aggressive behaviour to one person 16 month old GSD - Page 2

My male started the same thing at that age, I was told to equate it to a teenager coming into his own path.  With my kids in their teenage years, I had to come down on them pretty hard a few times, show them who was boss.  I had to show my male the same thing or else he would dominate me from then on.  The best advice I got was NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free). The website is wonderful.
I have to admit though, before I checked it out, with me being only 5 ft & 110 lbs and him well on the way to the 95 lbs he is now, I did something I'm not very proud of but it worked for me at the time.  The second time he growled at me, I downed him, layed on him while yelling that "I'm the alpha bitch around here and you will listen to me."  Every time he tried to get up I said "no you will not you SOB" and pressed harder with all my weight.  We "argued" like that for quite a while and when I let him up, he was my sweet boy again.  Has been ever since....he's even sweeter since we let him mate!
You're getting good advice here...take what you want and leave the rest.  Just don't ever let him forget who's boss and don't show fear.

I don't agree with the advice you've got to let them mate btw.  There are important qualifications a dog should pass before that can happen( besides having a pair of giblets). 
We too  had a dominate dog,  but  he was without a doubt the best dog we ever had.   We never did neuter him, nor did we 'mate' him, and he survived! 

Grandmashorty - I like your style...I will keep that in mind with my 5 month old boy.  He is already 56 pounds.  When I sit down he tries to mount me--not a good thing - I have grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground and said No - but I am sure my time will come when he will do much worse... He was growling a month ago at the food dish and I nipped that in the bud with a quick grab of the back of the neck and sending him to the ground.  I follow the feeding up dailing with a lot of rubbing on the face and taking the food away after I give it to him... 

But I do have a mental picture of your act and I have replaced your face with mine....Lol....what we do.

If this doesnt work a boot in the ass, a fist upside his nose or a pinch collar and no air. 

I am the alpha leader and I am women and I RULE

I am with you Two Moons - dog behaviorist...yuck...

 

Sounds like he's growing up and testing his boundaries. He must feel that he can get away with it from you. It's your job to convince him otherwise.

Bonnie Blue
Blue haus Kennels
Hillsdale, NY

sounds like he thinks he is the boss and he is challanging you for top spot. and maybe cause you are a male too.
be firm with him dont ever let him get his way, a crate is a good idea.
i have had many males in  other breeds and  i have never had one dis respect me.
you have to be real firm and never let them get his way.
have you tryed trainning with a pinch collar.
works for me.

i too have a  shep male thats at 15 months and i have no problems with him, he knows i am the boss.

plus i would never aloud that behavior to go on for  2 seconds.

good luck

Red Sable:

You're right, they don't have to mate, as long as they have an outlet for all that pent up not-being-able-to-mate frustration. Imagine how frustrated you would be if you weren't allowed to mate your whole life! It sounds like your dog had a good outlet in whatever activity it was he was the best in. But, the fact of the matter is that most people's dogs don't.
I imagine from the problems he's having (and I could be wrong, I am just assuming here...and we all know what that makes me ) that ol' freddy there is rather new to the world of high-drive, dominant working dogs, and that his male isn't getting an outlet for all that extra energy created by his hormones. And notice, I only said you should let them mate if you're already planning on breeding them. If not, snip-snip!

Now, I could see how it might be useful to have that extra energy/drive/motivation/whatever-you-want-to-call-it to give your dog that extra  little oomph in whatever activity it is he's doing if he's a working dog or at a high level of competition, but since fred's already having problems dominating his dog, I really don't think he needs that on top of everything.

As for everyone else:

The advice to just "put him in his place" is fine and dandy, as long as the person doing it isn't fearful. Trying to dominate a dog in a fearful state can be really dangerous. You can't fool a dog if you're scared. And besides that, a lot of people are reluctant to act in the way many are suggesting because they think it's mean or abusive. I don't, but a lot of people do...unless you're actually choking your dog! A pinch collar is fine when used properly (I couldn't walk my GSD without it), but you can actually do some serious physical damage to your dog's throat if you use it too aggressively.

But it IS possible to dominate a dog without being mean about it. It's more difficult for most people, but possible. Although, frankly, I think mean is better than scared, but you still have to a realize most people don't want to be mean to their dogs. And if they do try acting in a way they consider mean, they'll just end up feeling guilty, which just makes them weaker in the dog's eyes and does nothing but exacerbate the problem.

And....dog behaviorist, dog behaviorist, dog behaviorist, dog behaviorist! Hah!
-Alice

Now I have a mess to clean up, thanks.

Fred hasn't come back, perhaps the dog can type.
I'd love to hear the dogs side of the story.

Thanks for all your advice, I've started but he doesn't like being choked or chained up.

I have been easy with him becasue he was really ill with skin problems for the last year, traing was going well before that and we've just started up again (he really enjoys it - even lets me touch him as long as I have food in my hand).  I now the crate theory but we don't have anywhere where the temperature is lower than 30 degrees C at present so am not about to try that yet.

We don't have esoteric dog experts in Bulgaria.

We have had a 50% GSD before and he obeyed me and bit my wife.  She had a 100% GSD (russian border guard dog) when she was younger and never had any problems with it.

I don't show fear but I'm sure my adrenalin goes up and suspect he may sense this.

I can't think of any reason why he should pick on me - he is really friendly with everyone else and I'm the poor mug who has had to go back and fore to the vet with him.  My wife gives him his tablets and sprays his sore patches - is it OK if she rewards him for his patience with tit bits or will that detract from my "mastery"?

What he would say? I suspect it would be along the lines of "why the hell do I behave so badly?"