I took Dixie to her first obedience class. We missed the earlier one because of family issues a few months ago. There were a few dogs there that were "dog aggressive". The minute they went towards us or stared the wrong way at Dixie she got mad and would bark and her hackles would stand up. The trainer said she needs to be socialized more.

My thing is the only time she made even a peep was when another dog got her going. They want me to bring her to their Doggy Daycare for socialization, but at this time I cant afford that. They said there is no other way.

Any suggestions?? Please!

I question the scope of this trainer's german shepherd experience.

That too. She didnt seem too keen on the breed. She said most GSD owners she has seen always would say,"stay away from my dog!" I SOOOOOO dont do that. I WANT people to pet her, and other dogs to be able to interact with her. I really want her to show this trainer what shes made of. She is SO smart. I could clearly see it was brought on by the other dogs. They were rescues and dog aggressive, clearly stated by their owners. But, of course, they r small and Dixie is the one ppl see flipping out. As soon as she knew i didnt approve and told her to lay down, she hit the deck. I just have to get her to pay complete attention to me and disregard the other dogs. I was wondering if there was a way I can get her to relax around other dogs without having to spend the money for daycare.

MY advice... find another trainer.

I wish I could, I already gave them 1/2 the money. She said she thinks Dixie will do great with the training, its just that barking and trying to get to the other dog.

I'm sure you'll get some good advice about how to get her to get along with dogs outside her pack. All the pics with Buck, it doesn't look to me like she has any trouble getting along with other dogs. She's a GSD, other dogs snarked at her so she told it off, you told her it was unacceptable, she stopped. No problem, IMO, the trainer over reacted.

Does she do anything when she sees another dog on the street or was it just in training?

ps someone else this and I find it quite true - Do you like every person you meet on the street? Dogs are the same, they aren't going to want to be friends with every dog they see

She never "threw the first bark" at another dog. Only when they do it first. It's like she doesnt like it when a dog talks smack to her lol... The dogs she barked at were the rescue dogs and a lab. The owner of the lab said he is ppl and dog aggressive and the rescues were placed in five different homes because of biting. Also dog aggressive... It just annoys me that its assumed that Dixie started it, when i know she didnt. There was a Golden Retriever there to whom she put her back to the whole time and kept her attention on me. Thats the difference. I will do my socialization at a store maybe, like petsmart... It just seemed she was pushing for me to give them more money and bring her to their daycare...

My thoughts exactly on the daycare. Dixie is a teenage GSD, she's going to take the blame over a lab - you know this. Maybe she barks louder or with more intensity, whatever. So what, she's not going to put up with some other dog trash talking her and as far as I'm concerned if she's not starting it, she's fine.

You know your dog. The trainer barely does.

My dogs wouldn't walk away quietly from some dog barking at them. Otto would get blamed too becuase he's young and bouncy. Morgan always gets blamed but usually that's becuase some other dog looked at her and she didn't like their tone of face Mercy the sheltie we see a few times a week, it always barks at her, she barks back, stomps her feet and does a fake lunge, makes the lady who's walking the sheltie nervous. Morgan's not pulling, she doesn't really want a piece of that sheltie, she's just a crazy bitch trash talking a dog who started with her.

"some other dog looked at her and she didn't like their tone of face", this is a big part of it too, i think.

"she barks louder or with more intensity"... this too, IMO that what the breed does, lol

This helps alot with easing my anxiety about the situation, thank u! I guess I just have to get her to focus completely on me, and that will happen with work, I'm sure.


Also, i forgot to mention, I take her to my neighbors for bonfires and she has 2 Dachshunds. They play and run around for hours together and r just fine. I now see it's most likely the other dogs being dog aggressive, right?

Remember the 'dominant dog' thread a few weeks ago? Chris Wild's description of her take charge female Heidi in training class, don't remember exactly what she said but something to the effect of this is a breed that is more naturally assertive and if that comes off as aggressive, too bad becuase that's perfectly normal sound minded GSD. Assertive doesn't mean agressive.

Neither of my dogs are going to take some other dog in their face. They get along lovely together. They're even friendly with the terrier next door who's run goes along the other side of our driveway. Morgan's got the hots for the Rottie across the street. They have dog friends. They just don't like every dog they see. Morgan in particular, she's a bit racist, especially with females, they have to be a somewhat similar looking pointy eared breed like a husky or akita. Don't ask her to be nice to a floppy eared black and tan female GSD, she'll flip out!

Its so nice to hear all of this. It does make a TON of sense. I am DEF. going to bring up these points next week, so ppl in the class understand what she is doing. She isnt a mean dog, she is just the opposite. 90% of the time she just wants to play!

Now Buck, I wouldnt bring him there lol. He is who he is. He has his job at home and does it to a tee. No one will EVER come near my kids or me. He would just absolutely NOT go for another dog trying to talk smart to him, lol... it would just be a joke...

I think I give it a few more classes and she will out-shine every dog in that class!!

I completely agree with the previous conversations about assertive vs. aggressive. Tehya gets like that too. If other dogs are barking, she will bark too. She also does NOT like another dog touching her other than Benito (my golden) and will let any dog know when they cross the line. I too think the trainer over-reacted. My trainer suggested we take Tehya to the dog park to socialize her with other dogs. One minute Tehya would be licking the dog and sharing a bowl of water and the next trying to eat the dog. The dog park really, really helped her in obedience class. She would still act up occasionally, but the trainer also understands different breeds and their personalities. Do you have a dog park around you? Ours is $30 for a year pass... much cheaper than doggy daycare.

I'm not sure if there is a dog park around here. I'm definitely going to look into that though. That sounds like a GREAT idea for socializing. Sheesh, such an obvious way and I never thought of it, lol... I feel like a dingbat lol

do not do the petsmart thing. that is an accident waiting to happen. if you have a young reactive gsd you will not be able to control the situation if the other dogs are reactive as well. kinda like setting your dog up to fail.coming around the dog food isle and running into the barking pit bull that pins you down will undo any training you have done previously. and yes, it does happen that way. i am not sayin gdont go there, just dont go there trying to work on socialization. the barking and lunging at other dogs...most all gsd's do that. it is a stage of life. it can even last a few months. what you absolutly have to remember that it is definatly your dog's fault . it doesnt matter if she is young or that the other dogs "start it". because YOU dont want it and she does it anyway, it means it is HER fault. make very sure that you are perfectly clear to her that you do not want that behaviour! be consistant and clear and patient and she will get over it. she really will. but, do not make excuses for your pup, it just makes it harder on you in the end. i would walk away from the money and get someone who knows the breed.

Each of my dogs have their own issues. Zisso is not real dog friendly. Nadia is not real people friendly. I work with them daily to work out their quirks, but they are a work in progress and might well always be. I don't take them to dog parks, because I want to protect them from incidents that could set us back in our training. I watch their body language almost 24/7 (just not when we are sleeping..LOL) Nadia is making progress thru training and socializing at training(socializing with people). She now lets other members pet her. Today at the park she would not approach a lady that wanted to pet her even tho the lady offered the back of her hand for Nadia to smell first. I did not make her either. Zisso is totally a pain when it comes to other dogs so we play the LAT game. When he looks at another dog but doesn't react with a growl, hackles up and lunging, he gets praised...but not excited, squealy, gooshy praise, just a pat on the head and a 'good boy' and we move on. I would not have the confidence to work my dogs thru all these things tho, if it were not for my trainer who knows the breed

I so dislike trainers like this. I had Max in an obedience class many years ago in Kentucky. We were doing the heel in a big cirle thing and a dog ran up into us from behind and snarked at Max. Max rounded on it and was immediately blamed by the instructor who proceeded to chew my butt over it. I was pretty upset. Another lady in class with a darling Weimeraner went to the instructor after class and chewed on her for singling me out when Max had done nothing wrong except defend his space. This lady had watched the whole thing unfold from across the room and I had no idea that dog had been hassling Max from behind for awhile. Max was actually pretty tolerant.

From that day on I always made sure I kept my distance from this dog that ran on him and we were told we were unsocial. Sometimes you can't win.

I began studying as much dog behavior as I could so I could understnd my dog and how learn how to react to stuff like this and prevent a lot of it. I do much of my training on my own until I am sure I understand my dog. I always work hard on call away's, teach the look at that game, and with Havoc I taught a play bow and put it on cue. That alone diffuses most dogs that might give him the hairy eyeball which will cause him to react. If he does react I don't worry about it and I don't worry about what the other owner or trainer thinks. I just quietly and calmly move my dog away and ask for a trained behavior that I can reward. The best thing to do is be observant and ask for the behavior before the dog reacts.

Havoc is the most dog friendly GSD I have had and that came wth a lot of work but he still has a pretty low threhshold for being stared at. That does not make your dog unsocial or aggressive.

I would try to find as many opportunities to work on teaching her to look away and to you when a dog stares at her, teach a default sit or down, teach a play bow and put it on cue. Reward calm behavior.

Tell the trainer to fly kite........

First classes stink! I have finally learned to just take it easy on myself and my dog in a first class and try not to take any of it too seriously. By class 3 you start to get a feel for it and you and the dog can relax. Just tossing that in!

What everyone else has said, but to play the devil's advocate you also need to make sure you're managing it as well. If a dog is barking and sort of coming at her, you should wheel around and practice what you do for look, rewarding for every time she ignores the barking and is focused on you. My girl is the same way and feels she needs to react and regulate anyone she views as misbehaving. It's in her personality, but I also make sure she knows that barking back and being annoying is also not acceptable.

I'm gonna work on her focus on me this week. She got the point that it wasnt acceptable the second I commanded her to lay down when she reacted, so now its just getting her to be in sync with me, completely. No worries about what the others are doing