Hi everyone, I have a male GSP intact, he will be 2 years old at the end of January. Recently we have been experiencing a serious issue with him and aggression towards strangers and I am looking for others advice on ways to fix this behaviour. 

He is not aggressive to all strangers, on leashed walks we can pass strangers without any problems. He doesn't have problems with having strangers inside the house during parties or get togethers or when friends come to visit. He will bark when the door rings but settles down after he gets a sniff. He will however act up if these strangers get their faces too close to his (bending over towards his face etc)...

The behaviour we are concerned about is during our nature walks, we let him run off leash. It's usually isolated forest area but occasionally we will have passersby, and this usually is when he begins to act up. He will start to growl and bark at them from a distance and the last time we took him out, he lunged at a non threatening stranger. This is the first time he has ever done this, and we are trying to figure out where this behaviour is coming from since he has never done this before... When he acts up, we correct him, tell him NO, BAD DOG and make him do a sit/stay for a few mins. 

We are quite upset at this, and wondering what can be done to help fix this behaviour before it gets any worse. We will obviously have to keep him leashed on these walks for now until he is better. Would getting him neutered help? Any advice is appreciated

Thanks

We can't change genetics or the past, but we can change current behavior. Strict obedience and being preemtive is key. Some of the techniques in the book "Aggression in Dogs" by Brenda Aloff may help.

My older gsp at about the age of 2 started showing some aggressive behavior.  I finally figured it out if it was just someone walking alone, and she also thought it was strange to see children playing on the ground.  At times it was scarry how she reacted.  But you will be glad to know she is the perfect dog now.  Don't worry about her, except if you were to walk into my house uninvited.

I went back to keeping her on a long lead and what a pain that was keeping it from being tangled, but ultimately it was worth it.  Worked on giving her a little freedom and when we would see someone walking alone, I would call her to me.  If she did not come, she got a tug (she was on a prong collar) and I don't mean I jerked it hard, but there was a slight correction.  I always had cookies on me and she was rewarded.  I wanted her to know what behavior I wanted before introducing a ecollar to really enforce it.  Then I advanced to letting her off lead but she was wearing an ecollar (she was already conditioned for this, but not used for this purpose).  She attempted to disobey my come command probably 3 times, only once did she really make any big effort to charge someone.  It is funny to think back about it, but at the time not so much as the other person, obviously a stranger to us, was afraid of dogs.  I had to apologize, but it never got that far again. 

What this did do is now she just pretty much ignores everyone.  So she is not the one to run up to anyone to be petted, she will not avoid it, but she does not search it out, unless of course you have food.

Good luck . . . in my case it was insecurity and I think somewhat her wanting to protect not just herself, but  me as well.  She got over it.  She has been my jogging partner ever since and she is now almost 9.  People comment how well she listens.

Roz.