Dogs Training Blog

Just a minute ago, I saw my German shepherd attacking a yorkie that lives in the neighborhood.What I don’t understand is, my GSD is very submissive in nature… She can play with larger dogs without problem, and I saw her playing with a dachshund and a Pomeranian before…Today, this yorkie who used to play with my other dog (smaller, only 35lb) showed up at my back yard. I saw my GSD sniffing nose with the york. and all out of a sudden, my smaller dog came and pretended to attack the yorkie (like how dogs play, there is no aggression in those behaviors), right after that, my GSD attacked the yorkie (knocked the yorkie on its back, and biting down on the yorks neck)I went out the stop my GSD, and the Yorkie ran away.the question is, what triggered my GSD’s aggression? my smaller dog played with that yorkie a lot, they pretend to fight all the time (the yorkie was actually the dominant among the two)… Would my GSD falsely interpreted my smaller dog’s “pretended aggression” as a sign to attack the Yorkie?I tried my best to eliminate aggression in my german shepherd… I gave her a lot sociolization, and she is completely fine with people and most dogs i know… This is actually the first time i see her using real aggression against something.But I am a bit confused with this case… Did my german shepherd see the yorkie as more like a bunny than a dog? Was she using the praying instinct? How should I train her to never attack another dog? (at least not to attack it first.)There isn’t any socialization classes in my area. I tried my best to socialize the german shepherd, but it is a very difficult task.German Shepherds are scary, most people don’t really want to interact with my german shepherd on the street… before, when I only had the smaller dog, people had no problem letting their dog sniff nose with mine. But now, it is completely opposit with my german shepherd.How should I socialize her with other dogs? or smaller animals?thanks dartass…the yorkie did not show aggression at all, it was just sniff nose with my german shepherd…I was not blaming the GSD. I want to know why she attacked, and the things I can do to stop her from attacking the yorkie in the future.shalakoa.. there are not many traffic in my neighborhood, so I let my smaller dog roam around from time to time.I stopped the attack at the second it happened, and yorkie ran away… my smaller dog went after the yorkie, but they did not fight (my smaller dog never showed any signs of aggression). I don’t know which house it belongs to.to make things more clear, i’ll describe my GSD a little.she is very submissive, in fact, she used to have a submissive urinating problem. I tried my best in socializing her. She shows no aggression to other people and dogs. (she will bark when a stranger approach my house, that i can’t really help…)from time to time other dogs will come to my yard, a couple of them are toy breed, and my GSD had no problem with them…umm, about my smaller dog…she is only 35 lb, and she is extremely well socialized… everyone in the neighborhood knows her, and she can play with all the dogs in my neighborhood fine.she is submissive as well, but not as submissive as the GSD. I am aware of the issue with dominance in dogs, and I dominate both of them. the thing with her is, she got the personality of a husky… she wants to play all the time, and she does not pay much attention to other cues. (i.e. the german shepherd and the york staring each other)after the yorkie ran off, she went after it, and was sniffing the york…

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