I have a four year old shepard caled Tara. she is well trained and does almost anything to command with one exception, other animals. if she is off the lead she will run straight up to another animals (normally dogs), but will only play. if the other dog turns nasty she will defend herself but return straight back to me once the initial fight stops. when on the lead she barks and pulls like crazy but if i let her approach the dog she is fine. any ideas???
Mick smith

yup,

chances are, when restrained, she realises that should another dog attack her, she has no where to go, and cannot fight back effectively. therefore, she gets in first, lunging and barking to make the other dogs go away.

However, it could be that she just wants to play and is frustrated at being on the lead. Also, if you are expecting her to be nasty on the lead, and you pull her away, and talk to her, or shout at her, or even at the other dogs, she may be reacting more to your reaction than the dogs!
Some dogs seem to think that their owners actually want them to behave that way, and see any shouting as encouragement!

Em

hi mick.....the leash is giving her a false sense of courage...because she has you to back her up.and it becomes a self fullfilling prophecy everytime you tighten the leash.....the unfortunate dynamic is set in motion....you must get some more training around distractions,,because thats what ''trained'' is.....i tell people if they only obey when no one is around ...its like a tree falling in the woods and no one hears it.....p.s. i breed shepherds they can be a pain.............,.....http://diamondbarkennel.tripod.com