Folks,

I've got a 6-month old male GSD that I bought to train for SchH. He's from great German working lines and shows much potential, but he's got some issues that need work.

He was born as the only pup in the litter (the bitch was getting old, and has since been spayed) so he never received exposure to littermates. I bought him from the breeder when he was 5 months old, and he was kenneled alone, but right next to all the other kennels so he's seen, heard, and smelled other dogs.

But apparently that's insufficient because he does not react well to other dogs. He gets his hackles up, barks defensively, and puts his tail up. I went to a SchH training seminar and there were dogs running about everywhere, and after a while he settled down and no longer responded to the presence of the other dogs. But on his own, when he sees another dog he typically surges to the end of his leash with tail up, barking defensively (sometimes with hackles raised).

On the few occasions that he's met other dogs up close, he typically tries to take a dominant position, i.e. tries to put his paw up on their back, or stand over them, always with tail raised high.

To compete in SchH I don't need him to be friendly with other dogs, but he must at least be neutral. What would you recommend for his socialization or exposure to help him learn that other dogs are no big deal? Should I correct him for his behavior? I haven't so far... instead I've tried to re-direct his focus to a toy or to me.

Yvette

Yvette,
Part of the problem is that he was not raised with littermates. Puppies have several critical periods of development where exposure to certain things is neccessary. Puppies learn how to be dogs from their littermates. I don't think you can change your dog's attitude toward other dogs, but you can learn to work within his limitations, and you can try some systematic counterconditioning, and you will probably see some improvement, but this doesn't mean you can trust that he has changed.
To start a system of counterconditioning, you'll need to set up some training situations with other friendly dogs and their willing handlers.
The first step is to find your dog's "safe distance". If you try to just "shove treats in his face" (an oversimplification of counterconditioning using classical conditioning) whenever there are other dogs around, you may find that he is not receptive at all to the treats and feel as if this has failed. It may seem that he is unable to focus on anything other than the other dogs. If that happens, that means that you're too close, and you need to move him away. When you are at a distance from the other dogs where he can focus on you, follow commands, and is interested in rewards, then that is your "safe" distance.
From there, "prime" him by going through a few commands with heavy reward for compliance, without moving any closer to the other dog. When he's nice and focused on you, move closer to the other dog, keeping him in a heel (if he knows that, otherwise, keep him focused on you), rewarding good performance. The moment he can no longer focus on you or follow any commands, simply and with no fanfare, move away from the other dog until he can focus on you. Repeat the procedure, but don't push for too much. Basically, you're treating the presence of other dogs as a distraction, not allowing them close enough for you to lose your dog's attention, and teaching your dog that he is expected to perform even with other dogs around. Keep these training sessions very short, like just five to ten minutes. Make sure to end on a positive note.
Now, you may never be able to get to the point where you can introduce him to another dog without a reaction. But, you can use this system to get him used to working around other dogs while paying no attention to them, which is what it sounds like you want to accomplish.

Yvette

AANNDDDD to answer the rest of the question. No correction at 6 Mo. It would take to much to accomplish anything here, for a dog that young, It may come to that but not at this age.

I agree that he is developmentally challenged from not having littermates. I knew that when I bought him, but his temperment was such a good fit with what I was looking for, that I was willing to accept this potential liability.

I think I have some hope to work through this issue because he does have good prey drive, good food drive, and strong pack drive, so if he gets all in a fluff over the presence of another dog I can refocus him on toy, hotdog, or me.

He seems to get somewhat desensitized when I was at the training seminar and everyone had dogs all about for potty break. If he sees just one dog he focuses in on that one dog, but if he's surrounded by them, he isn't so responsive, as if there's too much going on for him to think about showing attitude.

Ultimately, I don't care if he's friendly with other dogs. He is a SchH dog, not a lap dog or pet. As long as he behaves correctly to other dogs during a trial, that's fine with me. He is my only dog and a kennel dog when not training or exercising, so he has little potential to meet a dog accidentally and get in a brawl.

He gets exposure to other dogs weekly at my SchH club, but is that often enough?

Yvette

Yvette
You can easly rectify the problem once he is older, and can take hard correction. But not at this age.
Ron

Ron, I'm torn on whether it's better to get this issue settled while they're still young or to wait. I've never had to deal with this one personally, but a woman in our club had an 8 wk old that was VERY dog aggressive. She instituted rules from the word go - she snatched that pup up and let her know in no uncertain terms that this was unacceptable behavior. Sure, the pup got submissive for a minute, so what? It certainly didn't ruin her - she's an awesome dog today, and the dog aggression was dealt with convincingly from the very beginning. It is no longer a behavioral issue; it IS a temperament issue - the dog aggression is still there, underneath, but it is no longer expressed. I think if I were faced with this issue, I would handle it the same way.