Hi there! It's been a little while since we've posted with our Luna, starting the spring in Washington State with lots of great hiking and outdoor activities keeping us plenty busy. Will have to upload some pictures and video soon. In the meantime my husband and I really need your thoughts/feedback on an issue that has recently developed over the past several months with our Luna bear. She is a year and half now.

Luna has been an amazing dog and still is, but in the past few months probably from age 10/11 months up thru now she's gotten snappier with other dogs when on leash or in a group of dogs. She's been well socialized with friends dogs, dog parks, neighbors dogs and has always done well. It started all with her getting into a snappy outlash when she'd be in a situation where she's surrounded by more than one other dog and seems to feel "intimidated" even when the other dogs are wagging their tails and to me seem to be giving off a very friendly and playful behavior. More recently she has also become this way with dogs she comes accross on walks. Regardless of the size of the dog or breed if we stop for more than 5 seconds or so for just a sniff as you walk by she will start to gnarl her lip and I know a snappy outlash is going so I quickly grab her and move on. Not only is it embarassing and but it's a behavior that I'm not sure how to fix. We need your help! She's never hurt another dog and I want to do everything we can to turn this behavior around and work on it.

My husband and I have thought about enrolling into some of dog classes/obedience that is close by and we've heard great reviews. She does great with commands and leash walking, but we figured maybe we could work on the issue while practicing these in a controlled environment with other dogs. Not sure if this is a good/bad idea...just a thought.

We apprecaite any feedback you may have! Thank you in advance! I should say though that with any person babies to the elderly she is an absolute angel and LOVES every human whom acknowledges her.

Sorry, me again - double post

Lucie, is Luna spayed? I wonder if that could be a problem. Also they do go through a tricky period (anywhere from 8 to about 14 months) where they seem to test your last nerve. More obedience training (to give her more confidence) may be useful.

BTW -- Luna is a lovely young girl

Lucie, I had the same problem develop with Archer. Archer and Zoe are litter mates and I got Zoe at 8 wks but did not get Archer until he was 10 months old (the breeder was having personal problems and had to give him up).  He was perfectly fine with other dogs and then all of a sudden when he turned a year old in Feb. he started lunging and barking at other dogs when we would be out on a walk. One of the local vets has a "day-school" that I enrolled him in. The trainer observed him and told me the first two times I took him that he is not dog aggressive he just does not know how to play or what to do with other dogs and he is insecure and that he needs to get his confidence built up. He did fine the first 3 times I took him and then the 4th time I decided to take Zoe along.  Well, that's when the dog aggression came out - he does not want any other dog messing with Zoe, very jealous!  The trainer said that day he got several "time-outs". I took them both again last week and the trainer said he did wonderful - played great with everybody did not have any issues and she thinks he's starting to "get it".  I'm going to continue taking them both in hopes that it will build his confidence - I can already see a big difference, he is no longer lunging or barking at other dogs when we go on our walks.

You may want to research and see if there are any facilities near you that offer this type of program.  I drop him off in the morning, he gets about 3-4 hours of one-on-one training with the trainer (basic commands, sit, down, loose leash walking, etc.) and then he gets 4 supervised play sessions throughout the day with other dogs.  And let me just say that he is one "pooped pup" when I pick him up after work!

One thing the trainer had brought up to me is that some of his displays of aggression could be that he is protecting me and Zoe.  Do you think maybe Luna is being protective of you?

I hope things work out - I really know what you're going through!

This is Archer - does this sweet face look like it could be aggressive??

I completely agree with you. I believe Archer came to me with fear and confidence issues.  In the first weeks that I had him and we would run into any men with a deep voice he would back away and was very frantic.  I emailed the breeder and asked if he had had a bad experience with a man. Her response to me was that "her ex-husband spoke loudly to Archer and let him know he was the alpha dog, although he never hurt him".  Then my vet had a question on his vet records that came with him and so they called his previous vet and found out that he had had a head injury from playing too rough with another dog.

He has definitely improved in the 5 months that I've had him - he no longer fears men and the "day school" is really helping him with being around other dogs.

Do you think socializing your pup at a young age with all kinds of people and all kinds of dogs helps with their confidence/fearfulness?  I did this with Zoe and she has no issues with people or other dogs.

Danielle

I agree with pixie . . . socialization is so very important.  Of course, you try to make it all postivie, but sometimes that does not happen so you just have to be on your toes.  I like TexasBelle do not let other dogs unknown to me approach, as you just never know.  Since I get out with my dogs to so many venues, they get lots of socialization, that I do not take the chance with dogs I do not know.  So talking to a local trainer and getting him some classes which would be a more controlled environment would not doubt get you off on the right track to resolving this issue.

I will say I went through a period with my older GSP where she would act in a protective manner when there was a lone person.  She never had dog issues, just people when they were by themselves at a distance.  Personally I don't think she was really trying to protect me, but maybe.  I think it was more fear than anything.  It took sometime to fix the issue, but it was fixed.  But she had to be taught to ignore that lone person out there.  Obedience and focus was the key for us with some quick reactions from me when she would start to act aggressive.   She is the perfect dog around people now, but there was a time when she was almost 2 that she just did not trust people if they were out by themselves, now a group of people never concerned her.  Guess she thought if the person was not with its pack, something was wrong with it.

Even though my situation was not the same as yours, it can be fixed.