Good evening everyone. Long time reader, first time poster here. I have a behavior question for my 16 week working line (German/Czech) GSD...during her few weekly play sessions with my neighbor's dog (one year old daschund)she has been displaying odd signs. Normally, I let them run around the back yard. She chases him while he chases a ball. Sometimes she catches up to him, sometimes not. Just this past week, however, when she does catch him, the hair on the back of her neck is standing up. Is this aggressive behavior? Fearful? Am I running the risk of (attempting to socialize her) of making her dog fearful or aggressive? Before this there has been no signs of aggression between either of them. This is my first GSD and although I felt prepared before I brought her home...well lets just say you can only learn so much by reading.

Sean Barrett

Sean, welcome! Nice to see another Floridian posting...

I can't answer your question but I'm sure that someone well-versed in puppy behavior will respond. For myself, I do not allow my pup to freely interact with other dogs, because I don't want to take the chance that she might have a negative experience that could cause her to become dog-aggressive.

I'm not well-versed in puppy behavior either but I probably wouldn't let my pup continue to play with this dog, especially with a ball present, if she's hackling.

I have a female that hackles at everything - she's very sharp and somewhat weak-nerved. (She's a 5-year old Aussie/Lab mix).

She does not normally hackle at my other dogs when they are playing, though she has sometimes. I've been told that hackling (hair standing up) is a sign of emotional arousal. My girl hackles usually when she barks at something, a noise or a person or dog walking past the fence. If your puppy knows this dachshund well, and she hackles like this, then something is wrong - the puppy is uneasy or unsure about something. Maybe she doesn't know her rank with the smaller dog, could be anything.

If she has only seen the dog a few times that could be the reason she's uneasy - it is unfamiliar to her and she's not sure how to act.

If this were my puppy, I would only have her around the neighbor's dog when both were calm (i.e. no playing). They can learn to be in each other's presence, but not worry about interacting. Walk the two dogs side by side, (of course with a 16-week-old it would be a VERY brief walk) and have the dogs not focus on each other. Do brief obedience sessions with both dogs, so they focus on their owners and not one another.

Read Ed's article about introducing dogs.

Good luck!

It may have something to do with establishing the pecking order,its hard to say, your puppy is very young. Look closely at the signals the other dog is giving, to determine what the possible causes are and, like Angela said,it may be that the puppy is really excited.

Lynne,
Thanks. Where in S. Florida are you?

Sarah,
Good advice. I should have originally written that it is a shared backyard, and most of the time the other weiner dog isn't out there. When they are, it is ALWAYS supervised (by me). She (my GSD) is always on her long line just in case she gets into something I don't want her messing with. The ball normally doesn't catch her attention unless Rufio (weiner dog) is playing with it. He is a VERY submissive dog, both towards people and other animals.

Angela,
Maybe it just is excitement. It still has me confused because she does not do this with other dogs (dogs I know to be well socialized and even tempered).

Mary,
The other dog doesn't give other signals except roll over onto his back. Like I said earlier, he is extremely submissive. The only time he will do anything is if she plays too rough with him (i.e. chews on his ear or head) then he yelps and she backs off. Side question...is it a good or bad thing that I am allowing her to do this? 99% of the time I stop her from getting too dominant over him, but those few times she does...is this bad? Dogs being dogs? Should I allow her to learn, through the weiner dog, about proper dog ettiquette(sp)?

Thank you everyone for the responses.

Sean Barrett

I would think its nothing more than a domanice issue. I cant tell you if you should allow it to happen but I trully dont think you can stop it other than not allowing her around him. I personaly would probably not allow the interaction other than just a quick hello that I could controll.

What do you plain on doing with your pup. I mean are you plaining on useing her as protection dog or Sch or just a compainon.

My Greta has bad domanice issues you could see her rank a 7 weeks. One of my friends bought a AB same age as her. My wife and I had to keep the pup for the first two weeks till he could make arangements for her while he was at work.

Well as normal I couldnt convence the wife that they had to be apart till the sixth try of socializeing them. Greta would instantly charge the other pup take a side domance stance and when the AB pup would start to try to play and bit Greta a little to hard it was instant Butt Whooping time. I would have to pull her off in a manic state of I have to you KILL you attack on the AB.

Rank estabilshment starts at a very young age and if it is a small dog and he is rolling over. I would bet it is her showing domance.

How is she with the weiner dog when the ball isn't involved? What's her temperament in general? Whats the rest of her body language? Puppies hackle up sometimes, chill out , she's only 4 months old. I notice a lot of people say it's either fear or dominance like it can't be anything else. My 6 yr olds butt hackles up when i throw the ball outside with him, just the 2 of us, is he fearful? nope, he's not afraid of anything, is he dominant? nope, far from it. Look at the entire dog instead of just the hackling,
AL

 Quote: Michael Haddon

What do you plain on doing with your pup. I mean are you plaining on useing her as protection dog or Sch or just a compainon.

Michael,
Right now the plan is to have her just as a companion. That might change in a year or so (maybe SAR) but right now I just want a well balanced dog when she gets older.

 Quote: Al Curbow

How is she with the weiner dog when the ball isn't involved? What's her temperament in general? Whats the rest of her body language? Look at the entire dog instead of just the hackling,
AL

Al,
She still knocks him around a little bit when the ball is out of the equation. I am not allowing her to run freely in the backyard anymore when he is outside. She is learning too many bad habits when I allow her to do so. Actually yesterday afternoon I put her in a sit/stay(while on the long line) when he was outside and while she was excited at first, she calmed down a few minutes later. With other dogs I would say her temperment is very playful, sometimes dominant. Depends on what kind of vibe the other dog is giving off. Thanks for the advice.

Sean