Reactive to Alsatian's

[warmmfeet]

Our lovely 6 year old lab x golden retriever was sadly attacked by an Alsatian 2 years ago. Luckily it wasn't terrible but he was bit on the nose and it obviously really scared him. It was a weird thing, they were both off lead and my husband threw the ball, it rolled into a large bushy area which our dog ran into and that's where the Alsatian was (we didn't know), perhaps they surprised each other idk.
It was a rescue the owner had only had it for 10 days so wasn't aware it could react like that.

Anyway, it was awful but could have been worse.

However since then he always goes absolutely berserk barking if we see an Alsatian and he's on the lead. If he's off lead he tends to appear nervous, keep his distance and keep an eye on that dog but if on lead he gets really loud barking and pulling until they've gone past.

I don't know what to do about it. Anyone got advice? I think a behaviourist would be out of budget at the moment.

Thank you

I teach my dog/dogs I walk the Watch Me command. High value treat, get your dog to make eye contact and reward, practice at home without distractions. When you are out as soon as you see an Alsatian/GS ask your dog to watch you, reward, ask your dog to keep watching, reward until the other dog has passed. Loads of praise. If your dog is offlead call them to you. I hope that helps, your poor dog it’s horrible for them and us if they get attacked, very unnerving, the other thing I do is fairly firm strokes on their chest, has a calming affect if they are a bit worried by something.

DH is a former dog handler;his working dogs were trained to read him and react according to his body language/tone/reactions.

Dogs are often highly intelligent and in tune when their owners.

To be kind they might be feeding off you;you react nervously around a GSD because of what happened,your dog becomes nervous and reacts;their reaction sets you on edge meaning you're even more nervous around a GSD because you dog has reacted badly therefore your dog picks up on that nervousness and reacts meaning you end up in a vicious circle.

If you can't see a behaviourist could there maybe be videos on YouTube that could be helpful. I've never looked at any so can't judge them but they would be free. You'd just have to check the credentials of the people in the video. Could you try distraction training when you see a GSD?

We've got the exact same issue - ddog is reactive to Alsatians.

Having had a behaviourist in for reactivity previously, albeit to another trigger, I know the theory of how to fix it.

However, to put it bluntly, it's more trouble than it's worth for me. We don't see Alsatians that often, and so it's easier just to avoid them when we do see them. It does mean I have to be aware of my surroundings, but with this dog I need to anyway.

Seeing them infrequently also means that there's limited opportunities to practice, and I'd never trust him with an Alsatian again so we'd always be practicing avoidance to some extent.

My GR hates GSDs, he’s the most placid dog ever but goes nuts when he sees one. No idea why.
We did make progress when a neighbour got one as a puppy and he got used to seeing it from small but unfortunately they had it neutered too early and it is now fear aggressive so it’s had a go at him and he’s even worse now.
Luckily the only one we regularly meet is very well behaved and largely ignores him

I agree with HiHoHiHoltsOffToWorkWeGo unless you see a lot of GSD than I would just avoid them.

When you do see a GSD increase the distance between them and your dog and give them food whilst they are aware the dog is there. When the GD leaves stop feeding. If your dog is reacting or not eating the food then you are too close.

Without wanting to stereotype some GSD can be a bit dog reactive so you would need to know the GSD if you were going to go closer to it with your dog.

Dogs Trust have a free Behaviour Support Line that might be helpful, it's at the bottom of this page:

Thanks all. Actually @HiHoHiHoltsOffToWorkWeGo that's a good point, it's quite rare we see one. Maybe 2 or 3 times a month.

I will try that look at me thing and reward idea. Will def have to practice at home. I do try to be aware of my own body language etc.

Thanks very much everyone