I'm sorry this is so long but I want to give as much information as I can.
I have a 14 week old GSD, on Monday when I took him for his morning walk we took our usual route which entails us crossing over a busy road and passing the OAP flats. Now I blame myself for what happened because I know the corgi is there, it can most afternoons be seen snapping and snarling at the gate or running up and down behind the railings barking at the kids who attend the infant school across the road so I should of been more cautious.

The gates are usually shut and my 2 collies just stick their noses in the air and ignore the corgi if its about,  on Monday the gate was open but at it was only 6:10am I guessed the milkman had probably left it open and never  gave it a second thought as we crossed the road. Where we cross over we're only 4 or 5 steps away from the gate and you can see most off the grassed area in front of the flats so it was a major shock when the corgi flew out of nowhere and attacked the pup.

Luckily I managed to scoop him up off the floor after the initial attack which only lasted a few seconds but still resulted in my pup getting a couple of small cuts after being bitten on the face and me getting a nasty nip on the ankle as the corgi tried to have another go as I walked away.  We took him out in the afternoon with the collies to the local nature reserve and he seemed fine but we never seen any other dogs so it wasn't until Tuesday morning I realised there was a problem.

I changed the route and we bumped into Scooby and Barney (golden retrieves) and their owner and my pup went mad, his hackles were up and he was barking and trying to hide behind me so I thought the best thing to do was ignore him and keep walking saying a quick hello to Scooby and Barney's owner as we passed. Once passed he was ok within a couple of minutes but this has happened now every time we have met another dog and I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing by ignoring him and carrying on walking, should I be tackling this in a different way? He will be starting puppy classes next week but I'm worried if it will be a good idea to take him while he is reacting like this to every dog we meet.

I'd ring the trainer at the classes explain what had happened and the problem you are having, as this will help the trainer be prepared for your puppy. I would go to the classes, as they are controlled and a good socialisation event, where nothing untoward should be able to happen. A good trainer might even be able to advise you until such time as the classes start.

yes you MUST go or he will get worse,hopefully playing with some puppys will boost his confidence!
tell the trainer of the situation though,
hopefully also the trainer will know of some steady calm older dogs that he can be  intodruced too also.
good luck

I'd be inclined to work with a bomb-proof older dog before introducing to other puppies. If your pup goes in 'all guns blazing' to another pup, then it could cause problems for the other puppy.

I would have a word with the trainers but if the others in the group are also puppies there may not be a problem as they be on a level playing field development wise.

You might find because he is without your collies he might even be overawed

At the club I go to we get lots of problem dogs of all ages that other clubs ban because they don't want to put in the extra work needed to help a dog with dog to dog problems

You can start by rewarding him if he ignores other dogs whilst you are out & you may even want to take him out on his own & do the about turn & walk away if another dog approaches & work on getting his concentraion & mind on you(difficult at such a young age but it can be done)& not on whats going on around him

I agree I would certainly have a chat with the trainer. Ignoring can work in some circumstances but situations like this i hate to say need proactive management at once, because the pup will be learning things like: if i bark and lunge, the scarey dogs go away. He will feel this works and may get worse.

It's best to get him involved with some trustworthy friendly dogs asap, and make it really relaxed and give him lots of treats and games in the vicinity of the other dogs. You yourself can act happy or nonchalant, but not nervous <g>. Let him go at his own pace and don't push him, he may with luck get over it. I would have a word with the corgi owner who must not let their dog do this again, it can ruin a dog.

Lindsay
X

Thank you everyone for your advice. I managed to get hold of the trainer last night and explained what happened and the problem I'm now having she is going to meet me later today so that we can take the pup for a short walk and she can see exactly what his reaction is and at what point it starts when he sees another dog.
She has also suggested that I bring him along to her ringcraft class on Tuesday before I take him to the puppy class on Thursday as there will only be 5 or 6 dogs there instead of the 20+ dogs that are in the hall when she has the puppy socialisation and pet training classes.