dog to dog aggression! please help?!

i have a 12 month old german shepherd and as much as it pains me to say i think i am at the end of my tether and need some help! he is very dog aggressive he snarls, lunges with his 5 stone body weight and doesn't care what is in the way! we brought him as an addition to our family and not a decision taken lightly. i walk him for at least four hours a day and he is on burns food as i seems to lessen his hyperness! i bought him with the dream he would slot into our family with our lurcher and come out with us every day, now i have to walk at 5 in the morning, again when kids are at school as i cant handle him with a 2 and 4 year old and 10 at night as no dogs are around, i use clicker training always fully loaded with treats, make liver cake which he loves and us a long line, he does agility(1 to 1 as we have to be on our own ) i have to use a halti as only way of managing. his obedience is 100% with no dogs around but it goes out the window as soon as he sees another dog?? he has actually come home and been sick due to so many dogs on the field just really really stressed! i have had him at the vets due to the sickness and he is perfectly healthy so no medical issues i just wondered if anbody could give me any suggestions or tell me if this will always be the case? will it get better if i just keep going the way i am? i'm just sort of loosing hope and i love him to pieces he is the most wonderful beautiful dog until he sees another dog?? any advice would be really appreciated
thankyou xxx

Hi there.

I don't think he's beyond help at all, but I do think that you are going to need some professional assistance to help you understand why he is like this and how you can help him improve.

There could be a number of reasons for his aggression ranging from him being scared to him trying to guard you. It will therefore be very risky for anyone to make suggestions/give advice on the web.

Try looking up an APDT dog behaviourist in your area, hopefully they will be able to work with you and him.

thank you, i have been to 3 dog classes, one tried a spray collar which made sam scared so i stopped going! i have had an ex police dog handler out and he suggested keep going with the clicker training which i have. . . . non stop! and he sees a behaviourist at a "school for dogs" every week, they use fantastic methods we have been getting sam really excited and channeling the excitement onto a toy this seems to work and he really loves playing, also as soon as sam looks back at me i treat him even if he has barked it is just taking so long! it's been 9 months since it started and i cant see the end! we took the family out for the day today and i was the one on the outskirts of the field just in case sam saw another dog!! thank you i will keep going xx

Hi there - if it helps, your dog is at his most `orrible age. Most rescue GSDs are surrendered around that age - which co-incidentally why all mine have been around a year when I got them.
It gets better. It takes a lot of hard work, and patience but it does get better. Make a diary - good as well as bad - and on bad days re-read the improvements.
A couple of books that helped me: Understanding and Handling Dog Aggression` by Barbara Sykes
and The Dog Aggression Workbook by James O`Heare. Both available on Amazon.
Beware of anyone offering a quick fix BTW! This time next year you will have a dog to be proud of I`m sure. My Daisy is now 3 and she is a sweetie. She still has her moments but at the age of 1 she was a walking disaster. So good luck and let us know how it goes.

thank you so much i just needed some one to tell me it would all be worth it, i see him outside at his worst and he comes in and the kids fall asleep on him he's like an angel! ha ha i'm sure you'll be hearing from us soon thank you xx

how long have you had him?

where did you get him?

if he wasnt like this before, do you know what might have triggered the change?

Bless him,i hope it all works out for you x he sounds lovely.

No advice about the aggression, but walking him four hours a day won't be helping his cause. All you are doing is increasing his fitness and endurance which will likely increase his frustration.

I was just going to ask what Krusewalker has asked - mainly regarding when this behaviour first occurred? Has he always been dog-aggressive since the day you got him or did this just come out of nowhere?

Also, has he ever attacked/nearly got at another dog? (I'm assuming you won't always have been so lucky to not get into close contact with another dog?)

hia i have had him from 16 weeks and i honestly cant say when it first began or became a problem ! it may have been when we lost our lurcher and he became the only dog??? he has been in a controlled environment on his 1 to 1 sessions and the teachers dog barked back and he backed off straight away it was alot more relaxed as i knew what to expect from the other dog but in day to day situations i cant judge it and get so embarrased if another dog owner tells me off, i go past some dogs now and the owners pick their dogs up when they see him. i got a GSD because of the active lifestyle we have and he loves being part of our routine but do you think i walk him too much? any suggestions would be helpfull thank you