I have a 16 month old longcoat GSD bitch who is well-behaved and well-trained. Her only problem is that she gets very jealous if people or dogs come close to me when we are sat somewhere. She doesn't often have the same reaction if we are moving, but as soon as we sit down she doesn't like people/dogs coming too close and will bark and then hide between my legs. I have no idea why she does this or what I can do to stop the behaviour. I have tried putting her in the car each time she barks and then bringing her out again until she does it again then she goes back in the car, I have tried telling her off and reassuring her but nothing seems to work. I am considering using a water pistol on her to interrupt the bad behaviour, in order to them reward the good when she is quiet. Does this sound a sensible idea? Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

Doesnt sound jealous at all to me (my dog Rocky does the jealous routine sometimes, only if i give other peoples dogs food though, an then he muscles in between me an the other dog, and chases them off!).

Sounds far more likely tome that she is in fact nervous of other dogs approaching you. How is she off lead? My guess would be that she is better, mainly because seh has the option to run away when loose taht she does not have when on lead.

Bearing in mind that she is scared, she has learned that hiding behind you, and barking usually makes the scary other dog go away, that doesnt matter if its YOU dragging HER away, or if the other dog is taken away, the point is, she thinks that her actions worked.

You need to change that, and to show her that other dogs are in fact rewarding. Make the barking and aggro UNREWARDING, and quiet nice behaviour near other dogs VERY VERY REWARDING.

Be careful with her when she is in these situations, as she may well beleive that any shouting or 'there there' type behavoiur from you is in fact encouraging her, rather than the opposite!

Em

Hi Em

Thanks for your message. Flame (my bitch) also muscles in between me and any other dog I may pet and sort of jumps towards it and snaps - but never fights. The main problem isn't actually other dogs - she is generally great with them and, yes, off lead isn't a problem at all - it is more people (especially children) coming towards us when she is sitting or lying. She was well socialised as a pup and so I can't understand why she would now start to be scared by people. It is very frustrating. I want a dog that I can take everywhere with me, but her barking at people is becoming a bit embarrassing.

Kirsty

Just a thought - is it possible that when you are sitting down she feels she has to protect you, rather than it being the other way around, and because she's not a dominant dog the idea scares her?

I could be completely wrong, but it's another angle to look at.
:)

<<Just a thought - is it possible that when you are sitting down she feels she has to protect you, rather than it being the other way around, and because she's not a dominant dog the idea scares her?>>

This really makes sense to me and I think you may have hit the nail on the head. I don't know WHY she feels she has to protect me when we are sitting - but it certainly seems to be the case - although she has never made an attempt to bite anyone and I very very much doubt she would - as she has a very gentle temperament. I am going to try her this weekend with a husher on (to stop her barking) and try to keep her calm and see what happens.

Thanks for all the replies I have had.

Hi Kirsty

Be very careful - a man in my village had a GSD who became protective and would bark fiercely at people. One day she lunged at a cyclist and bit his light, narrowly missing his leg... the police were called and the man had to hand the dog over (she was taken into rescue - the police here were sympathetic) but she could have been destroyed easily. Remember, a dog only has to look like a danger to the public to be reported under the DDA.

Chloe :)

If you are worried about her maybe biting someone, accidentally, then the best thing to do is put a muzzle on her.
This will do several things, other than preventing her from actually biting anyone.
Firstly, because you know she cant bite anyone, you will be more relaxed, which will in turn get her more relaxed
Secondly, most people are much more wary of approaching a dog with a muzzle on (which in some circumstances is annoying) which you can use to your advantage, getting her more confident gradually.

It has to be said, that 99% of dog aggression is based on fear, and there is really very little true dog dominance, where there is it is usually dog to dog, not dog to owner, so dont worry about that at all.

My Rocky is fine with kids, but yes, with other dogs he is very nervy, barks his head off, and gets between them and me. He doesnt actually want a fight, he just wants them to go away. Off lead he is much better, but with his tendancies to bully smaller or weaker dogs, that is very hard at times! Keeping him on the lead makes him worse, but letting him off, and i risk him scaring a smaller dog (he has NEVER bitten one, he rolls them over and 'dominates' them).

Good luck with her,
Em

I wouldn't use a water pistol with a GSD or any other reactive breed (such as a Collie), especially if I wasn't sure of the dogs motivation - if it is fear and it starts getting squirted (which it might not like) each time the object of its fear is around - it's simply going to get more fearful......