Posted in R/dogs but was advised I’d get better information here. 7 month puppy protective of kids when they are approached my oncoming people/dogs

[missj]

So in February we adopted a puppy from a rescue who is a greyhound/wolfhound x German shepherd mix.
Body of a greyhound, fur of a wolfhound, ears of a shepherd. Just to give you an idea on size. She’s now 7 months old. We’ve gone from walking well in a park and around the block with no problems to aggressively barking and tugging the moment another dog walks our way or another person. Especially males. She adores females. Though she’s never had a bad experience with males.
Today I decided to walk to pick my child up and figured I’d take Ramona for a walk at the same time. The walk there she was fine. We saw other dogs who barked and carried on and she simply ignored them. Picked my 2yo up and on the walk home, a kid on a scooter was coming up behind us, so we stepped off the path to let her pass. Told Ramona to sit which she did and then all of a sudden as the kid got closer, she went ballistic.

Same thing in the park the other day. Had both my girls with me. Other dogs and humans set her off big time if they were passing the girls and I. This behaviour has only happened while she was recovering from her desexing and having her dew claws removed. We stayed home for those two weeks while she healed and the week before that as we all had a virus so did light exercise in the backyard.

It seems she feels the need to protect the kids from other dogs and strangers.

There is a trainer in our area but I’m not happy with her training methods. I feel they’re a bit aggressive.
Does anyone have any tips? Ideas? Reasons to why?
She’s pretty well behaved in all other areas. Still gets a little jump happy but with some gentle reminders, she calms down.

 

[jossystephan]

@missj Hi there,

GSDs are prone to this sort of behavior, my GSD mixes are definitely more reactive around me.
You should look into counter conditioning but it may be hard with your situation.
Essentially this is what you would do: go on a walk with your dog and children. Everytime your dog sees something they would react to, they get a treat. The treat should come BEFORE they are at the point of reactivity, so by doing this at quite a distance from the trigger and then allow less distance to the trigger over time.
I would reccomend you practice first without your children, the dog will still learn positive associations over time if he gets a treat everytime he sees a person/dog.

Hope this helps!

 

[missj]

@jossystephan Thank you! How much of a distance would you say? She only reacts once person/dog is in reach of the kids so say 10 metres or more?

 

[jossystephan]

@missj If that's the case, then do more than 10 meters