Help.. Puppy barks at every dog

Hi,

I have an 8 month old German Shepherd Bitch who barks at every single dog she sees apart from the few she goes to puppy class with.

If I'm in the vets for example she will bark and neck hackles raise but once she has gone up to the dog she just has a good sniff and either backs away or plays with them.

I have tried to get her attention with treat but sometimes she sees the dog before me and its kind of too late, even if dog is on the other side of the road.

She is very calm, loving in the home and with children/guests its just outside and other dogs???

The only other thing she does is constantly pull on the lead when my 2 sons (9 & 6yrs) are in front running/playing/hiding. She cries and pulls. I have a figure of 8 slip lead which works but i feel she is hurting herself by continuingly pulling and trying to get strap off her nose.

Apologies for the long thread but any advice would be much appreciated.

This thread my help:

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=142499

Thanks for this. I noticed this thread earlier and i do think it is out of excitement as her tail is still wagging etc.

What i would like to know is how to stop her sounding agressive and stop the other owners thinking this also.

It sounds like the initial barking is due to anxiety/apprehension & possibly due to conflict behaviour, i.e. she wants to meet the other dogs but is a bit scared to. You need to see if you can find other calm, relaxed friendly dogs for her to meet. Let her do the initial barking (most older dogs recognise what this is this & ignore it), then allow her to meet them & play & interact. Do you have any friends, neighbours, relatives with calm older dogs that you can use?

The difficulty in stopping this behaviour somewhere like the vets is that the proximity of the other dogs in an enclosed space (so no opportunity for her to avoid or run away) means that she thinks she has no choice but to bark & try to tell the other dogs to keep away. Any attempt at training her in this sort of scenario is doomed to fail as the presence of the other dog will very likely completely overshadow the tastiest of treats. Better if you can do lots of training to get her attention without outside distractions first, then try it with distractions/other dogs at a distance, then closer etc, but always at a distance that she doesn't react.

As for the pulling on the lead ~ don't use a slip lead on such a young dog that pulls. It could cause a lot of damage to throat/neck etc, especially as she's still so young. Better to get a well-fitted & padded harness that spreads the pressure over the chest area.

Would it be possible to walk her without your sons being in front of her? Either walk her without them, or get them to walk beside or behind you. I know this will be difficult if your sons are typical young lads that enjoy running & larking about, but frankly, you are setting yourself & your dog up to fail if you expect her not to pull in this situation. Loose lead walking takes time & patience & it would be well worth putting in the time & effort now whilst she's young, rather than waiting till she's a strong adult dog capable of causing neck & shoulder damage to both you & her if she continues to pull. I don't know what techniques you've been taught in training classes, but try putting them into practice just walking her around your house & garden to start with.

Firstly, she's a young dog so still learning manners and self-restraint, so try not to be too tough on her/yourself, you'll get there.
It sounds like it could be a bit of lead/barrier frustration - she wants to get to the other dogs (presumably to play) but she's restrained so expresses her frustration by barking. Sometimes reactivity can be caused by fear instead though - yes, even a big dog like a GSD can be scared! Has she had any bad experiences with other dogs?
Ideally you want to teach her to be calmer around other dogs. Classes will probably help but you may find it useful to apply in the real world by meeting up with some dog walkers willing to help. Parallel walking, for example, can help calm a dog down - if you do it in a park or field, you can keep as much distance from the other dog as necessary to keep your dog calm, and over time you can slowly reduce the distance. If she gets too close and goes over her threshold then she will be too excited/over stimulated, hence her ignoring treats. The idea is to stop before that limit and give her lots of praise for remaining calm.

The behaviour with your sons can be quite a typical GSD trait - they're a loyal breed and want to protect their family. If your sons are up ahead then she may be unhappy that they're not near enough to protect. My GSD, Casper, often looks back on walks when he's out infront to make sure everyone's still present and correct - if someone's lagging behind then he will stop and whine until they catch up! Ideally you don't want to keep reinforcing this behaviour, is there any way you can get your sons to walk nearer to you? You can then reward her for calm walking.
Just a note with the headcollar/lead - did you introduce it slowly? Ideally you want to introduce anything like this is slow, gradual steps so she learns that it's not something alien to try to get off. There are videos online on how to introduce a headcollar slowly I think - try Youtube. If you want to use a headcollar to gain that extra bit of control over a big dog, I would personally recommend the Dogmatic headcollars instead, I use them for my dogs and they seem a lot more comfortable.

With a big dog, it's important to deal with behaviour like this before it escalates as she obviously will become even stronger when fully grown. If you're struggling on your own then maybe look into a trainer doing some 1-2-1 sessions with you? Some trainers also do socialisation classes and walks which may be helpful. Try the APDT website for local recommendations - www.apdt.co.uk

Thank you. I will get the boys to walk behind me but is this not teaching her that she is above them in the 'pack' and she gets to be in front of them.

In regards to the harness, i have a front clip trixie harness which seems to work but it chaffs under her front left leg (as when she pulls it pulls her towards me). Could i make a padding adjustment??

Forgot all this "pack" nonsense - dogs know you're not a dog so "pack rules" don't apply IMO. You will cause far more issues longterm letting her pull ahead than you will by letting her walk infront of your children. Do what's necessary to train good lead manners and in time you will find she will be to walk in front, behind, to the side or whereever is most convenient for you, but currently she is young and still learning those manners, and you don't want the pulling to become an ingrained habit.

krlyr..

Thank you. The lead was introduced slowly yes, around house first and on short walks. If she has this lead on with me she is perfect, i can pretty much hold it with one finger. It is when the boys are in front or she sees another dog when she pulls on it.

I do totally understand the loyalty thing and she does look back so i think i will try and get the boys to be closer to me. I wasnt sure whether this was righht as i dint want her to think that as she is in front, she is above them in the 'pack'.

I take her to puppy class weekly but i do think t may be worth an individual trainer to take a look.. at least one session to see what is said.

Many thanks

This may not be the case but if your current trainer supports the whole pack theory, "dominate your dog" frame of mind then I would recommend changing. This is an outdated view and sadly seems quite common still with large breeds like GSDs. I feel that the large thing a sensitive breed like the GSD needs is "dominating" - they are smart dogs that do very well with positive reinforcement. I would certainly recommend checking out the APDT website as all members sign a pledge to not use the harsh outdated methods of training, such as choke chains, "alpha rolling", etc. but instead use positive reinforcement and other positive based methods

TBH she sounds like a typical under trained GSD youngster. GSDs are a very very vocal breed, they greet their friends with noise & play with noise(had 11 GSDs here at one time & when they were playing it could be heard all over the village)

How much training each day do you do ? Young dogs need 4 or five short(no more than 5 minutes)walking by you off lead training everyday.