Dutch Shepherd Forum

Stella went to Petsmart tonight and got a bath and her nails trimmed. When we walked in and I was waiting for them to take her back she growled and barked at another dog who walked past. The woman at the desk immediately told me she was dog aggressive and she needs to be "socialized"


She did great for her grooming. When I picked her up they again said she was dog aggressive but very people friendly. The woman from the rescue said she was fine with the other shepherds there just very "barky" around them at first. I'm nervous to take her to obedience and the agility course because I'd feel awful if she bit another dog. To me her barking at the little dog when I dropped her off was no different then how she barks at squirrels. Maybe the people at Petsmart have her prey drive confused with aggression?


On a happier note I got her a treat dispensing toy (that she loves!) and she had that figured out in about two minutes.... I'm going to try the tug jug toy next. It's been raining all day so she hasn't gone outside much so I was trying to give her some mental stimulation.

katm4110 wrote:The woman from the rescue said she was fine with the other shepherds there just very "barky" around them at first. I'm nervous to take her to obedience and the agility course because I'd feel awful if she bit another dog.

Most DS are very "vocal" It is their way of communicating too, not always pure aggression.
I would suggest you DO go to class, and leave your nervousness at home The only way to overcome this "thing" is to go and search for it, and at best with some professionals around = obedience or agility course. Just go for it, I'm sure you can make her understand this is not what you want from her, with a little help she will get that soon enough

Thanks! I'm going to take your advice. She learns so quickly when it comes to what we expect from her I'm sure this will be easily corrected! The more I think about it this poor dog has been shipped from a shelter in OK to the shepherd rescue in IL then moved to her new family all in the course of 2 or 3 months. She has only been here for 6 days and then I take her to be groomed. She probably had no clue what was going on! She did love her bath though! She's been such a sweet heart despite her unfortunate circumstances. Her new favorite game is pouncing on the vacuum.... the way she hops around cracks me up!

Marjolein gave some good advice. I would not label the Petsmart checker as an expert just yet, about your girl being dog aggressive or not. But if the groomers give you the same label...well, they are not necessarily experts either, but now it comes time to figure out what really is going on at the end of your leash.
Do seek training classes, and let them guide you towards more dog tolerance.
One word of advice: the pouncing on the vacuum, while it may look funny, does not have to be play either. It could be fear aggression, directed at the scary thing. Look for her body language, or, when in doubt, make her stop the nonsense, because I promise you: it gets old quick if you can never run the vacuum anymore without putting your dog up, or her being attached. I know...I am being grouchy, right? (but quite honest)

I appreciate the advice! I'm a very inexperienced dog owner and want to gain as much knowledge as possible. So I didn't take that as grumpy at all. She had her tail wagging and butt in the air.... I will definitely have her go lay down next time. I vacuum like 3 times a day. We have a 6 month old who is on the floor a lot so I try to keep the dog hair under control. I can imagine that would get annoying..... kind of like how things my three year old son does are super cute now but would be very annoying in another year

Stella will def be going to class and if she likes it doing agility.

You guys have been great! There isn't a lot of info on this breed out there so this group has been beyond helpful for Stella and I!

Sadie is super vocal! Thalie...not a peep. Sadie barks at everything too.

Something that helped me learn alot about dogs and their behaviour was watching the Dog Whisperer show on NatGeo channel. People tend to treat dogs like people as they really don't know any better, so this show really helped me understand that dogs are very different from people in how they act, learn, etc. It was very helpful for me, anyway.

My husband and I have been watching that and read a lot of stuff on Cesar's website. We always make sure we go out the door before she does.... we eat before she does etc... I also don't allow her on the furniture or upstairs. Now sometimes I just can't resist sitting on the floor and cuddling with her.... even when she initiates and not me.... She's so well behaved already I can't wait to see how she is after some obedience training!

And to confuse you further. The above things (door, dinner, furniture etc) are just pointers for people who need to think about the dogs place in the family. My (working) dogs, no doubt, all know their place (Those who know me know that is an understatement) but they do burst out the door when I open it, since I don't mind. They eat anytime I see fit and I don't mind sharing leftovers from my plate either. They absolutely reside on the furniture and my lap, not a problem. Yet none of them have any doubt about the commands given, and when to comply. (always) Trying to suggest that you can loosen up once/if you get comfortable with your own leadership role and your dogs compliance to your commands.

Oh good to know! Stella is not dominate by any means.... glad I don't have to worry about that stuff! The only things I don't want are her on my couches or up in the bedrooms and as of yet she's never attempted either. Socializing her is my main goal right now and other then that she's perfect (to us of course) good to know I don't have to worry about those things.... honestly with 5 kids not having to micro manage when Stella walks out the door or if she eats her breakfast before the kids is a relief! I think I may need more training then Stella!

I never ask Thalie to wait, she snuggles on the couch, there are times they eat before us, and sometimes they burst out the door too. BUT, when I say SIT, the buts hit the floor, when I say to wait, they dont move. With Sadie, the younger pup, she didnt get to do these things either until she knew her place, Thalie is old hat at life and I rarely have to give her commands to do anything anyway, she just does it. At the beginning, making sure they do these thing is good, then when they know whats up, its all good.

I set the expectations when Sugar was young so it was clear what I wanted. I didn't let Sugar up on the couch when she was younger and she learned not to. Then I taught her she could come up when invited. She never goes on the couch (or bed) unless invited. And she is invited every time we are one the couch! But always waits for the invite. Even when we are not home. She always waits for me to go out the door first unless I say its ok for her to go first. I also make her wait til I say ok for her to get her food. Sometimes she knows the routine and will go walk toward her bowl before I say ok, but all I have to do is give her a look and she stops dead.

I think the point is you want them to understand the rules you need/want to have with her and for her to obey them.

I agree. Enforce rules that are important to you. All of my dogs are allowed on the furniture but when I say off, they better scatter. They always do. Roxie has a very specific set of rules for the car. She must remain in the back seat at all times, no head out the windows, and she waits until given permission when I open the door. Emmy(a small dog) has the same rules except she's in the front passenger seat. Definitely take her to classes! You will both learn a lot. I did have a very dominant dog I had continually keep in her place. She was a GSD and one of the best dogs I've ever known. I would make her get off furniture or sit or down for no reason other than to remind her that I was in charge.

My dog was dog aggressive. Sometimes he would go right up to dogs face to face and at that moment you need to act. Sometimes he would bite the other dog or be very forceful and shove the other dog. Dominance... but it was also related to fear. I invested in a prong collar which works really well. I was doing an abdominal kick/shove but that doesn't always work. The prong collar is nice, there has only been one time where he took off after a dog forgetting the prong collar and the long leash. I quickly turned my back and braced.. there was some tension on the lead and he yelped. He looked back at me thinking I did it but I was doing something else. He ran over to me and sat down looking at that dog as he walked by. Ever since then he has never went towards another dog. When dogs walk by close there are two ways I can deal with it. Walk him by talking to him or make him sit stay and hold. He doesn't care much about dogs now, in fact he listens when I tell him too do what I need him. It took almost a year to fix this and it was constant learning the dog and how he's thinking. Just keep making sure you hold leadership, a good test is to take something away from him. Give him a bone and let him chew it.. then try to take it away. I had a dog that never cared if I took away his treats.. always had my hand in his food dish.. fed him when I wanted to. One day he growled and snarled at me over a bone and it was instant for me. I pushed him to the ground and held him there as he squirmed and finally gave up out of being exhausted. I took his bone (saying vocal things..lol) and I walked away.. the next morning he was rubbing against me and trying to be loving and I went to work ignoring it. Gave him a bone that night.. went to take it away and he dropped it and turned his head. If I let this go it could have just developed into something worse. If you get a prong collar make sure the dog always causes the pain to himself. Never jerk it.. think of it as training a horse.. wild horses buck and jump but the slight tension and consistency will win. For example if you walk away from your dog and you tell him to come and he wonders off.. gently put minor tension on the prong until he comes to you.

If your dog was on leash and the other dog was as well...a lot of the time its leash reactivity. Its like the tension on the leash when straining to get at the other dog sends them into a different drive. Ellie pulls and sometimes even stands to vocalize when she sees another dog coming on a leash. But she is in NO way dog aggressive. Seeing her pull and make all sorts of noises really makes people think she is aggressive though.

So, I've worked with her on a lot of distraction training so that dogs passing us on leash can just feel okay and even good. With treats and a "watch" or "focus" command I redirect her to look at me, or if the other dog is just TOO exciting to not look at (also vocalizing or getting too excited) I just throw treats on the ground and do a "find it" command. There's a lot of training material out there on this specific issue. But formal classes REALLY help, having to remain calm and composed in a group of other dogs is a great learning experience. I highly recommend it.

She was on a leash and in a new place. In a very small area. I actually received an email from a volunteer at the shelter in OK who got my information from the rescue group. Any way we've been corresponding and I asked her how she was with the other dogs. She said she was with several smaller dogs and did great with them. We'll be focusing on socialization and getting her to come when called in obedience class.

wahinelf wrote:If your dog was on leash and the other dog was as well...a lot of the time its leash reactivity. Its like the tension on the leash when straining to get at the other dog sends them into a different drive. Ellie pulls and sometimes even stands to vocalize when she sees another dog coming on a leash. But she is in NO way dog aggressive. Seeing her pull and make all sorts of noises really makes people think she is aggressive though.

So, I've worked with her on a lot of distraction training so that dogs passing us on leash can just feel okay and even good. With treats and a "watch" or "focus" command I redirect her to look at me, or if the other dog is just TOO exciting to not look at (also vocalizing or getting too excited) I just throw treats on the ground and do a "find it" command. There's a lot of training material out there on this specific issue. But formal classes REALLY help, having to remain calm and composed in a group of other dogs is a great learning experience. I highly recommend it.

My dog is also leash aggressive. He wont attack the other dog immediately, he rather sniffs him first and than attacks. It´s exactly the same every time. He doesn´t bite, though (thank god for that).
Off leash he only confronts male dogs who don´t submis.
I read I should teach him "watch" for leash aggression, but, as i said many times before, he doesn`t care for food outside, so I don´t really know what to do.

Olie wrote: he doesn`t care for food outside, so I don´t really know what to do.

start inside
proceed to the backyard, frontyard, oustide but no other dogs, outside dogs at distance, less distance etc.
Takes time...

Marjolein wrote:

Olie wrote: he doesn`t care for food outside, so I don´t really know what to do.

start inside
proceed to the backyard, frontyard, oustide but no other dogs, outside dogs at distance, less distance etc.
Takes time...

I am. But he gets so easily distracted that have to LITERALLY go step by step. He loses concetration on every sound, movement,person passing by etc.

I can totally relate! While Stella will focus on treats over anything else I know what you mean about them not missing anything. She notices every car, every squirrel, anyone walking nearby..... when she is squirrel stalking its like talking to a wall to try and get her to come :•\