German Shepherds and Territorial Aggression - Page 1

When I was growing up my dad had a dog that I always thought was what a German Shepherd should be. Missy did not bark at strangers. She would approach, not barking or wagging, just curious. She would calmly and fearlessly approach and check the new person out. She did not feel the need to threaten, nor did she want affection from a stranger. She was totally indifferent to people unless they were obviously up to no good. I thought this was what you would call "aloof". The dog was not worried or phased by strangers or strange things. She would watch but she would think first and make judgements later.

Is this correct in a German Shepherd? This is how I would want my dog to act but it seems most Shepherds are very aggressive about their property (whether their yard or the car or even their owner) with people they don't know. I would want a dog to bark once or twice to alert me (that someone is coming) and the approaching person (that there is a dog present). I would not want the dog to launch itself toward strangers walking past the fence, barking viciously. My dog does not bark at people at all, and is immediately friendly, which I think is also incorrect. I wish she would watch first and then make friends later.

What is the correct reaction for a German Shepherd when a stranger approaches the dog near it's property?

Too many variables for me to respond to this in a responsible fashion; I would not want a GSD protection canine to respond in the same fashion to visitors at a residence near 8 Mile and Livernois in Detroit as I would if I were living in suburban Boise. Please define "property" as to what kind of environment you are in, and the percieved security situation.

I live in a suburban house on a dead end street with a fenced backyard. I do frequently walk past other people's houses when I walk my dogs, where dogs are loose in the yard and as soon as the dog sees anyone, the dog will immediately charge the fence, barking aggressively and in some cases slamming the fence or biting at it. To me this seems like an overreaction. This is the type of behavior I don't want in my dog, but it seems to be pretty common. That's why I ask what a GSDs reaction should be, I'm not sure if my dog and my dad's dog are atypical and I should expect any future GSDs in my life to behave differently. Maybe this is a training issue and not a temperament issue, but I find it interesting that a family can have more than one dog, and both are trained in the same manner but one dog is aggressive and the other is not.

NO, you talk as if you have some experience dealing with "protection canine" and "security situations" such as 8 mile and Livernois in Detroit.  Are you a professional K9 trainer or a procurement officer?  You talk as if you are quite experienced with K9s.

My dogs ( now 8 of them) are located in a suburban area ( I am not in the USA) in a kennel. My property is approx 3000 m2 and fenced (1.5 meters high fence). There is a small road with pedestrians quite frequently passing by.

Wnen a person is just passing by (pretty close to the fence) dogs will be attentive, no barking, just looking. The situation changes if a person puts his/her hand on the fence. Then they will start barking and warning the person to back off. As soon as the hand is off the fence they calm down. Every time I let mout to play the first thing they will do is to check the entire length of the fence, just to make sure. Even my first neighbor talks with me over the fence without touching it. He learned the lesson . When they are outside of my property they  do not pay too much attention to other people.

I am quite satisfied with this type of behavior.