Attitude, aggession or what? - Page 1

I have a 7 month old intact male GSD.  Father side is all SH3, IPO and his mother side was show.

Since 9 weeks old, we have taken him to puppy social classes one night a week and have completed puppy and intermediate obedience training and have just started beginner agility also.  I have done this so that he can socialize with other dogs 2-3 nights week and people also.  He does well on walks when we encounter other people, kids, dogs and plays well off leash with dogs we meet at the park.  He gets along great with our friends 10 year old lab and lays on the floor and lets my son's pomeranian attempt to beat him up.  There has been no issues with his temperament or aggressive behavior.

But...last night at puppy social, he got into a bit of trouble when he pinned an older, larger malinois to the ground as it ran by him.  You would have thought the malinois had been hit by a truck from the noise it made, which caused all the other dogs to run for cover and the owners to look up from their phones and ipads.  I did a recall when I saw what was going on and he looked, and came immediately.  Our dog's usual playmate a 9 month old Shiloh Shepherd was not there and when we went inside, our dog was disappointed or perhaps frustrated that he could not find him.  He did greet some of the other dogs and then we started to play ball.  It was indoors last night (weather) and there were about 15 dogs or so, all type of breeds.  When the Shiloh is there, they play off in the corner and both are extremely vocal with each other.  They play rough, but never to the point where one yelps or gets nipped hard.  They also will play rough and not make a sound (as if someone had hit the mute button).  This will go on for about 30 minutes and they go their separate ways.  I usually play ball for the rest of the 30-40 minutes that is left.

He is not aggressive towards any of the other dogs larger or smaller or has attempted to pin them to the ground like last night.  He shares the water dish with all of them and when he goes for a ball and another dog grabs it, he basically says fine, and looks for another ball lying around and brings it back.  No aggression or possessive behaviour displayed. He has no interest in joining the hump/mount fest that is going on between the labs, nor is interested in mounting the poor lone female dog that usually attends.

I work with him 2-3 hours a day keeping him active and thinking.  He has a huge ball drive atm and loves doing nose work.  He has a far as I can tell, an excellent temperament and the breeder did a good job matching him to my needs.  I intend for him to be a working dog, SAR's and in the end a cadaver dog.  Our last dog (chocolate lab) was SAR's and was working towards being an excellent cadaver dog, till he got sick.

Should i be concerned about last night or was it just a one off.  It is important that he can work with other dogs and essential that he gets along well with people.  Our trainer said that he was not his usual self and not to worry.  She has been working with him since 9 weeks of age.

Any comments, questions or tips is greatly appreciated.  I tried to to ramble on too, too much.

Don

I enjoyed your whole recollection. LOL I loved the part where the shrieking had the people all stopped at looking at their iPhones and iPads!
 
I think your pup is just fine. The Mali was just being a big whiney baby, is what it sounds like. Or maybe he has bad hips? And yelped when he was taken to the ground. Who knows?  From the sounds of it, you seem to take notice of what makes your dog tick, so I would just let it go.  If you make meeting other dogs a big deal, then your pup will pick up on that. Your trainer wasn't worried either. The running by him by the Mali just triggered his prey/play drive is all. And the Mali overreacted. If it had been his Shiloh buddy, well, it would have been nothing doing. The "romping" time would have been on! The fact you were able to recall him says to me, he's probably not being aggressive. Just indiscriminate, and he was more than what an older dog wanted to deal with.

My two dogs go at it all the time. They have their play rituals about the whole thing. Sometimes I think one is going to die, but then the roles get reversed, and I think the other dog will be the one to succumb. And then they seem to just quit and go for a nice cool drink together lapping away, side by side. 

Totally agree with beetree!

Sounds like you have worked very hard with your boy. IMO, I think it's time to stop all this free for all playing with other dogs. It's a misunderstanding that socializing means off leash playing with a pack of dogs. This is especially true for you because you are going to train him to be a working dog. He needs to be comfortable working around other dogs not looking to play with them

Thanks for the quick replies.

"Sounds like you have worked very hard with your boy. IMO, I think it's time to stop all this free for all playing with other dogs. It's a misunderstanding that socializing means off leash playing with a pack of dogs. This is especially true for you because you are going to train him to be a working dog. He needs to be comfortable working around other dogs not looking to play with them"



 

Four thumbs up :-)

Agree! Just came from puppy socialization class with an 11 wk old female and have a 10 month old male starting the basic obedience in a couple of weeks. They only play off leash in the puppy class that she is in and the age group in that class is from 8 to 16 wks of age.  

I  have run classes for over 20 years. My biggest problem with new people is they have been told to 'socialize.' their puppies to the extent that every walk or interaction with other dog's becomes a free for all. I have 3 GSD's at the moment, all male entire, and I don't want my dogs to be sociable, I want them to be social. And the subtle difference there is when they meet other dogs, they need to be polite, and not in your face.
   When you want your dog to be a working dog, you need your dog to be confident around other dogs, not fixated on them. And a lot of high drive dogs are also very intimidating to other dogs, and the last thing you need is other dogs reacting to him. Doesn't take long for them to develop a protective stance, and you to get worried, and a big vicious circle setting in.
  So totally agree with the other posters, you want your dog to play with you, not the other dogs.