I have an extremely sociable entire male GSD however he is rather imposing and as someone says he has a "**** off" look!

No dogs take him on.

Lol! So do I with old Georgie, NObody, but NObody would take him on! He's even had the audacity (in his old age) to wander over to aggressive dogs, before I get a chance to grab him back (that's why he's always got his lead over his back coz he's pretty deaf now), and yet nothing has ever gone for him, ever! Even though he's 100% friendly and sociable, I have seen him flip a black lab over in a split second, pin it to the ground with his teeth barred, then get off it and walk away (because it tried to mount him in a friendly way coz it was his best friend at the time lol!).

I've had 8 of these dogs over my lifetime, and none of them have attracted the unwanted attention like my current youngster, it's almost as if she's got come and attack me on her forehead, it's most odd, it really is. Some dogs are lungeing at the end of their lead to have a pop at her sometimes, and that's never happened before with any of my previous dogs, I just find it strange!

Helena; Seems I'm now having this problem too.
If the dog is friendly and respectful, submissive, quiet etc he is fine, if not then he will 'tell them off' however after several bad experiences (which should have been totally avoidable ) we were getting the hissy fits and the noise when he was onlead....however the other day a friendly lab came up and approached BUT it went to go to his back end with the tail and the head right up and he just grabbed it - no sound UNTIL he had a hold of it and pummeled it to the ground (with great sound effect), I pulled him off and he had not actually bitten/broken skin and luckily the guy was really understanding and said not to worry etc but it does make me a little more wary. Seems he just wanted to pin him down for daring to be so bold as he is fine with other dogs, however I'm now noticing he has certain dogs he dislikes and dosnt change his mind about, whether they have done anything or not, but they do all look like 'bolder' dogs meanwhile he likes any other dog......strange.

The other day a big male rott was on lead and looking..the guy explained that he only wanted to play but I had put him on the lead as the moment he noticed him (still off lead) the head was down, hackles up, ears sitting different, staring and I just had a feeling that it wouldnt go well!! as he went past he started giving it loudy, the two of them lunging and I did wonder if I should have left him off lead and he would go by better but I just would not be happy to take that risk as the really was staring...but as I say, I wouldnt class him as DA as he does not act like this with all dogs..

Shame, he has gone from being so confident to this..
Edit - sometimes you wonder whether its too little or too much confidence

Oh that's awful isn't it when you have to "pull them off"! I did a lot of that when Zena was a puppy, when those terriers had come up and launched themselves at her, once at her mouth coz she had her ball in her gob! She gets them in a scrabbling ball underneath her, not a mark on them, and I've had to pull her off them by the scruff of her neck with them still attached sometimes to her throat!! Then I was thinking, I haven't got a spare hand to pull the other dog off, but thankfully, a friend was at hand then to get it off her! It's a thin line I suppose between the telling off with that comfort distance between the two dogs, and the actual contact. In the past, when Zena's had a go back, I will never forget the look of those teeth as she's yelling at the other dog to back off, and the other dog is doing the same, BUT, all the time there was that gap between them, but scarey enough at the time, and of course, she was only about a year old then. She's now learned that if they land on her, she's got to protect herself I suppose, and I must admit I felt really awful when I had to pull her off some of them because she was only doing what any dog would have done, it's instinct for them to protect themselves.

Louis sounds soooooo similar to Zena in the way he dislikes some dogs, and although when you see Zena playing around with a small or even tiny dog, you would think she is the sweetest dog in town, but sadly, that's not the case with SOME dogs, so it's only right that I treat her as if she is aggressive and carry on doing what I'm doing now. After having read some of these posts, I'm really getting the feeling that she is learning that sitting beside me keeps her safe, the dogs she doesn't like go away, which in turn, can only make her more confident that she is not an easy prey for some of them, and the more I can build on that, she will get to learn that not every dog she meets is going to attack her, so if her problem IS fear based, it should cure it, she's young enough still.

It's not ME who's sending the wrong vibes down a lead, because her long lead (horse rope) is always loose, and I know all about sending bad vibes down the reigns of a horse from my horsey days, and I have a confident stance, because I'm that way inclined (don't mess with H lol!) and also because Zena herself is totally relaxed and chilled out about ANY dog going past her now that she is safe sitting next to me, and I hope that never changes, I will be there for her if needs be, whereas before, I never was she was out there, offlead, on her own, so there's no way I'm ever going back to that scenario no matter what any behaviourist tells me, I couldn't bear to see another "fight".

Lily is very selective. Like tonight, we saw a Maltese closely followed by a Bichon (her nemesis!) and she was on lead as we walked past. The Maltese came to say hello and I let Lily sniff noses but I wasn't happy with her body language so with a cheerful 'come on!' we walked off and no harm was done. The Bichon didn't come to her and she was completely ignoring it anyway. But, had she been offlead. I would put money on her going for at least one of them.

However, anything bigger than her? Not a problem. No matter what the dogs temperament, submissive, dominant, indifferent. She is as good as gold with them. If anything she is submissive in her own behaviour.

Gerri (Tillytheterrier) thinks Lily is the insecure one and so she gets anxious with submissive dogs and then the attacks happen. She was attacked herself by several terrier females when she was young and I think this has a lot to do with her behaviour now. That and a load of hormones screwing her up too! (Spay day on Thursday so that will help her in the long run I'm sure)

Oh if only they could talk! I certainly can vouch for Zena being a gentle giant too. Her and Lily are so sweet the way they trot along together. Ok, they don't play but there is clearly a companionship there that they both enjoy. I'm looking forward to her meeting Alfie. He is super respectful to females. Guess that comes with living with Lily!