Your GSD's temperament around other dogs and people - Page 2

Thanks Bavarian Wagon. She was well socialised and a very confident puppy without being rude around other dogs so it was not a lack of socialisation as such. She just changed and became more dominant or more of a bully when she reached sexual maturity. Only select dogs though as I said.

I got all kinds of dogs over the years, no matter the lineage -

not interested in dogs
trying to dominate
hating dogs
dog friendly
....

out of my experience females more difficult ( because more complex ) than males

It´s always a combination of genetics ( temperament, character ) and environment ( single pup? maybe hand raised? bad experience with litter mates / other dogs? no socialisation? handler faults? and on and on )

The better the obedience, the less problems

My dog will try to mount bitches even if they're nowhere near being in heat. He's even mounted males, mostly neutered ones. They snap at him, but he keeps trying.

He's pretty okay with strange dogs and people so long as they're not in his "territory." He's fine at dog parks and while out and about, but anyone that comes over unannounced will get harassed by him until they leave (barking and body shoving, no biting). He's also growled at somebody that got all up in his face and bent over him to pet him because they invaded his space, but he was okay to approach and sniff them after they backed off. Kids can pretty much do whatever they want to him without him caring. He loves kids.

My pretty looking female tolerates no one ( not even children ) outside our immediate family; she also does not get along with other dogs.

What Susie said.

Works as a definition for me; I've had or worked around multiple GSDs since the 1960s and have seen probably the full spectrum of such behaviours among them.

But actually, I have seen that range of behaviours in the wider pool of other dogs, all breeds & none, at various age stages. It IS typical enough of GSDs - but it is also typical of canines generally. Lots of influence from the way their humans train and handle them.

I think its too late to edit that last post; I ought to have said "typical of SOME German Shepherd Dogs". Think its worth qualifying; cos although both ends of the spectrum are implied, some might read that as my saying that its typical of ALL GSDs, which is not what I meant.

My dog was very open with people and dogs when young, as you can see in this vid of him.   This was his first time on ice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9NN77PI3Sc

 

He started to change around 9 months old, that was the first time he ever barked at a person.    As an adult, he is not fond of other dogs nor does he want strangers to pet him but he is OK if they ignore him.     I am working on making him neutral to other dogs and people for the BH/IPO title.

Just put this up to say that your dog is not different than many and if you manage her carefully, knowing what she is like, you shouldn't have problems.

 

 

Yes neutrality is the end goal. Most of my GSD's have been dog/people neutral. I think this one is people neutral but she's definitely sharper with other dogs. She has tried it on with one of my older dogs but I've corrected her for it. I think she's quite a hard bitch as she does take a correction well. I have heard some of her lines can be quite hard and sharp, she's sired by Jucan von Peroh.

I have super social dogs. They are used to having other dogs around, they've been in our daycare, live with foster and boarding dogs. However, right around 24 months of age one of my dogs started doing the exact same thing. He began taking advantage of weaker dogs and pinned them. Didn't leave punctures but he pinned them. it happened 3 times all together over a period of a month.

There are numerous reasons for that:

Age and what his place within the shop truly was. 

He never did this at my house because he knows exactly what his role is in the house. However, he didn't know his role at the shop. I gave him a lot of freedom. He always jumped the divider, greeted people and I let him and simply placed him on one of the beds. With that much freedom and conflicting signals from me, he was unsure of his role and on top of that his own maturity kicked further in. So he tried to take advantage of weaker dogs in order to establish his own roll.
Once I took that freedom away and gave him clear signals, all of this stopped.

Overall he has a very high tolerance for other dogs. However, there is a certain type of dog that he doesn't like. It's dogs that are super obnoxious and overbearing. And even for those he's got somewhat of a tolerance but if they are unable to read the signals, they may get corrected. And that's okay. it's absolutely appropriate behavior. 
 

Yes, there does seem to be something about SOME other dogs that can almost 'trigger' this behaviour where other dogs don't. 2 examples: Taz was always one to watch with certain other males. Lovely (if a little over enthusiastic) with all bitches, he was picky about which male dogs he didn't much like being around. There were a few (some, but not all, neuters) who he was fine with; but a good many other males, especially but not exclusively smaller breeds, he would do something like BE describes: he didn't savage 'em, but he did roll 'em up with his front paws and try to play football with them, if I didn't stop him first !

Because it was difficult to tell which dogs he'd react to in this way, giving him the clear signals turned out to be a bit 'hit & miss'.

Second: my current bitch Sheila is also inconsistent. I was handed her with the caveat she "doesn't like other girl dogs much" (which I took to mean she was going to be a cow with all other bitches !) - and she often
is. But she has made exceptionally good friends with the little 'Shihdchon'
(designer cross, half Shih Tzu half Bichon) female next door on my left (which, as it happens, was a great move politically on her part !) but still hates the two small spaniel types at my right-hand neighbour's house.
Not sure whether I'll really get it sorted, given time - she is 12 and going deaf, not to mention her soft and soppy temperament with humes; she also hates cats, so possibly NO chance !