Newbie!!! Advice for a vocal Shepherd?

Hello everyone, I'm new here so please be nice.

I'm actually after a bit of advice, if you wouldn't mind.
I have an 18 month old German Shepherd, Zara. She is an absolute angel and I love her to bits.
BUT, she has very bad manners when it comes to other dogs, she barks at them a lot when we are out walking. Not so much when we she is on lead and just walking past, but when she is off lead, she will run up to say hello, but then will start to continuously bark in the other dog's face.
She has two barks, one is her 'big girl' bark that she will do when someone knocks on the door/when she hears a strange noise - basically her protective bark. But then she has this high pitched 'woop woop' bark that she does when greeting other dogs. It's strange and I don't know what it means. She has NEVER hurt another dog and I genuinely don't believe that is her intention either, but most dogs cower away from this when she does it and owners don't appreciate it either, which makes me feel awful.
If another dog wants to play with her then great, she is always well up for a game and will play for hours if I let her, but if the other dog doesn't want to play, then, as I said, she will just bark right in their face, her hackles are also raised and don't go down until she is comfortable.
It's not fair on the other dogs/owners and I don't like her doing it.
I believe she is a very dominant dog, she is very strong- willed and independent minded, although she well and truly respects me as the 'leader.' She has also been spayed.

Another thing I have noticed is, when little dogs approach, to say hello, she kind of 'rolls them up' on the floor. I can't figure out is this is because she is so big and doesn't mean to, or whether she is doing it on purpose.

Ideally, we would love to add another dog to our family next year, but at the moment we couldn't, not because she barks at other dogs, but because we worry about her teaching this behaviour to a little pup. She does love other dogs and animals, it's just this barking that has baffled me a bit.

Any help?

Many thanks.

P.S We have had Zara since she was roughly eight weeks old.

You just need to train her, preferably in a class,

Firslty, you need to teach her a look at you command.

Secondly, you need to teach her to walk nicely and loosely on the lead.

Thirdly, a recall. Try using a whislte.

Fourthly, you shouldn't just let her charge up to dogs in an ill-mannered annoying fashion.

Having taught a) and b) walk her up to dogs nicely, rewarding all looks at you.

When you let her off, tell her "nicely".
Praise any nice interactions verbally and with treats where appropriate.

Once she is playing with the other dogs, call her back every minute.
This has 3 advantages:
It stops her getting OTT and too full of adrenaline
It reverses the learned behaviour.
It means she will have a focus on you as a handler, equal to other dogs.

If the other dog is done, then you should recall her as well, and if that doenst work, go and get her and put her back on the lead.

Thank you so much, that was very helpfull.
I'm just a bit confused, I know that she barks, but why is she doing it, I wonder? What has triggered this behaviour?

Hehe, sorry to laugh, but it sounds identical to what Jess is like!

It is just a Shep thing I think as I know a fair few that do it.

I have found getting Jess round as many dogs as possible on group walks a good thing as she learns that they're not THAT excitable and extra-ordinary.

If you go to BIGGSD website, they hold socialising walks near you (well all over the country) and she can learn with these walks that dogs aren't to make a big cahoo over. The owners that go on their walks know this behaviour is just pure excitement.

Meant to ask in the last post. Where abouts in Cheshire are you? I have a few friends who are Warrington way who I'm sure would be willing to walk with you and your girl to help calm her down.

as jesterjenn says: breed! plus the sight of other dogs

my shepherd yodels!

Hi jesterjenn, thank you so much for your reply.
It's a relief that she isn't the only dog with this problem.

I'm on the Wirral, so about an hour from Warrington. I would love to take your friends up on any offers if they're ever in the area, could you let me know if they ever are? I will have a look at the website you recommended to see if there is any groups on the wirral.

Krusewalker- How funny that yours does the same thing, honestly it's such a relief to know Zara isn't the only one!

I think the look of disgust on the other owner's face is the thing that has knocked my confidence a bit.Although you should see the look on Zara's face when she wonders over to say hello and all of a sudden the other dog is getting scooped up and swiftly removed, she is so disappointed, bless her.

I suppose some other people's bad reactions to German Shepherds is to be expected. I'm just not used to it because I'm very in tune to all breeds of dogs. No breed scares me, a dog is a dog in my book.

Hi
Welcome to the forum, i loved the way you describe your dog and her barks! Werm has lots of different pitches of barks for different things too.
The 'big girl' bark cracks me up- she is so small and SUCH a wimp!!

It sounds like you`ve got a bossy bitch with no manners! I`d not allow her to do this - she could seriously hurt a small or old dog by flooring it, and if she did it to a less than tolerant dog you`d have a huge fight on your hands.
My GSD is uninterested in other dogs because she is focussed more on her toys. You could try playing with your dog more on walks to make yourself more interesting.
I would also get her into a training class so she learns to be calm round other dogs.

Honestly while you need to work on it that barking is a GSD thing, Hannah does it but fortunately only to other GSDs & if they don't want to play she just comes back looking disapointed, she doesn't keep barking. She does it to me too when I stop being on the phone or the computer & she thinks its time to play.