Please help... my 70lb GSD cowars b-4 12lb rat dog - Page 1

Yesterday, I took my 7 month old 70 lb. GSD for a walk. I ended up seeing my neighbor and we began speaking. My Shepherd was well behaved on lead as usually, but was completely intimidated, almost to the point of fright, of my neighbor obnoxious 12lb rat dog! This W.G. working line GSD is supposed to become the guardian of our home and family... do i have a major problem here; what is my course of action here? BTW - he does show tremendous prey drive, however.

Even at 70 lbs, he is still a baby! Do not humanize dogs and try to impose macho values to them.He will grow up, mature and show aggression when needed.Unnecessary and stupid aggression is a human trait. Just pat him, stay with him and tell him "it's okay" and you are there for him until he grows up and can "say" that to you in action. good luck.

He's a baby. A totally huge baby, but still a baby. Do Not put him in situations where another dog can bully or intimidate him now. Don't expect him to act grown up until he is, and that is many months away. For now, you are the protector.

I agree with everyone that he is a bagy mentally, even though he is large physically. I would also be careful how you respond when he is afraid. I believe you should show him that there is nothing to fear. Do not baby him by encouraging this behavior with verbal praise or coddling. When ever I go to a new place with my dog I make sure I have treats or a favorite toy to distract him. Kyle

I agree that you should ignore the other dog and ignore your dogs reaction. He is a child and will learn how to handle things in his/her own time. I also agree that you should avoid situations whereupon your pup may be itimidated by other dogs. When your dog is mature (about two or so), he still may have some small dog try to bully him and it may end in a stand off (because canines don't really recognize size), but your dogs reaction to other dogs is not the same as his reaction to strange people. Totally different ball game. That's why we have GSD's and not Pit Bulls for working dogs. A Pit Bull would put that Rat Terrier in it's place but the Pit would not be a great working dog (on average). Although I would not count out a Pit being a great family protector. The important things for you to understand is (1) Dogs don't really understand size. It's all about attitude. Number (2) is that you dog is a child. If your son was 7 and he was bullied by a 14 year old boy, you would naturally want him to stand up for himself, but in reality, it just ain't that way. That is the situation we have here. Your dog will be fine if you don't let him/her get bullied as a pup. Do like his natural mother would have done and avoid him/her being put into situations like that.

My now 11.5 year old American lnes dog was scared of many things as a pup (although not other dogs). What worked best for him was keeping him on leash in situations when he was spooked and working him through his obedience commands - eventually he became conditioned to paying attention more to my commands and less to whatever was bugging him.

sure would like to know what those wgr working lines are....

Sugarbear, wouldn't your real problem be if he had bitten the rat dog in half? Sounds like he's a smart puppy carefully evaluating the situation and probably realizes the rat dog behavior is abnormal and neurotic. What would your reaction be if a child sized adult came at you yelling with fists flying...it's about the human equivalent of the rat dog situation. You would want to avoid that at all costs. This sounds like a normal baby to me. Give him space to think about what is happening. Do not pet him telling him it's OK (it's not OK and coddling him makes him think he should be worried = makes the situation worse). Give him a treat, refocus him on you...and off in the other direction to encounter something much better. When one dwells on negative the dog does as well. Bloodlines are irrelevant here. This is a normal, smart dog. When you were a child, standing up to a small adult acting poorly would not have been smart.

All of your responsees have helped immensely. I did not over re-act to the situation, just commanded him to sit by me - he was fine. I am just fairly new to all this and wanted to make sure that there wasn't something I needed to address in his training. I'm confident (after hearing from all of you), that his response was a normal one for his age.

Jade - here he is - pic taken 2 weeks ago.