German Shepherd Reactivity . . . Doesn't Bite but barks and lunges

[Perpetual Learner]

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I have a 2 year old GSD, we adopted her when she was just under a year. She was a bit withdrawn, used to nibble her coat to baldness which we thought was some of her allergies but now know it was stress.

She is, like many GSD's, very dog reactive. She doesn't go to bite but will lunge and bark. If you go near another barking dog she goes quiet and just wants to get away but if we approach a dog she starts the barking and lunging. At just over a year my friend suggested we went to a private field and let her off with her lab as my friend did not think she would do anything more than run and bark. So I muzzled her and off we went. My friend was right, my girl did run and bark but then they just ended up playing to the point we regularly go on walks together so they can play. However I am trying to figure out WHY she gets to hyped up on leash. I went to dog training to try sort it out, first few sessions were great as I just wanted to be able to get her to walk past dogs without reacting but after an initial brilliant start it actually made her worse and they suggested using an e-collar NOT to hurt her but with a lot of pre-training to use it as a tool to help.

It turned out the training was much more than I could afford so decided to go back to basics with recall, heal work, walking near other dogs but not too near etc.

I have been working with her around our village for over a year and she is STILL reactive to other dogs. I have not used aversion tools as am not trained in their proper use. Recently she has seemed to be getting more hyped.

Any help is gratefully received.

 

[JoanneF]

WHY she gets to hyped up on leash

Have you heard of the fight or flight stress response? On leash, she can't run away, so her approach is 'attack is the best form of defence'. She is probably okay with your friend's dog because she has learned that dog isn't a threat.

Please, please do NOT use an e-collar. Pairing other dogs with pain or discomfort, or the fear of it, will make her worse (even if an e-collar doesn't actually hurt, the sensation will be uncomfortable, that's how it works). She will associate other dogs with the unpleasant sensation, and that will make her more reactive, not less.

We have an information thread about reactive behaviour here, have a look and see if anything looks helpful but please do come back to us if anything is unclear, or you think won't fit your situation.

Dog Reactivity

I'm posting this as part of a set of helpful 'easy reference' articles for common questions and problems. Feel free to add additional info on dog reactivity in this thread, but please start a new thread for specific questions relating to your dog. My dog lunges and barks at other dogs This is...

dogforum.co.uk

 

[Flobo]

If she was just under a year when you adopted her and withdrawn and stressed do you know anything about her history? Understanding her past can sometimes help.
In my experience with reactive dogs I've found avoiding the trigger(ie other dogs) where possible consistently over a period of time to allow the stress levels to drop and for her to start feeling less anxious on lead or if a dog is in sight, whilst working on her focus on you( I use 'watch me' and treat), this is really helpful. You need to approach this as managing her reactivity as opposed to 'stopping' it. One step at a time and with patience, consistency and calmness. These things take time...

 

[O2.0]

I have a 2 year old GSD, we adopted her when she was just under a year. She was a bit withdrawn, used to nibble her coat to baldness which we thought was some of her allergies but now know it was stress.

She is, like many GSD's, very dog reactive. She doesn't go to bite but will lunge and bark. If you go near another barking dog she goes quiet and just wants to get away but if we approach a dog she starts the barking and lunging. At just over a year my friend suggested we went to a private field and let her off with her lab as my friend did not think she would do anything more than run and bark. So I muzzled her and off we went. My friend was right, my girl did run and bark but then they just ended up playing to the point we regularly go on walks together so they can play. However I am trying to figure out WHY she gets to hyped up on leash. I went to dog training to try sort it out, first few sessions were great as I just wanted to be able to get her to walk past dogs without reacting but after an initial brilliant start it actually made her worse and they suggested using an e-collar NOT to hurt her but with a lot of pre-training to use it as a tool to help.

It turned out the training was much more than I could afford so decided to go back to basics with recall, heal work, walking near other dogs but not too near etc.

I have been working with her around our village for over a year and she is STILL reactive to other dogs. I have not used aversion tools as am not trained in their proper use. Recently she has seemed to be getting more hyped.

Any help is gratefully received.

If she tries to get away, that sounds like a fear response to me. Generally speaking, if the fear-based reactivity isn't getting better despite good protocols, it's because the dog doesn't feel safe.
So start there. Whatever she needs to feel safe, do that. It might be distance, it might be teaching her to get behind you and learning to trust you that you won't overface her, it might be a combination of things. But helping her feel safe is the first step.
From there you can start desensitizing her to other dogs, but you won't get anywhere with desensitization unless she has a safe place first.

Leashes can make many dogs feel trapped, like they can't get away and can't use the full range of their body language and that can worsen their worry about other dogs. Also if you have started tensing up and shortening the leash - understandably if you're anticipating a lunge, your anxiety will travel down the leash and exacerbate things too.

I would practice a "get away" strategy. Teach her "let's go" in a really happy, fun, treat-filled way where you turn around and go another way. Then use this whenever you see another dog. Move away *before* she amps up, and then lots of praise and treats as she follows you away from the other dog.
This may sound like you're not addressing the issue by avoiding it, but what you're doing is building trust in you that you won't make her have to deal with other dogs, and it's building confidence in her that even on leash she can get away.
Eventually she will start turning to you when she sees another dog, and once her attention is on you, you can start decreasing the distance and even trying to walk past a calm dog - quickly. But start with giving her the distance she needs and building fluency with the "let's go" cue.