I have a open question for anyone that can help to shed some light on my situation. I have a 10 month old female German. She is acting aggressive towards people initially when walking her down the street.
For instance, I will walk her down the block and people will be on there front yard watering etc.. And I will say hello and as soon as they speak she starts barking at them aggressively, no growling; just barking. At this this time I give her a snap and tell her "bad".
My G/f's parents came to visit for the week and she is not used to anyone within the home besides us. We introduced them to her on lead outside where she did a lot of barking then calmed down, accepted them and we moved into the house where she was also fine.

Her mother is a smoker and goes outside to smoke so she is in and out, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to put her in a down stay on a lead with some distraction as her mother walks in and out to "stay" and not walk her to the door, then see her back in the house from the sliding glass door like she has been. Her mother walked back in all was good and she approached me while "Haley" my German was in a down stay (on lead) and as her mother got within 4 feet of us "Haley" broke the down stay and immediately started barking at her aggressively, no growling, no showing of teeth but kind of a "Hey! you got to close".

Here's my question, 1) How can I help to fix this aggression towards other people within my house and also outside my house when we are walking down the block.

2) Is it necessarily true that she is going to react different or be different when she is on a lead versus not. When I took her off the lead she was fine towards her mother, licking her, she was petting her, no problems. Thanks for any assistance on this matter..

take a few minutes to look at http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/19

and go to Ed's training articles.

The articles Dennis reccomended will be helpful. And I'm a far cry from an expert. But doggie phsycology 101 says: Two drives here with Mother in law approaching... Fight or flight. The leash has eliminated 50% of our options in the dogs mind so it's time to blow up a bit and make sure I send a message that I'm not to be messed with...

Again, the articles are your best bet... but that's my .02.

What are your plans for this female?

 Quote:

What are your plans for this female?

Thanks guy's for the post on the forum, I have been reading them.... Plans for this female?? I do basic training with her which she knows stone cold such as, sit, down, Down stay, stay, leave it, come ( with distractions), bring it, heal, stop, slow, and do retrieve commands with her, everyday we pretty much practice these. I am trying to increase distractions. I have not spayed her yet and she has gone through one heat. I don't have plans on doing protection training at the moment if that’s what you asking.

Bottom line is we want a obedient loving companion that can be protective but also; like I stated, obedient and listens to commands and responds and doesn’t break those commands until the release word is given.
At the same token I want to be able to walk her down the block and talk to neighbors with her wanting to rip there face off, she does calm down after about 3 minutes or so and will allow people to approach her and pet her.

We have had plenty of kids around her, playing with her, petting her, she is fine. With my G/f parents here she is fine when they are in the house, they walk out the door and come back in and she barks at them. Its like she forgets, if she goes outside on leed and her parents are also in the yard she barks at them, aggressively, hair on her back stands up, no growling, no tteeth showing, just agressive barking. when two minutes before in the house she was fine with them.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

How are you reacting when she does this? Are you correcting her at all?

As i stated above I have been saying " no" "bad" and if that doesn't work I have been grabbing her behind the scruff of the neck and giveing her a yank tell she whelps, thats last resort after her not settling down. That usually stops it for the moment.

that would not be the most effective way of doing it.
I'd start here. http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/4153057/an/0/page/0#4153057
I'd also try to get a hold of a club or SPCA that hold classes for dogs with issues. The Sch club helped me with my ppl aggressive dog by being a bunch of hotdog dispensers. My other dog is dog aggressive and we got that under control by doing obed and play. good luck

hey look! I found .02 more cents... lol.

Ok, with the added information:

Look to the folks on the board with a lot more experience than myself, but it sounds to me like your dog has thin nerves. I've got an 11 mos female GSD also and the only time she lights up at anybody is when they come near "her" truck or if they come up to "her" house. When we're out for a walk she regards strangers (on leash) with a watchful eye or a certain amount of aloofness, but no audible signs of aggression. I would think this problem of yours could potentially worsen as she matures so I'd get it fixed asap. A couple of people I train with went as far as having the neighborhood kids feeding their dogs bits of hot dog wiener when they went past on a walk. You may want to try this with your pup.

Anyway, hopefully some of the more experienced folks on here can help point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

Grant

Thanks for the reply guys, We took her through a couple of class's such as puppy class, and also basic with a trainer that helps us out, it got to be expensive and that’s around time I found this site and got some videos.

She has been socialized with people from the time she was a pup till now. But the problem is as of rite now she has not been around other people in the past 3 months too much. In the past couple of days she is getting better with the future in-laws but still barks at them when they walk in, she will come running up and barking and I will correct her. I added a link to my signature with a pic of here. Thanks again.