I have a 14 week old male GSD. He has solid nerves, and does well at SchH puppy group every week (though not as well as his working-line counterparts, but we love him anyway). His problem? BARKING! Whenever he sees a large dog, or a person (big or small) approaching the yard, he barks his fool head off. I don't think it's out of fear, either, because his hackles go up, the bark gets very deep, and he won't back down even if the "offender" approaches us (until we actually meet, in which case he calms down).

I've tried telling him he's a good boy, and it's okay, but it doesn't work. This morning he saw a 9 or 10 year old child and started to bark and lunge, and I pulled back on the lead firmly and told him no, but he ignored me. I promptly took him inside (especially b/c it was 8 AM and I was sure my neighbors were not thrilled).

Yesterday the vet tech made me take him outside the clinic to wait for our appt (which is a vent unto itself and she was already ticking me off majorly b/c they lost the results of his last fecal exam and were treating me like it was all my fault they couldn't find it). She said he was barking so loud she couldn't hear the people on the phone, so we had to sit outside...and nothing I did could calm him down!

I foresee this becoming a really big problem later on down the road. He doesn't bark indoors at any sound, he only does this when he sees strange dogs or people (though he is not bothered by small dogs for whatever reason). I think he's being protective, but I really haven't got enough experience to tell. Vet tech yesterday tried to insist he's dog aggressive, but I absolutely do NOT think so since he calms down if he "meets" the other dog and initiates play -- he just barks initially!!! And since this is a military vet clinic dealing primarily in military working dogs, I was deeply disappointed that the staff knows so very little about characteristics of working breeds (we mostly have malinois here, though, with a few GSD's and dutch shepherds, but STILL).

Thanks for any advice any of you can offer on this issue. My ears need a break!

Stacia,
At less than 4 months old, I personally wouldn't worry overly about this barking. The hackles are a sign of insecurity, which is not unusual as he's just a baby and is offering warning signs to things (dogs, people) he's not sure about.
In actuality, your reaction in talking to him and telling him he's a good boy is re-enforcing the behavior. He's thinking you're praising him for barking.

Aside from lots of socialization, what worked best for me with a pup that age was to re-direct the attention away from whatever he is barking at...with a toy or food.
And you may want to read Ed's articles on "sharpness" in a dog. (BTW, you're going to WANT him to bark later on in the Sch exercises.)

Just an out of curiousity question: What does one do with the pups in a "SchH puppy group"?

Ann,

He goes to SchH puppy group (literally called "Putzen Spiele" LOL) for an hour on Saturdays. They meet before the "big dogs" train. Mainly, they are introduced to the tug, the handlers are taught how to increase drive, the pups get to play with one another, they get to dive in the wading pool, are introduced to agility equipment, learn basic obedience, and the handlers get lots and lots of info. It's also an opportunity for the helper to evaluate the dogs for training later.

Achilles has a blast! If we tell him he's going to play group he does a little doggie dance of joy! He's been going since about 10 weeks (but didn't go at 11 weeks b/c of a German holiday), and we have seen a great improvement in his drives since then.

I was once given (most likely bad) advice that since a dog barks to warn, telling them they've done their job and the person/dog/thing is okay works to quiet them. Apparently not.

He really only barks in our yard when a dog or person is approaching -- he doesn't care if they're going the opposite direction, and he stops if they're out of eyesight. He couldn't care less if the doorbell rings, or if someone comes in the house (but that could just be b/c he's still crated a good deal of the time). He also barks at any and all rottweilers -- this one confuses me. No clue why rotts require barking, but as far as he's concerned, they do. Not pleasant since our upstairs neighbor has 2 of them (6 month olds). Funny thing is he regularly plays with them, but yet barks if he merely smells them in our hallway. Go figure.

Thanks so much for your reply!

A Sch puppy class...cool! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Since most of the "classes" put on in the US are AKC based, the word Schutzhund rarely if ever comes up! AKC has sanctioned any "bite work", specifically mentioning Schutshund, since 1990. So puppy classes are geared to pet owners: agility stuff, recalls, some obed clicker work. But the one class I attended with my first dog actually discouraged tugging because "it makes the dog aggressive..." <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Sounds like you can set a good foundation in your classes: socialization and basic tug play. Wish I had access to that here. I have a pup now that is pretty dog aggressive and having spent the first 5 months in a kennel, she desparately needed to be socialized. Such a class would help a lot.

Wow, I didn't know that! We're military stationed in Germany, so have the best of everything as far as the Deutsche Schaeferhund is concerned. We happened to know the local ear tat guy who turned us on to awesome litters with qualities we wanted, he recommended our SchH helper, and he gives us tips and advice when things come up (except he's on holiday at the moment wouldn't you know?).

We originally had the dog with a private SV obedience trainer and the SchH group, but both were Saturdays and it was too much for him. By the time SchH class came around he had little interest for the exercises b/c he was just plain tired out. The obedience trainer has another job, so he couldn't work with us privately, either <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. So we reluctantly switched to only puppy group.

Hubby and I also go to watch the older dogs later in the day sometimes, too, to get a feel for what we'll be doing later. It's awesome to watch the Germans with their dogs!!! Our helper is a polizei k-9 handler and really knows his stuff -- his dog is just brilliant!

NO TUG??? It makes them aggressive? Whatever! It tires Achilles out and makes him happy LOL! Except last night he missed the ball-on-a-string and got hubby's shirt...ripped a nice big hole. I was laughing so hard, but hubby just stood there with his jaw dropped. Puppy wagged his tail and cocked his head like, "HEY, why'd we stop????" Just a good reminder as to why one should keep limbs away from GSD's lol.

We're also taking a trip to the Seiger show this year. It's being held in Ulm, which is just about 1 1/2 hours from where we live. Our Achilles is show-line through and through (though he has a good number of SchH 2 and 3 titled bitches in his immeidate pedigree, and his mother's father just earned his SchH 3 with a 96 in protection). I'm really excited to get to go watch these dogs in action! We're even going to get the chance to meet his sire, Marko della Valcuvia, which will be nice since all we've ever seen of him is a picture!

Gotta love living in Germany!