We have a 10 month old male (neutered) GSD Axle, who has developed or started to exhibit a lot of territorial behavior in the last few weeks.

Incident one, my sister-in-law walked into our house unaanounced no knock. Axle very aggressively barked at her and charged, she retreated out of the house. Crated Axle and let the sister-in-law in the house.

Incident two, a new visitor to the yard walked took 2 steps in the yard, Axle agressively barked and charged at new perons, the person left the yard. Axle in the case did leave the yard after the person but step son grabbed the long line.

Up until now the extent of Axle's territorial gaurding behavior has been a barking. Neighboors, friends, etc who have visited the house/yard more than once Axle greets with a wagging tail. Sometimes when I enter the yard Axle's first instinct is to bark until he recogizes me.

Axle is in the process of being trained not sure how else to put it, the only recall I he has not mastered is if is chasing a rabbit. He will come if I catch him going after the rabbit in the first 5 seconds. Sits, downs, stays etc he does excellent.

He has been socialized quite a bit (I believe) stops at the local park to meet new people, training class, etc. Outside the yard on a walk he does not seem to care about strangers or other dogs.

I know that GSD are protective & teritorial. My question is how to curb/control this behavior. I am afraid if it goes unchecked he my go the next step and nip/bit someone. Trying to find the balance between him being alert and aggressive.

I hope this makes sense.

John

IMO It is not unreasonable for the dog to bark at strangers entering the yard or house unannounced. No-one can do that in my house either. He is a little young to be so territirial, so I would worry that he might go beyond barking in the future, and would watch carefully. Also, if he "wins" by chasing people away when he barks, that will encourage him to bark more in the future. I would teach him a quiet or no bark command so he calms down when told to.

 Quote:

my sister-in-law walked into our house unaanounced no knock. Axle very aggressively barked at her and charged, she retreated out of the house.

Incident two, a new visitor to the yard walked took 2 steps in the yard, Axle agressively barked and charged at new perons, the person left the yard. Axle in the case did leave the yard after the person but step son grabbed the long line.

Up until now the extent of Axle's territorial gaurding behavior has been a barking. Neighboors, friends, etc who have visited the house/yard more than once Axle greets with a wagging tail. Sometimes when I enter the yard Axle's first instinct is to bark until he recogizes me.

Solution to incident one. Either lock your door or crate your dog when you are not watching/working with him.

I agree with Polly & Deanna -- your GSD is a watchful guardian (isn't that one of the main reasons you got this breed?)...

He will bark at visitors & may bite people who come onto your property or enter your home IF you don't control his natural behavior ALL the time -- This involves crating or kenneling a protective dog & fencing or locking your property so the animal is NEVER loose while unattended (if you don't contain him properly, your GSD will eventually nail an innocent guest or passerby)...

You can't really "curb" your dog's genetic instincts, so you must learn to control his every move instead -- I would start by reading the following:

http://www.leerburg.com/groundwork.htm

Our 8 month old GSD intact-male is also beginning to show protective behavior of family and property. He has had a really good teacher (3yr. old female). Together they keep most everyone out of the fence <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />We don't have the worry of strangers coming in and out of the yard <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> and I feel safer with them out there <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />There has been alot of thefts happening in our town, but so far we have been skipped over <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> I'm sure its because of our GSDs <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />