I apologies if this was discussed before, but on my search I did not find anything specific to my question.

Would for example an adult male aggressive dog differentiate between male and female or would they all look the same to him. If the female is in heat for example would he be rather interested on attacking or mating with her?

I have a 10 months old GSD and he is dog aggressive and he does not care if it’s male or female. Maybe because he could still be considered a puppy, but as he would grow does he learn to differentiate? Not that I ever want to breed him, but I was told by someone that he would not show his aggressiveness towards bitches (whether they are in heat or not)when he is an adult.

I'm not sure, but im my case Kane is dog aggresive and he does not care whether its a male of female. He will be 2 years old in January. If a female is in heat he may be more interested in attempting to mate (havent been in that situation) but as for now, he could care less if its a female or male.

Just my 2 cents here. I'm sure other more experienced forum members may disagree....

Generally, males are aggressive towards males and females towards females. But that's not a strict rule. A dog that has been taught to be aggressive (as a defense mechanism) is more likely to be aggressive to all dogs regardless of gender than a dog-aggressive dog that is being aggressive as a show of dominance. In extreme cases (ie: poorly socialized pitbulls or spoiled rotten "toy" dogs) dogs are often aggressive to anything that moves regardless of sex or even species.

i think it would be really difficult to make any kind of generalizations or predictions on the matter. infact, i have seen it go both ways. some males are almost submissive to a female in heat, some who are always aggressive are still that way despite the heat. very important that you know your own dog. don't put any dog, yours or anyone elses, at risk for an injury and don't be afraid to use a muzzle if you think a situation warrants it. better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for your responses.

Reason I asked was because a neighbor has a 3 year old female GSD that she lets her loose now and then and sometimes she comes in my yard.

Two days ago she walked right in to my garage when I was leaving for work. Luckily my dog was not there.

I am trying to control the situation as much as possible but I don’t want to isolate myself from taking walks with my dog, It's just a matter of time before a confrontation is going to happen and I’m not sure what to exactly do.

I have spoken to the owner few times and all she told me was that once my dog is an adult he will not be aggressive towards her dog anymore because male and female dogs have a “thingy” where they don’t fight each other; and that we could let them run together.

I was thinking of introducing them so that if I and my dog meet her dog loose they would not fight but I don't see will that be possible since my dog is very dog aggressive. Her dog does not seem to be confrontational (seen her with other dogs) but she jumps the fence barking when we pass by her house.

I hate to think this way, because I used to be like your neighbor, but she is making a huge mistake. She's asking for trouble and if she continues to allow that kind of behavior, she's going to end up with either a dead/injured dog, or a lawsuit (or both) on her hands. What happens when a severely dog-aggressive stray dog comes around? What happens when she chases a cat into the street and gets hit by a car? What happens when a kid walks up and thinks it'll be fun to play rough with her and runs off yelling and screaming? This is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Luckily, I learned my lesson after a couple of close calls. Some people aren't so lucky.

Wow. Nice neighbor.

Try to talk to her one more time, let her know that you only want to prevent an altercation and costly vet bills and pain and suffering and all that and tell her that you will not tolerate that any longer. If she still refuses to control her dog, call the authorities and report the dog every single time it's at large and especially on your property. That owner will now have quite the case file, and if anything bad happens to your dog the authorities will have lots of proof that the owner couldn't care less about keeping her dog under control. At the least it may give her more motivation to control her dog. This is all at the expense of good neighborly relations, but I'd rather have a pissy neighbor than a bloody dogfight out of nowhere.

I agree with Diana, you need to let the other owner know what her liabilities/responsibilities are and that you are just trying to help her, at the same time you need to CYA. You could try printing out some of Eds articles and sharing the info with her. Direct her to this forum so that she can get some detailed info. If she is not interested then just make sure you protect yourself and your dog, and realize that you are doing her and her dog a favor by alerting the authorities to her mistakes in judgement
Good Luck
Terry

Terry and Diana are right. The only thing I would add is to make sure when you call and report her the first time, you mention that it is an ongoing problem and request that a record be made. In addition, try and take photos of the dog on your lawn, neighbors lawns, etc. to prove that she wanders.

I have already spoken to few other neighbors about the case, and they all are complaining, and will call the authorities. It has happened again for two days in the raw; she came to my dogs kennel and was marking all around his kennel and my dog was going crazy jumping the fence. Than she went roaming around the other neighbor’s yard.

Thanks for all your suggestions.