I have a 7 month old German Shepherd spayed female who is agressive and fearful of other dogs at the dog park. When my puppy was 4 months old, I took her to Basic Obedience Classes at a pet store. My trainer was only 21 years old and the classes were in a very small ring in the store. My puppy showed signs of fear aggression and I pulled her out of the class. Upon the recommendation of my neighbor, I took my puppy to a local dog club which is run by volunteers who have many years of dog handling and training experience. I worked one on one with a trainer who has 4 GSDs of her own for two sessions and she taught me how to be the Alpha Dog and to teach my dog to trust me. Since then, we have sucessfully completed our 7 week Basic Class and we just started our Advanced Basic. My puppy is doing well in this controlled environment. My problem is that I am still trying to take her to the dog park a couple of times of week and there she continues to show signs of fear aggression and aggression. At the dog park, her hair raises up on her back and she whines when other dogs come around her. She will never stray too far away from me. If she feels threatened by a dog, she will lunge out to bite them or sometimes she finds another dog that she will stalk and then chase it and sometimes bites the dog. I feel that everyone at the park is becoming weary of my dog and rightly so! My neighbor recommends that I continue to take her back to the park but keep her on her leash and prong collar so that I can correct her if she shows any sign of aggression. Someone else recommended that I continue to take her to the park but that I should muzzle her so she cannot bite another dog. I have two smaller dogs at home and she gets along with them. I guess my problem is that I did not socialize my puppy early enough with bigger dogs. She does pretty well with one on one encounters with some of my neighbors' dogs. I guess she is overwhelmed by the amount of dogs at the dog park. It sometimes seems that she is trying to be protective of me too. Does anyone have any suggestions and recommendations on how I should go about trying to socialize my dog?
Hi there Claudia, thanks for your post. I apologize for the very late reply, I am a new staff member and I am endeavoring to catch up with unanswered posts so that no one is left stranded.
I was wondering if you could please give me an update on your dog and her inter-dog aggression problems. Is there still a problem? If so has she made any progress? We apologize again for the delay. If you have any concerns at all with your dogs current behavior please don't hesitate to ask, I will ensure your question is replied to promptly.
