. All of a sudden I hear a growl and then see him knock and nip one of our neighbor kid onto the ground. She was trying to skateboard around my wife (dog too) and then me. Not sure if the dog felt threatened about itself or abuot protecting me. He may have been surprised as well.

I am not defending his actions I need to monitor him no matter how good he is. Fortunately the kid's parents understood the situation but recommended that we get him off to some training/socialization.

We strongly agree but wanted some other perspectives as well. Thoughts on the conditions that provoked this behaviour. I am trying to understand what provoked this, he has been usually so calm.

A lot of dogs act surprised when a wheeled object ( usually a bike ) comes up behind them. A dogs ears point forward, so it's no surprise that they are more directed to what's ahead of them then behind them.

Without actually having seen the incident, it's hard to tell if the dog was reacting out of prey or defense, but it's usually prey drive with a moving object like that. And it sounds like the dog may have a history of similar behavior with it's history regarding the horses. Of course he growled, which maybe shows a little defense ( again, hard to tell without actually seeing it )

Keep the dog on a tigher lead around potential prey objects.

George - poor handling here. No matter the reason you guys should have anticipated a problem. When I walk my dog I am ALWAYS looking at where I am and thinking about what can go wrong and what do I have to be ready for.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, we should have had him on a tighter lead, especialy given that we just got him.

One of the things that I am working on with him is to better socialize him to suburbia living (kids, bikes, skateboards, etc). He has done well with kids on their feet. Bikes ok, skateboards still very cautious.

Do you have recommendations on socializing an older dog (3 yrs) to skateboards and bikes?

http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_SocializationAdultDog.php may have some hints to help. But I think basically de-sensitizing may work the best.

As in get your kid a skateboard, and have him skate past at a distance that your dog is interested and under control. Act normal and happy, have your son get off and come over to pet/treat the pup, and then walk off to skateboard off. Gradually decrease the distance so the board is coming closer.

You have to act 'normal' and happy and praise the dog when he's calm.

It sounds to me like your dog was startled when the skateboard 'suddenly' came up behind and he just reacted. So the more you get him out and about, the less things will be 'new' and the more reliable he'll be.

My GSDs chase anything on wheels. (One time this included one of those jogging strollers! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> Just be more aware of what's going on around you. Fortunately your neighbors were understanding. Now you know that you need to be prepared when wheeled objects go by.

There's a show called The Dog Whisperer on National Geographic, with a dog trainer/animal behaviorist named Cesar Milan, who has done an episode about a english bulldog who was extremely driven to chase kid's skateboards. He would run full speed at them and knock the kids over to get to the skateboard and play with it himself. He literally wanted to kill it! Basiclly, they socialized him to it and trained him not to even look at it or pull on the leash around it. It was gradual, but they were consistent in not even letting him look at it- correction and then reward for change of focus. It worked well. Teaching "leave it" may work also.
I refer to the show in case you happen to get that channel, then maybe you can catch some training on camera.

My male GSD Luke is pretty laid back too, but things on wheels do trigger his prey drives. He is not particularly fond of bikes, or skateboards for that matter. If they are away from us he is content to watch them with normal attentiveness. Coming towards him on the other hand is an open invitation to get knocked off of it. I have just attributed this to the drives in him and I make sure that he is in a down/stay whenever this situation arises. He'll hold steady, but you can see him quiver with the excitement of wanting to just blast whoever it is.