I don't know what to do anymore.. It all started when my dog saw my father hitting me and yelling at me. He attacked him then - he was growling, barking and bit him but the bite wasn't too bad, didn't need stitches or anything. Now, the dog often attacks him for no reason, e.g. when my father is watching tv, he will just approach him and basically start bullying him, or whenever father raises his voice when talking to me, or I when I do that. The dog also damages my father's things like shoes etc. I don't know how to stop this behavior. The dog usually listens to me (although he doesn't really listen to other family members), but not in this case. Sometimes i have to literally pull the dog off my father (which isn't easy because the dog is really huge, he weights 53kilograms). The atmosphere in the house is really bad and father blames me for dog's behavior, saying he wants to get rid of him. I suffer from severe anxiety and panic attacks, and this only makes the situation worse because I get all hysterical (and this makes the dog even more aggressive towards my father) when he says that stuff to me, or threatens to hit the dog (I never let him do that, of course) . We had lots of fights over this.
The dog is 9 months old and he's very sweet and loving to me, it's just that one problem I have with him...
Any advice, please?

What you really need to do is see your GP about family counselling, which is generally available under the NHS if there are children involved at all, otherwise you may need to pay something.
You cannot continue shouting, much less hitting each other, particularly if there are any minors in the house learning to perpetuate this behaviour.  My guess is, if you get your family problems sorted the dog will settle down too.

Your poor dog must get so many mixed messages, how is a dog to know what is right and what is wrong?

If he is a large protective 'one owner' type breed he will never accept a man who shouts and causes a raised heartbeat and panic attacks from his beloved owner, tbh there is no point in going through the training methods of him accepting your father (which would begin by him seeing your dad as a good thing by him using treats and praise) as if your father is reactive and aggressive at times every bit of training you ever do will go straight out of the window.

IMO the best thing for you to do for your dogs sake is keep him behind a dog gate when your father is home, no dog will accept someone they see as a threat dogs do not understand that it was a bad day or an argument gone wrong or just the way of some-ones character, tbh neither should you...............

Sorry to be negative but violence and aggression is not a good home for a dog to grow up in what they see and hear in their early stages of life builds their own character and a large  protective dog will become a danger.

He needs calm, praise and reward and to see no negative situations, if your fathers character can not supply those things constantly you will never help your dog to accept him - pointless to try. :-(

What I would suggest is that you make sure that male figures are not seen in the same way that he sees your father and whenever possible males give him a treat and that you stay upbeat around other males so that he does not view all in the same way.

Stooge, there aren't any minors, I'm already 18, and my sibling is even older than me.
The conflicts always involve me and my father only, and I'm afraid that no counseling would ever help with that. However, I try to avoid arguing in dog's presence. But as I already said, the dog still "bullies" my father and damages his things.

I really think you need to talk to someone trained to help in these situations before you dismiss it as impossible.  Physical violence is not acceptable under any circumstances and has an awful tendency to escalate.

Carrington, I have asked my father to help me with dog's training a bit - I mean things like giving him simple commands and then rewarding him but as you've said, it doesn't really work in the long run.
Fortunately, my father is at work Mon-Fri, but weekends are a real problem... It's just causing me a lot of stress because it's impossible to completely isolate the dog from him and it keeps me distracted and worries all the time.

I think you've made a good point about male figures... He doesn't really like men, especially those who are tall and well build like my father. Maybe I will try to bring my friends over more often and, as you suggested give him treats then.

Thanks for advice.

Stooge, it's really ok, my father isn't usually violent, it's just verbal stuff most of the time.
Thanks for reply.

The dog also damages my father's things like shoes etc. I don't know how to stop this behavior.

Ok, apart from the aggression and obvious dangers that a dog growing up in conflict can have  let's dress this down to puppy level regardless of these issues.

Dogs chew and many breeds especially like shoes etc, it isn't out of spite it is generally to do with scent, he probably goes for your dad's shoes because the smell is appealing to him more so than yours or anyone else's, the sweatier and smellier the more attractive to a dog, (unfortunately that usually is a mans shoe :-D) dogs do not have the emotions to be vindictive or to 'get their own back' so this is not the reason.

Best deterrent is to have shoes etc where your dog can't get to them, put things away in cupboards or boxes  or make sure he has no access via dog gates etc to precious items. This is normal puppy/adolescent behaviour.

Sometimes i have to literally pull the dog off my father

At 9 months this dog could do real damage to your dad if he wanted to, so perhaps he doesn't?.......... could you perhaps be misreading normal puppy/adolescence play? It can be very aggressive, dogs do choose and learn who they can play more roughly and aggressively with, males in the household very often get the rougher play. Could he just be wanting to play?

Do a search for Ian Dunbars The Bite Stops Here to help you to teach your dog not to rough-house with your dad.

If I were you I would also get a whistle or clicker along with a book if you are not able to get to training classes, for you to teach commands with...... that way if you are upset or using the wrong tone which your dog may misinterpret there is no mistake in a whistle or clicker command. :-)

Well, he used to chew everything when he was younger but he stopped about 2 months ago, and started again since the first conflict... But only father's stuff.
But, yeah, maybe it's still puppy issue.

You've mentioned that he could do real damage to him, and I agree with you (maybe he's just trying to warn him or something?). But I'm not sure if he's playing... I'm positive he isn't when arguments are taking place. And as to the "bullying thing", I'm not sure, maybe. But from the other hand, he never bit me or anybody else in a play. And he doesn't attack others when they are arguing, only him.

Thanks a lot, I will check out The Bite Stops Here.

It's very hard on the internet Gabriel trying to decipher exactly what a dog is doing, we try our best :-D but what you see or think you see, may be viewed differently by many of us if we were to see it.

When you say he bullies your father, can you try your best to explain exactly what he does? :-)

Yeah, sorry, I'm not good at explaining things. By bullying I mean.. Well, for example my father is sitting on the sofa, watching tv. Out of the sudden, the dog approaches him, and starts biting him, often growling a bit. When my father tries to stop him, it gets worse. The dog will start to bite him harder. When me father stands up, he will jump at him, biting him, and barking until my father leaves the room.
Another example, the dog is sitting on the floor, playing with his toys. Father enters the room, sits next to me. If he's too close, or if my father touches me, he will immediately go and start biting my father again.

When you say bite do you mean clamping around his arm, leg and holding or does he bite hard in different places or/and break the skin?

Also what breed/s is he as this makes a difference in how some breeds play and communicate?

Usually he just starts biting him in different places, and yes, he often breaks the skin and draws blood, but not to the point it needs stitches.
Well, his previous owner said it's a husky/german shepherd mix but I'm not entirely sure. He's got lots of their features, but sometimes I just think that he's bit too big to be a husky cross. Maybe it was gsd/malamute, I don't know...
He looks exactly like that if it helps http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs12/i/2006/314/9/0/The_Black_Wolf_by_CoupeKid.jpg
Except his eyes, they're brown not yellow, and his ears are just a tiny bit more pointed. I know it's a picture of a wolf so it's not really relevant, but it resembles my dog. So I guess he could be a black gsd/malamute cross, hence the dark/white coat and size.

(sorry had a phone call :-) )

Well, whatever he is, he is a stunner if similar to the photo. :-)

But at least we have a better idea of his breed traits. I trained my brothers GSD's and the youngest was quite a hyper dog, wouldn't believe that now, he is an absolute star calm and very obedient, but he was much harder work and easily excitable as an adolescent.

Both breed traits need discipline and can be strong willed and dominant they also do play very much as you are describing, they are full of energy and need focus.

I'm glad that you are training him, you must continue with this frequently, training classes would be even better if you are not going already, even if not into agility or such the KC bronze, silver, gold is fantastic for bonding and control of your dog.

But, the first thing you need to do with regards to your father in the first scenario is when your dog begins to play attack (it's not real believe me you would know it) is distract him, I don't know what your father does to try to get him to stop, but if he shouts at him or moves aggressively to push him and shake him off, it will only excite him more and make him more hyper towards him, the game becomes more fun, especially if your dad tries to run away, dogs growl and sound aggressive when playing like this, so a human making a similar vocal noise and movement is part of the play, it is much better for your father to ignore him and just very calmly say STOP! NO! Turn his back and fold his arms if stood up and if sat down walk away slowly not looking at him.

If your father does this what you then need to do when you see this happening is call him away with something more tempting a toy to play with you, a hunt and find game an agility game, or even a walk...... something that he will enjoy more than what he is doing, he may well see your father as his sparing partner you can only break that cycle by giving him something else to replace it, until this game is forgotten as has no reward for him.

Never lie to a dog if you call him away for a walk then that is what happens, if you call him for a game, that is what happens. ;-)

The sofa problem may well be protection towards you, if you can not distract then there needs to be a time out, no shouting, absolutely no shouting at your dog, stay calm and make sure that your father stays calm, clip his lead on him and walk him out of the room until he calms down, allow him back in when calm with praise and if he does it again you need to repeat.

The bite stops here will explain this method of teaching bite inhibition but he always needs calm, clear, direct instruction and he is not allowed to have control of these situations. Bad behaviour is ignored, good behaviour is rewarded. :-)

This dog if it takes a large amount of character from the GSD will always be a guarding breed, your father needs to be very aware of how he behaves around this dog as do you, you don't want your dog to bite and attack (for real) so both of you need to work out your differences and take it in turns to speak and air any disagreement, no good putting the dog in another room he can hear you, he can hear your raised heart rate and adrenalin, work very hard between you to keep civil, otherwise your dog may work things out his way. :-(

Remember your father needs to ignore him and you need to distract, best of luck, and if things are not working find a recommended behaviourist who may see something that we can't from here. :-)

This sounds to me like the pup has learnt that your dad is quite a lot of fun to wind up. I have a 10 month old German Shepherd so I know how intimidating it can look when he gets a bit rough when playing. I have never let him get away with getting over his excitement threshold. As soon as he gets too excited he gets walked calmly to his crate.

I think you need a similar place where this dog can feel secure and be moved to in order to calm down. I get the impression your father must be quite shouty and moves about quickly when he does this game. Your Dad really needs to act like the pup isn't there and take him to his 'quiet zone' as soon as it begins. When he is 'let out' of the quiet zone (as soon as he is calm enough) then everyone should be calm and offer gentle praise for the right thing.

This dog sounds like he needs to learn to play with humans nicely.

Just wanted to add to my last post... When I said 'act like the pup isn't there' I don't mean all the time, what I do mean is that when the excited behaviour starts, don't give the pup any attention.. No speaking to him, no looking at him etc etc and walk him to his crate. He needs to learn that this behaviour means he is taken away from all the fun of the humans.

Carrington, parrysite, thank you very much for all the advice you gave me! I really appreciate it. I will give all those tips to my father and hopefully the situation will change.

If he really is 'set off' by anything at all.. sometimes even touching them or grabbing their collar could act like a reward. In this situation I'd be tempted to use a short 'handle' lead (I think they're called traffic leads but they're basically just a handle with a clasp on that end that attaches to the collar) so that you can guide the dog away.