Kingdom of Pets

Posted by earthdragon23
Jul 6, 2009

I have recently adopted a GSD possible Great Dane mix from a foster mom who had him since he was 2 months old, he is now 11 months. I have only had this dog for two weeks, and in that time he has displayed some odd behaviors.

The first week we had him he was sweet and did not display any signs of aggression. We started establishing who was Alpha right away. Then out of the blue he started barking at people on his walks. At first he would stand next to me and bark a few times. I would distract him away from barking and reward with a treat. Then he started darting towards people and getting close to them and barking, I would have to pull him back. And finally he acted like he was going to bite this one walker, he was on a leash and was pulled back, but then lunged for her again. His eyes had a glazed look in them like he was somewhere else, and could not hear me. The odd thing is, he loves other dogs and has no aggression towards them, he will not chase small animals, and walks slightly behind me on the leash. This is just the first part, but I feel it can be corrected with more training.

The part that troubles me the most is that I'm not sure if there is something wrong with him. We can have friends over for hours. They pet him, give him a treat, etc. and he wags his tail puts his head down and enjoys the attention. Then out of the blue, he will just start growling, barking, and threatening to bite, completely unprovoked. He is not food aggressive, and allows anybody to take toys or treats. It makes it hard to have people over, or take him anywhere, because he is unpredictable.

One time he was laying on the floor peacefully, and our friend who had just played with him an hour before, shifted his body weight, and the dog jumped up ran to him and started barking as if he had never seen him before. Does this sound like a behavior that can be corrected, or is there something wrong with this dog. BTW, this doesn't just happen in our home, it happens when we visit others homes as well. Ideas? I do have the option of giving this dog back, the foster mom said he never showed this type of aggression in her household, she however has 4 other dogs that always picked on Jack (the dog I have now), I have no other dogs in my house. But I want to keep him if this is something that can be corrected. So I'm asking for help.

Jenn

Posted by MaxHollyNoah
Jul 7, 2009

Hi Jenn,

I am curious why the foster mom had Jack for such a long time (9mos from age of 2mos old!)? Your dog must be very confused. I don't understand you can foster a dog for 9 mos and adopt him away, especially from age of 2 to 11 mos is such a critical period for socialization and all the other trainings.

Jack must have been feeling very insecure. He is now away from his foster mom and the 4 other dogs he lived with for a long time and he is on his own for the first time in his life. In addition to that, after a week or two, adopted dogs usually start getting some kind of territorial or possessive sense. Somehow Jack might feel like he needs to protect YOU as the only dog of the household.

One of my dogs, Noah, is 99% of time very friendly to people and loves to be petted. However, he gets nervous all of sudden with one guy, a cousin of my husband, who he sees and gets petted by every now and then, and starts barking at him furiouly. When I am around, I call him and he just comes to me and settles down but the other day when my husband's mother was watching him since both my husband and I were out of town, the cousin came over and Noah reacted so badly that the cousin even said to her that he would not come to see her when Noah is around.

People thinks Noah's reaction is unprovoked but I don't think so. There is no obvious reason we humans can see, but there should be something provoking him. In fact I can feel Noah's uneasiness most of the time. This cousin is big, talks loud and plays with dogs rather roughly. Noah is a very sensible dog and he just can not take that. Especially, he didn't have me or my husband around and he just felt so insecure that time.

The only way to fix Jack's problem (assuming it is not caused by any medical reasons - you might want to consult your vet) is to build his confidence being around all kinds of people (young, old, male, female, all kinds of races, people with uniforms, etc.) or try to avoid those situations. You will see some kinds of patterns as you observe his reactions very closely. Jack seems to have had a lot of chances to socialize with other dogs but maybe not enough with people. When dogs are undersocialized they have fear towards new people, especially people who act roughly, as well as people who are lacking confidence towards dogs, interestingly enough.

I hope the foster mom can give you some advice because she is the person who knows Jack from inside out. I foster dogs myself and I always work on any issues that become apparant after they get adopted, together with the new owners. My ultimate goal is to make the dog and the owner happy and I am sure Jack's foster mom feels the same way.

Strange aggression issues