GSD bit 2lb Chihuahua - advice please - Page 1

 I need advice on what I need to do with my 2.5 yr old female GSD who bit my neighbor's 2 lb Chihuahua.  My GSD is very well socialized, we go to the dog park 2-3 times a week and she does fine with all sizes of dogs there, we go to the pet store and she does fine with all the dogs there, she stays with my brother who has a 15 lb daschund and she's fine with him.  We live in a neighborhood and neither us nor our neighbors have a fenced in yard but we are at the end of the neighborhood with a fence seperating the neighborhood from the farmer behind us.  I let her off leash, with me outside watching, to use the bathroom and she usually runs the fenceline with the farmer's 2 dogs back and forth playing, never had an incident with them.  Now our neighbors have 2 chihuahua's that she chases but has never bit them, however the owners do not like the 3 dogs to interact so when I let her out off leash I always look to see if the chihuahuas are out before letting her out.  They are obviously small so I sometimes don't always see them and this time I did not see them.  I let her out and she ran the fence line waiting for the farmer's dogs to come out to play and then I heard the chihuahua's bark.  My dog beelined for them and I yelled to stop (which she usually does and runs for me) but she didn't stop and then I heard a yelp and lots of yapping.  When I got there she had already backed off and was laying down (that's what we make her do when there's a scuffel at the dog park till all the dogs are calmed down), the small dog was laying there and the owners had come out of the house and picked her up.  She was bleeding a little bit from one of her canines, not mauled by any means, but still my dog punctured the skin.  I was astounded my dog would do that and terrified for the little dog.

We of course paid for the vet visit to get her checked out and the vet ran xray's and blood tests and said everything looked fine even though it was a GSD bite (which worried him and thus the reason for the xray's).  She didn't need stiches, just got some pain meds and antibiotics.

My question is, what do I need to do with my dog?  Do I need more training with her?  Will that help even though she doesn't show any aggression toward other dogs other than the neighbor's?  I know I should have had her on a leash but she doesn't run away, she just runs the fenceline (4 house lengths) with the farmer's dogs and when they're tired she comes back to our yard to do her business then we go inside.  She does have a prey drive with a ball but I've never seen her chase a dog, rabbit - yes, but not a dog.

How can I help her with this new found aggression?  We have done basic obedience with her, she passed her CGC test and she and I are a certified therapy dog team so it's not as if we don't work with her and socialize her.

If this was "real aggression" that dog would have been dead........  I won't offer advice as I have to get going out of town in just a bit, but others will offer advice.....though you may not like what they have to say...

You've allowed her to chase these dogs for two years and basically treat them like prey.  You're lucky she hasn't bitten them before this and extremely lucky she didn't kill the dog.  She shouldn't be allowed to behave like this at all.  When a dog gets this geared up, it's not unusual for it to suddenly go deaf.  Avoiding that requires way more work than just basic obedience as the SCH people here can tell you.  At this point, I suggest calling in an in home trainer and teaching her NOT to chase them at all.  Until then, on leash at all times unless behind your fence.  If she starts fence running, back on the leash.  I will not give more advice than that over the internet.  Without seeing everything, it's easy for internet advice to make the problem worse.

I do agree with GSDguy though.  If she'd meant to kill the dog, she would have.  This is a game to her but it's not a safe game and sooner or later she may be so worked up it's not just a little nip.  And even little nips in the wrong spot can be fatal.

Sadly, 'cos its such a good exercise number (!), allowing fence-running winds dogs up.  So ya didn't oughta let em do it, in all conscience.  There could always be an occasion when in heightened state your dog and one of the 'farm dogs' could get at each other, and maybe that would not be too pretty either.
With the Chi,  all I can add is that in my opinion GSDguy08 is right, it does not sound like out and out aggression.  In fact if it was just a gum/tooth that bled, how do you know your dog actually bit it ?  Could have knocked the tooth trying to get a
mouthful of your dog.
Do you automatically 'like' everyone you meet ?  Or are there some people, with the best will in the world, you can't take to ?  A dog has the right not to like some other dogs, even when it gets on ok with others 99% of the time.  And a dog
while it can normally walk away, cannot tell a dog it doesn't like that verbally, it has to do so physically.  Trick is not to have your dog so far from you / out of your sight, so that you cannot immediately interfere & correct. Does not mean your dog has a generalised "aggression problem".  Down to you to exert a bit more control of situations, though, I feel.  : (

Linda.

 If she'd meant to kill the dog, she would have. 

So said my friend when her shepherd female attacked her mini-pin. Each attack got progressively worse,  until finally, the last one was fatal.

Small, yappy dogs tend to bring out the prey drive in large dogs like the GSD. DO NOT take any chances!

  Eac   

Small yapping dog looks like a rabbit to a large breed dog.

The real problem to me is that you don't have fencing. I do know that many of these new estates do not allow fencing. Do you live in one of those areas?

Fence, Fence, Fence...

And do not allow your dog to play along the fence.
When my GSD runs the fence he is strickly on patrol and anything he comes across that not a pack member is gonna be in trouble.
Patrol is okay but he's not allowed to fence fight or even play with other dogs on the other side.

My neighbor in the next block allowed her GSD to play along the fence, now she regularly jumps the fence to run with the 3 dogs next door...

Keep the dogs separated.
I hate dog parks.. won't go there.  Fence running with other dogs is not a good idea. 

I have two dogs.  Never let them go up to any other dogs.  Not worth the risk to mine or to theirs. 

gsds and small dogs shouldnt mix i know people do it but i would never let my dog play or mix with a small dog ever