Older dog guarding puppy?

[ChocolateRaisin]

Hi, I'm just wondering if anyone may have experience of this. I have a 10yr old jrt x bitch and 16 week old GSD. They get on very well and have a lovely relationship with each other.

I've generally been walking them together in the mornings just on the lead for a short walk and then separate in the evenings, though sometimes bring the jrt with us for the short walk with the puppy.

This evening I took them both to the local green for a bit of a run. There were a few other dogs around but I didn't think much of it as the puppy stays close at the moment and jrt has usually excellent recall and limited interest in other dogs. She is normally excellent out and very well behaved. Tonight was a complete change in character for her. I let them both off the lead and she immediately noticed a dog on the other side of the field and promptly took off towards him barking her head off, completely ignored me calling her back, ran up to about 20 ft away from the dog, barked for a few seconds and then eventually ran back to me. I was so embarrassed! I put her back on the lead, the other dog left shortly after and I let her off again. Two separate dogs came along in short succession and she did exactly the same thing to both despite me engaging her in a game, tasty chicken treats etc. One of the dogs walked up to her, she stopped barking, sniffed noses etc, relaxed and then came back to me. I put her back on the lead and kept her on but this is such a change for her. She's very friendly to other dogs normally if they approach her but she's generally not usually that fussed and not aggressive. She does have a tendency to be a little anxious generally in herself day to day.

Sorry for the essay, I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced this before.

[TallulahTheTiger]

Sorry can't help, but similar situation here with my parents dog- which is a dogue de bordeux and our daftdog- short arsed beagle mix. We now have a big dog trying to hide behind a wee one!

[fuzzyllama]

I would consult a behaviourist over this, gsd's are very sensitive dogs and pick up things very quick, I would be concerned that he may see this as the correct procedure for when he sees another dog, as taught by dear older jrt. I don't have personal experience of your situation, but do have a reactive gsd myself, and with a lot of hard work, love and training he is much better.

[StandardPoodle]

We've had something similar. When we had StandardPoodlepuppydog, our rescue bitch was 8 and quickly became protective of him. She would put herself between him and any newcomer and bark if the incoming dog was not respectful enough. She became more relaxed as the pup became adolescent, and he adores meeting other dogs. However, your situation does sound more pronounced than ours so it may be worth getting an expert opinion.