I don't think this would be a good working dog. He's way (and I mean waaay) over-sized for a pure bred GSD. He's at least 29" at the should and over 100lbs (I stopped weighing him a while back) at just barely over a year old.

He's very clumsy at his current size and chances are he'll be pretty dysplastic later on. I can already tell that his left shoulder bugs him after activity.

Poor dog is getting a bum rap.

QUOTE: But what kind of work would the dog do besides sport ScH or French Ring? It couldn't ever do service work (police, SAR, etc) being child aggressive. END

I see your point. I also see that I don't belong in this thread. I don't know enough.

I do know that I'd never risk the child-aggressive dog ever being around children.

I'm going to pipe in voicing my agreement with the "place the dog in a childless home" crowd. And it's your responsibility to ensure that a future owner knows the risk with the dog's aggression towards children.
It's not hopeless, and their are people that have no children and don't like them any more than the dog does, so you might find a potential home. *BUT*........when you combine the "no child" status of the dog and then add in the health issues...well, then euthanasia of the dog might be the humane way to go.

Hi George, did the vet rule out any health issues? if so why not get an experts opinion? also, there's plenty of homes with no children, mine included ( can't stand kids)so it seems like you have options, good luck, AL

Out of ignorance I need to ask...

What type of health issues could a dog have that would make it snap at kids (who haven't even touched him) while at the same time being playful and friendly with adults?

QUOTE: What type of health issues could a dog have that would make it snap at kids END

It might be reaching a tad, but thyroid problems can result in a scenario that includes the following....QUOTE: Typical signs include one or more of the following: incessant whining, nervousness, schizoid behavior, fear in the presence of strangers, hyperventilation and undue sweating, occasional disorientation and failure to be attentive. These can progress to unprovoked aggressiveness in unfamiliar situations with other animals, with people, and ESPECIALLY WITH CHILDREN.... END (The capitalizations were mine.)

This is an excerpt from an article in DVM Newsmagazine by Dr. Jean Dodds discussing "Behavioral Problems Associated with Thyroid Disease."

"Dr. Dodds has given her permission to excerpt from her article, which appeared in DVM Newsmagazine."

The children being at eye level poses a threat to his pack status. Most people seem to think dominance aggression only happens once, there is "no warning," or one fix does the trick. This is not true because the pack order is assessed when the pack comes together (you get home from errand, kids get home from school, going out of the room and coming back in the room) during feeding, preparing to "go for a hunt" (going for a walk, car ride).

Now I have worked with a few dominant dogs - and one that growled at, barked at lunged at children that had never touched it. I had success. I will not say I'm any sort of expert - but I consider Ed Frawley to be - so please read his training articles about dominance aggression so you know what you could be (and most liekly are)dealing with.

If the children HAD touched him - you would have a vet do a physical exam checking for sources of pain. If you think it's a health issue there are brain abnormalities that cause aggression - none of the cases I have heard of in which that was suspected were like yours though - but it doesn't hurt to rule it out either.

Hmmm...
Once again I didn't explain myself well. Just read up on Ed's articles. They are excellent.

Sounds to me as if this dog should be put down but my views on zero tolerance are a bit different.

When dogs are eating have treats that dog is OFF LIMITS to everybody except me. There is no sense in taking a chance & no reason to make an issue of it when simple steps will normally take care of the problem.

My dominant Lab/Retr once went for my nephew who was running down the hill. I yelled at him & he responded imediatly. That is not a problem dog but if the dog bit him it would have been my fault but that dog would not have been put down over one bite if child wasn't hurt bad.

I know a lot less than most of you all, so this may be a dumb question but here goes: Is there any concern for what level/how severe this dog's bite is? I may be using the wrong terminology, but if the dog is just snapping at a perceived annoyance vs. descent-into-lizard-Brain-no-stopping-till-it's-dead aggression, arent the calls to put this dog down fairly draconian? Also, is it fair to ask after the size, actions and demeanor of these children and the circumstances surrounding these (near) bite attempts.


My rescued GSD was initially very aggresive in certain circumstances, but those circumstances have been addressed. My Situation is not identical, but certainly a case could have been made for my dog's destruction, which in retrospect clearly would have been a total cop-out on my part.