Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hello everyone, I have a adopted a 6 week old DS/Czech shep mix. Nieko is now 9 weeks old and is learning his way and place in the family. I know he was not around the dam for long and his father attacked him constantly. Now we have a great puppy but he has fear and can get quite aggressive at times. I am used to mouthing and we are working to get him to settle down with that, however you can see the aggression, growling, snarling and showing teeth along with snapping at us and my labs.

I understand it will take time to make him learn acceptable behavior but am looking for any advice on the matter. He is a loving dog 90% of the time but he has his moments. I am lucky that one of my labs has taken to him and plays with him a lot, not only that but she disciplines him when he crosses the line.

Anyway if anyone has any tips or experiences similar to mine and can help i would really appreciate it.

#1 - he needs to have his own space in your house. he needs to understand that everyone else also has their own space. Your labs (and your family members) need to respect his space and he needs to respect everyone else's. Playtime at this point should probably be scheduled. For a multi-dog household, you really should teach "place" if you haven't already.

As far as space goes, he has his kennel but that is used for sleeping over night or if we have to leave him alone. He has adopted the laundry room as his own, if he does not nap in his kennel he is in there sleeping. With him being young he does sleep a lot, when he gets up he goes out and then its playtime, he gets his own time playing with the labs but he also gets time with the rest of us, leash training, basic obedience and just playing with his toys. He has not displayed any other behavior as far as trying to be the alpha, as i said my black lab puts him in hos place, but she does have patience. My chocolate lab does not tolerate as much but neither get aggressive, they just push him down and stay over him. I believe he will be a n awesome dog i just have never had a pup with these characteristics, even with the Shepherds i used to have.

Moving thread to Behavior.


What are his triggers? I know you said he snaps, growls, etc., but what incites the behavior? It's likely not just one "thing."

He's a mix, but what do you know of the lines...anything?

As far as triggers go it can be anything from taking something away from him that he should not be chewing on, keeping him from getting into something he shouldn't. I can be petting him and one of my labs will walk by and he will start growling and basically being an ass.

For his bloodlines I did see pedigrees for both parents, from everything i saw they have good solid lines, some show and working dogs in the history. Both parents were well behaved as well, the Sire did show aggression but calmed down quickly.

The way you first described his behavior, it kind of sounded fear-based, especially since his father constantly attacked him, he's in a new home with strange dogs, etc. Now how you've described it sounds like he's just being a little punk. (Well, it still could be fear-based if, say, he's getting rushed at or screamed at, or somehow feels threatened, when someone takes something away, etc.)

I'm not versed in the young-pup stage except to know they have very short attention spans with learning, but like any aged dog in a new environment, don't know/are learning how to interpret the world around them. Right now, he's in a critical development stage, learning what gets him what and so on, so I'd rather someone else with solid puppy experience address your issue.

He does have his punk moments but we can generally tell when those are, the other times, when he gets real aggressive is when we are correcting him or removing him from something or somewhere he should not be. It also does not help that the people i got him from were...lets say not the most loving people. There attitude was they did not want him and only wanted money. We are working with him in short spurts and we work with him by himself as well as with the other dogs, i am hoping some of their traits will rub off on him. He is smart and learns quick, i just hope to tame his aggression and do what we can to ease any fear related issues he has.

I guess the next question is how are you correcting him?

IMHO, I would keep training sessions one-on-one (short intervals throughout the day) rather than with other dogs.

Are you marker training?

Set him up for success in your sessions--ignoring unwanted behavior/responses and marking/rewarding only what you asked for...and end each session on a positive note.

As far as correcting him goes it is verbal correction. If he tries to bite us we give him a toy to play with. We also have cut up treats we give him for positive reinforcement. Most of the training he gets is one on one and it never goes more than 10-15 minutes, and that is only if his staying focused. As far as marker training i have not tried that, and to be honest i will have to look it up and see what all it entails.

This video may help you for now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nyt2WLdQGs
My friend is having success with her cattle dog puppy who is having similar issues using this "game". I really like the trainer, although she can be pretty extreme with her ideals, her training methods are always positive and are extremely thorough. They may be more work than some of the more common methods of training, but I can tell ya I have never had such great communication and progress with my dog until I really started applying some of her training techniques. If I were you I would do this in the mean time of finding a good trainer with experience with the breed, or experience with counter conditioning aggression/guarding. The younger the dog when you correct it the easier it will be, in my opinion. They get big quick and it'll be a much bigger issue just as fast! Good luck!

Thanks for the input, i am willing to give anything a shot. He can be so good then its like a switch gets flipped and he gets aggressive quick.