Your Behavior Can Contribute to The Aggression of Your German Shepherd Dog

Is your German Shepherd Dog aggressive? Aggression, to the desirable extent, is a part of the breed's natural character, although these dogs usually make great companions for your family and can prove to be quite good with kids. Too docile nature of German Shepherd will compromise his guarding and protective instincts, and would make him undesirably friendly with strangers, which is a serious fault in his character. While, on the other hand, too aggressive nature can be a way to get over you... that is to become the alpha member of the pack. His over aggression can be a challenge thrown towards you to acquire the alpha position. Do not surrender your position to your dog. Successful and technical dog ownership demands you to be the leader of the pack. It is only if you are the alpha of your pack, that you can be successful in your attempts controlling your dogs. Retaining the alpha position of the pack doesn't mean you will yell at him. Remember... Yelling, punishing and hurting him doesn't work. Beating him or punishing him will cause fear-based aggression. Aggressive dog training, be it with German Shepherds or for any other breed, involves correcting measures without punishing him. Yelling and punishing your aggressive German Shepherd Dog will simply stimulate your dog's fear and increase his aggression.

Many people have been mailing me asking for suggestions about their aggressive GSD. Most of them have more than one dogs and they fight when they get to meet together. Sam's problem iss that his GSD tends to attack fearlessly his Labrador when they are given food at the same time. His trainer asked him to feed them separately. He said, now he has to pay double the charge paid to the one who walks his dogs, because he has to walk them separately. But this is not permanent solution! I am sure most people cannot afford to keep their dogs closed separately.

My suggestion to people like Sam would be simple...

Find out why your dogs are aggressive towards each other. Did you not socialize them during their puppy hood? Or do both of them need dominance? If you did not have socialized them properly, it was your fault. If they both are fighting your dominance, it's again your fault. Dogs are quite intelligent,. and can learn things throughout their life. take them to the external world. Allow them meet situations, and experience strangeness of the nature. I would suggest you take both your dogs together - and take them in an entirely new area, where they have never been to before. Strangeness of new places will mitigate their aggression towards each other. In a new area they won't be claiming their territory and position, because they know they are new there. Each of your dogs will need one another to form a team there. Well, by this I mean to say their sense of lack of confidence in a new place will make them look for each other's company. Make them play... let them be dead tired.

Next step is simple for experienced, but may be a bit tough for new owners.

Bring them home and now do not lock them in separate places. Take them along with you in your hall. They are tired, and need rest now. Make them lie in the same hall at two different corners. Provide them water in separate bowl. Be there yourself; keep an eye on both and try to maintain your position as an alpha of the pack of three - you and your two dogs. Do not too soft will giving them command. Say "NO" firmly, whenever required. Don't allow them to get on you.

My third very important suggestion...

Love them - but do not demonstrate preference - neither Rover over Rolley nor Rolley over Rover. The slightest demonstration of preference one over the other will make the other jealous, which will stimulate his aggression. Both of them should exercise together until they are tired. They should get the equal share of you love and touch. The aim is be at diminishing their jealousy towards each other.

Check out my post on handling aggressive German Shepherds
Know more about German Shepherd Dog - Ultimate Destination for Resources About German Shepherd Dog

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Purely Genetic Traits in German Shepherd Dog: German Shepherd Dog Character

Genetic Traits in German Shepherd Dog

Some of the character traits in German Shepherd Dogs are purely genetic. Just like the components like pigments, anatomy etc. are engineered into the dog genetically, so are these traits. Well bred GSDs have all positive traits in common. This post on character traits in German Shepherd Dogs is going to talk about the purely genetic traits in the breed - starting from the physical endurance to agility, distractibility and a few more!
Physical Endurance: Physical endurance describes the overall physique of the dog including sturdiness, muscular tone and general physical condition. This is a genetic trait and breeders must keep this in mind while breeding. A well bred dog usually has a good physical endurance. A dog with an excellent physical endurance spends less energy while working. This ensures both quantity and quality of work within a specified amount of time.

Agility: Agility is another remarkable feature in German Shepherd Dog breed. Agility describes the total coordination of the dog, including its natural fastness. Reputed breeders keep the Agility trait in mind while breeding, so that the dogs natural tendency to pursue things with fastness and surefootedness is not spoiled.

Sharpness: Alike these traits, Sharpness is transferred genetically! This is why not all German Shepherds are equally sharp. Degree of Sharpness is how intensely he reacts to a stressful situation. It is also a by-product of his intelligence. For instance, if your Shepherd bites you for no apparent reason, and if he is sharp enough, he will immediately realize his fault. This will make him cool down to his normal status.

Feral Tendency: Feral tendency is a purely genetic trait, which is a tendency to revert to an animal in the wild. A well bred dog has a higher feral tendency and will act more intelligently than the other dogs. A dog with high degree of feral tendency can be more easily trained and acts more obediently during the period of stress and pain. Dogs with low feral tendency will mis-behave in stressful situation.

Distractibility: Distractibility is environmentally influenced genetic trait that describes the tendency of the dog to get distracted from its allotted work. High degree of distractibility trait means the dog is highly influenced by the environmental factors, which is not a desirable trait as it hampers the working ability of the dog. Remember, GSD is a working breed. Most well bred dog are have amore or less high degree of distractibility, but that doesn’t mean that dog is genetically weak. Most well bred dogs have the ability to maintain the competency, but hidden. All you need is to carry on a rigorously typical training session to make use of the competency and attentiveness hidden within them.

Dogfight Tendency: This is purely a genetic trait in German Shepherd Dog and other dog breeds also, but many canine behaviorists have defined it as a Genetic trait, based on environmental influences like distractibility. Most people seem to get confused with Dogfight trait, as this trait typically resembles closely with what we call “Fighting Drive”. Specialists have drawn a thin line to set Dogfight Trait apart from Fighting Drive. Dogfight trait is a genetic trait that describes a typical aggression towards other dogs, irrespective of breed, gender and age of the counterpart. I have seen dogs that are cool with strangers and even kids, but shows harsh aggression towards other dogs/ mongrels. The most important point of difference between the Fighting drive and Dogfight trait is that Fighting Drive mainly aims towards victory, where the looser, on showing submissive behavior, is released to escape. Dogs with the high degree of Dogfight trait aims at the victory, usually ending up with severe injury or even death in worst case. List of character traits in German Shepherd Dogs also includes Dogfight trait.

Sensory Threshold: Sensory threshold is a purely genetic trait in German Shepherd Dogs. This trait describes the level of stimulus that a given amount agitation can make the dog to respond. The dog may whine, scream or bark in response to agitation. This describes the amount of stimulus that makes the respond to agitation. Dogs with higher sensory threshold take longer time to respond to agitation; they handle such situation more intelligently. They usually have stronger character with higher feral tendency. Dogs with lower sensory threshold gets agitated easily, which in turn means they have lower Feral tendency.

Well, I have posted all the character traits in GSD in the three posts including this. The first two were respectively on Psychological + Physiological traits and psychological, but genetically based. Stay tuned… up next more interesting information about German Shepherd Dogs.

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Natural Traits in German Shepherd Dogs: Psychological traits in GSD - Physiologically Based

Psychological traits in GSD physiologically based

Hello friends... hope you have liked post psychological and genetic character traits in German shepherd Dogs. Check out the last post on NATURAL TRAITS IN GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG. As I said before, I intend to write about some other character traits in German Shepherd Dog breed that are psychological, but physiologically based. That means these traits are purely psychological. While identifying the character and personality traits in German Shepherd Dogs, you can clearly notice that these animals have high degree of self confidence, and shows typical behavior of aloofness at times, which will make a stranger think twice to make friends with them immediately. Alike some of the other dog breeds, the heavy-weight personality of German Shepherd Dogs blends well physique of the breed. Physiological traits in German Shepherd Dogs are the traits backed by the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions in the dog.

Here are the details of the German Shepherd Dog character traits that are psychological, but physiologically based:

The character traits of any dog breed depend on many factors. German Shepherd Dogs are sometimes quite hard by nature (both mentally and physically) and pain tolerating capacity is high, while soft at some other times. Both hardness and softness in the characters are the psychological traits in GSD that are physiologically based.

Hardness: Hardness is the trait that is both psychological and physiological. It is a mental resiliency (backed the physical and biochemical soundness) to not-so-pleasant experiences. Hardness is judged by putting the dog into situations where the pain threshold can be determined. Pain threshold is the point at which the dog starts reacting to pain. The intensity at which the stimulus (physical and mental pressure and stress) starts evoking pain the threshold stimulus. To be a bit more simple, the pain threshold is the point at which the starts not to tolerate the pain any longer. Since the threshold stimulus varies from breed to breed for a given stressful situation, the pain threshold level differs too. A well bred German Shepherd Dog has comparatively high level of pain threshold than most other dog breeds. By saying this I mean to say that the capacity of tolerating pain has been genetically engineered into the breed. Hence “hardness” is not 100% psychological and physiologically trait in GSD and other dog breeds, although, as a matter fact the level of hardness also varies form dog to dog within the breed itself. GSD has higher “Hardness” trait, means they can tolerate tremendous stress with little negative attitude. That in turn means that the GSD needs to handle strongly and requires strong corrections when they are disobedient.

Now what does it mean when I say that “Hardness” in GSD is a psychological trait, being physiologically based? From physiological view point, the hardness in GSD means that the dog is strong by nerve. It relates to the thick sheathing around the nerve fibers in the body of the dog which makes its pain threshold higher than other breeds. Sometimes the hardness is so high that corrections to disobedient behaviors sometimes become quite tough for les- experienced trainers. This is why an experienced specialized dog behaviorist/ trainer will always suggest not to hit him while training. This will make the training process harder and ineffective.

Softness: Softness in the character traits in German Shepherds is just the opposite of the hardness. Wild dogs in the nature are comparatively softer than the pets. In fact the softness is a natural trait that helps the dog to save himself from natural dangers. Softness breeds a bit of fear in them which acts as the natural measure for protection themselves form real danger – as I said in my last post. Softness in German Shepherd Dogs is another psychological trait that is associated to the fear from stressful experience. Excessive softness is a behavioral fault in the GSD breed. This is because these dogs are bred to work under a wide range of stressful situations. If a German Shepherds fail to do that, it means it doesn’t satisfy the breed’s actual purpose.

You will probably like to read about BREED EVOLUTION TEST IN GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG (Schutzhund) that has been designed to separate German shepherds with correct physical and character traits from the ones that have undesirable traits.

Up next purely genetic traits in German Shepherds! Stay tuned...

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Versatility Of German Shepherd Dogs

Well, we talked a lot about the origin and history of German Shepherd Dogs. Here's something very interesting about the breed. Why are German Shepherd Dogs the most versatile breed?

If you are really looking for a wonderful, smart , intelligent, protective, decent, courageous, self assertive, sturdy, powerful, royal, loyal and highly trainable working canine companion, German Shepherd Dogs are the right choice for you. The nature of a well bred Alsatian (German Shepherd Dog) is notably different from any other breed of dogs in the world. And it's because of this very different nature (not forgetting the gorgeous look) of the German Shepherd Dogs (GSDs) that the breed rightfully deserves a soft corner in the hearts of zillions of dog lovers across the world.

GSD has earned massive popularity all around the world after the World War II as a perfect working dog breed. To be very candid, no other breed of dog in the world has successfully mastered such a huge range of skills like GSD. This breed is large and powerful enough to tackle a couple of men at a time, protective and courageous enough to protect his master and property and intelligent and responsible enough to to safely control a whole herd of sheep.

True that he cannot outrun a Greyhound, but again it's beyond all controversy that he can show a stand out Turn Of Pace. Moreover a well bred Alsatian can also maintain a steady canter for longer than most of the other breeds of dogs. Besides his awesome intelligence, a well bred Alsatian is an ideal working dog, which is why this breed has really marked a name of itself in varied fields across the globe. Whether as a shepherd dog or rescue dog or a police dog or a guide dog for blind or a guard dog or an attack dog or a war dog or a messenger dog or a sniffer dog or a movie actor, Alsatian dog breed has proved to be the best among all the other dogs in the world. Originally started his career as a shepherd dog breed, Alsatians have underwent a wide range of diversifications insofar the nature of their work is concerned. An incredible number of 48,000 Alsatians took an active role in the Germen regiment during the World War II. This breed has also earned a lot of fame as sentry dog and security dog during the war time and the post war period. The most interesting fact about the breed of German Shepherd Dog is that, this breed was the first canine breed to come in the movie screen. Rin Tin Tin (Rinty) the famous GSD was the world's first canine celebrity who appeared in over 40 hit movies. Within only two years since he started his career as an actor he had been earning 400 pounds per week during 1920s. He had his own car, chauffeur and own bank account.

To begin with Rinty developed a really impressive war record. Owned and trained by Corporal Lee Duncan, Rinty started off his career taking active part in World War I, carrying out important dispatches, sentry and other significant duties for Red Cross. He first appeared as an actor in a movie called "Where The North Begins", directed by Chester Franklin. It was in this film that Rinty set Warner Brothers back on its feet along with a financial set back. The popularity of Rin-Tin-Tin almost became the nightmare of the great stars like Charlie Chaplin and the Gish Sisters. In the year 1925 Rinty was voted as the most popular star of USA.

The saddest part of Rinty's life was that he was insanely busy all through his life and could not enjoy a retirement although he had a remarkable life. Stay Tuned, More about Rin-Tin-Tin to come!

Pictures: Rin Tin Tin, nick name -- Rinty, (often written as Rin-Tin-Tin) Sep. 10th 1918 to Aug 10th 1932.

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