[AshlynRose]

Hello, so I’ve had an ongoing issue with my gsd put mix. She is a year and 3 mo old. I adopted her at 6 weeks (early, I know). Due to this, I was adamant about appropriately exposing her to scenarios and dogs through their upbringing. She was great yo until 4 or so months ago. She had a favorite ball that we would throw and catch at the park, with which she would carry everywhere and lay with, never letting go of it unless asked to. It then developed to when dogs approached, her hair would stand up on end and she would the sly walk over, say hello. Sometimes she was fine and walked back to her ball, other times she snapped in an instant and would lunge at the dog momentarily. We had a mix of good experiences, dropping the ball or switching toys with other dogs, and bad as stated above . That ball not any high value toys come to the park anymore. However now, if a dog approaches us together, she has the same reaction, hair up, tense body, and likelihood to snap and turn aggressive. If she runs to the other side of the park, she is perfectly calm and friendly with dogs, plays even. (We have a close dog friend that she plays with regardless).

Another important note is that she gets anxious easily.

I currently plan to keep her leashed and actively walk up to dogs and greet them. We go to the park daily, and I will try to maximize the number of calm introductions.

What steps do you recommend to preventing this agression ? Any training at home that can counteract her possessive mindset? An aid for her anxiety perhaps?

 

[parus]

She's not a dog park dog. It's okay: most dogs aren't, or shouldn't be. I'd stop bringing her; it's an accident waiting to happen.

At her age she's starting to show her adult personality, growing out of puppy traits. Temperament in dogs is largely genetic - hence why various breeds are known for certain attributes - and a tendency to guard is a potentially inborn trait, as is a tendency to be aggressive toward other dogs. I don't want to be defeatist, but if she has these characteristics, no amount of introducing her to other dogs is going to override them. What you can do is work on your control over her, and her own level of self-control and confidence. You need to be able to call her to heel even when she's upset at another animal. You need to be able to tell her to drop a possession on command. You need her to focus on you, not on other animals. You need her to feel confident that you're in control of the situation and she doesn't need to throw down to defend you or herself. Personally, I wouldn't be encouraging her to interact with other dogs at all, at least not strange dogs. I'd be encouraging her to ignore other dogs in favor of looking to you. And I'd be working hard on her fundamental obedience.