My wife and I have a 20 month old unneutered male GSD. He is an inside dog. I received him when he was a couple months old and housetrained him relatively quickly. He is also crate trained. We do not have any children.

We also have a 4 year old spayed female Beagle who is also an inside dog. She is also housetrained/crate trained. Our Beagle is pretty dominant. She wrestles with the GSD who is more than twice her weight now. They get along well, like a "brother and sister". They play fight sometimes where they grab each other with their mouths - never hurting or causing the other dog to yelp, and other times they respect each others space. They do get jealous of each other, but I think this is normal - it is never overly aggressive.

Our male GSD seems to be fairly anxious with a lot of things. When he was younger, he went through his nipping phase. I trained him not to do that, and he no longer does it to my wife or myself. He sometimes scares himself when he accidentally knocks something down. If I try to pet his head, he closes his eyes and moves his mouth towards my hand apprehensively until I have pet him a few times. He is always on alert - maybe too much if there is such a thing. He is a great guard dog. He knows how to sit on command and I give him positive reinforcement verbally and with treats when he behaves or acts obediently.

The issue:
He does not seem to get along with children at all. He is nervous and apprehensive around them. This past 4th of July weekend, I took him to my wife's family's lake house. All the relatives were there. He got along well with the 3-4 adults that came up to greet/pet him. My brother-in-laws 3 year old walked up to him and he lowered the front half of his body to the ground and got pretty excited. I kept him back, making sure he could not reach her. It looks like he wanted to play with her, but his demeanor may have been overly aggressive.

Later on, a ~10 year old girl and her mom tried to pet him. The mom pet him and he was okay. The girl, standing to his side started to pet his back and out of nowhere he snapped at the 10 year old and growled. I had my hand on his back and pulled him back before he could do anything to her. At this point, I decided to be safe and drive him home because there was just too many kids there, some too young to know better.

All of this GSD's siblings are with family/friends. We know that some of the males and females from the same liter are also aggressive towards children.

He is a great dog with my wife and me. He is pretty obedient and we have a large backyard where he likes to play catch, and swim in a kiddie pool that we got him.

How can I train him to be better with children? Is it too late at this age? How do I train him to be less fearful at this age? Would neutering him at this age help? My wife and I plan to have our own children soon, so I want to do everything that I can to help my GSD now, to help mitigate against future issues if possible.

Thank you.

How much socialization have you done with him?  

Owning dogs that are bigger than many adults we start our socialization with the dog and people early. Our guys get out in public a lot, starting as young puppies. They get used to other dogs and people.  This has no impact on their warning or protective natures; most dogs understand the difference between a child coming up to pet and an adult looking to make trouble (at least with the breeds we have).

I have not given him enough opportunities for socialization. That's my fault. We typically don't go to the park because we have a large backyard. He also has the Beagle companion so we thought that would help with socialization with dogs. He has not been socialized with children appropriately. Would it be too late to start now?

That's typical with the breed. Socialization is key.

I'm certainly no expert, but I don't think it would be too late. Take him to the park, pet store, etc and just make sure to lets kids and their parents know they need to be cautious and calm. Having a GSD at a park is a kid magnet. Kids (and most adults) LOVE GSDs. All the kids want to pet my 5 month GSD and I just let em know to stay out of his face, and act calm. I also hold his leash a little tighter but the only problems I've had is he gets excited and jumps.

They're awesome dogs and he should be just fine. He hasn't had a kid torturing him or anything so he has no animosity towards them, they're just something new to him.  Good luck.

It sounds like that basically, your GSD has never had any real interaction except with his pack or around his own space (when someone comes to your house). Socialization is only really easily learned by puppies in the 7 week to 20 month range (the younger the better).

I'm not an expert on dog behavior, but I believe the consensus is that it is very difficult to socialize adult dogs with people, especially children. What experts tends to suggest is that if you want to have an adult dog that is uncomfortable around children (which would be why he snaps at them) or strangers, you need to teach your dog to follow your direction; that is you want him to be trained to be calm and passive when in public situations, regardless of how he actually feels.

That right there would have me making the vet appointment to get him neutered and I would be informing whoever produced the litter that it's an issue.  A responsible breeder would cull that line from the breeding program.

I see others have given you tips on socialization, my only concern would be if the dog does end up nipping a child things could go badly for the dog depending on the local authorities and parents's reaction.

That would be the next question; why isn't he neutered? We have an intact male, but he is a show dog and is required to be un-neutered.

It's not always something that will prevent the behavior you are seeing, but it can make a big difference.

How would you feel walking around with all this pent up energy from no physical/sexual release. Why would you not have neutered him from the beginning if he was a pet and not a show dog or breeding dog?? Anyways I would get him neutered and socialized   Still though not all dogs like kids. My female Great Dane that has been socialized since 8 weeks old and some kids she just doesn't care for.   She also doesn't care for dark poofy hair on anyone...she is weird

You are worrying too much. If a dog isnt around kids nearly daily, particularly a GSD, they will be apprehensive.  Its not the actual kid that bothers them, but the quick movements, loud noises and other kid behaviors that keep a shepherd wanting to 'Shepard'.  These dogs basic instinct is to keep things in order.  Adults are usually orderly, so the dog doesnt have to 'work'.  Kids however, need to be rounded up...  or shepherded (if thats even a word); like sheep or goats.  The dog is apprehensive because it knows that the liks need to be organized, and the dog is probably aware that it does not have the authority (or ability) to round up these kids; even though he wants to.  Hence his conflict, hence his "apprehensiveness".

It is never to late to acclimate a well behaved and non aggressive dog to children.  The issue is that children are by nature a little rough with each other, and the dog will try to maintain his dominance with these 'inferior and curious creatures" (kids).  The dogs tolerance for kids will have to be built up over time.  Repeated exposures to kids at a distance (take dog to a park where kids play- just for the dog to get used to the noises and movements of kids; with out actually having contact with them); then gradually increasing contact with petting, playing catch or fetch where the kid wont actually touch the dog- but an activity is being shared, all the way up to full on wrestling on the ground/yard/whatever...

Fwiw; I have the exact opposite right now; My almost 3 year old GSD was raised with kids, from the time it was a puppy, she and my 2 and 3 year old children slept in a little pile at night or naps.  I 'used' my little kids as a substitute for the dogs littermates, which acclimated her real quick to kids.  Her issue is with other adults...  real stand offish until she has determined their intent.  Sometimes it only tales a minute, sometimes ti takes... much longer.
The problem with her being used to kids is that whenever she wants to play with kids that are playing with my kids (RUNNING AROUND IN THE YARD, PLAYING MONKEY IN TH MIDDLE, WHERE THE DOG IS THE MONKEY) (dont know why that is in caps- sorry), is that the children get used to the dog real fast, and the dog will 'take the kid down' bu body checking the kid or nipping the kid at the waist and jerking the kid down (no big deal; no injuries or anything like that; she just 'tags them back').  The kids know the dog wont hurt them.   Its when the parents come over and see that big bad dog tacking their kid for the first time...  LOL.

In short; Based on your OP, your dog is fine and only needs exposure to kids at a gradually increasing rate over time.

Some dogs just don't like kids, you can try to socialize him but at what cost?  He's already shown some aggression, who's child would you volunteer to maybe get bit while he learns that kids are ok.


IMO since you don't have kids I would just keep him away from them unless your family situation changes.  

The dog being fixed or not has absolutely nothing to do with this.

I can tell you have done NO homework on spay / neuter as it relates to aggression in dogs...  MANY studies have been published and you have read none of them.

A magic little device called a MUZZLE does wonders when training in situations like this...

It is never too late to start.

Invest in a good muzzle to begin with. Depending on the type you get the dog will still be able to bark and drink - He just won't be able to sink his teeth into anyone. (NO muzzle is a replacement for proper supervision by the way... They are to be used together while training)   Be looking for a greyhound type muzzle device to give you an idea what I am talking about here.

Neutering will not help for squat and 'may' make things worse (especially so with female dogs with respect to aggression).

A properly trained dog will SIT and STAY while being handled / touched by others if one takes the time to actually TEACH this to the dog. Does not happen over night. Most properly trained dogs will listen better than humans if given the chance. Example: At the Home Depot the other day I had to tell this one particular fool three times to NOT touch my dogs before he finally figured it out and backed the hell up - Only had to tell the girls (firmly) ONCE to SIT and STAY for them to listen and respond accordingly.

"Hey bring your child around my German Shepherd that I won't let around children unless it's wearing a muzzle."

 


I bet they'll come a runnin'!

Ar-15TechGuy absolutely has the right advice, here.

1. Neutering a dog is a crapshoot and can just as easily make things worse as better.

2. A muzzle is an absolute requirement during any socialization with children based on this dog's reported history and the history of some of its litter mates. The consequences of an incident during such training are too dire to take any other approach.

My former dog being highly dog aggressive, I naturally fell in with a crowd of "bad dogs" seeking training and behavior modification. As a consequence I can tell you that the price of signing up to train with this crowd was the potential for a human dog bite and/or a full-on dogfight. While you may be able to find those willing to be "highly trained stunt dogs and people" I can guarantee you the same is not true of children of any age. One unfortunate incident with a child and that dog is getting the needle per the Judge's Orders.

Muzzles may seem harsh, but most dogs are easily acclimated to a high quality wire basket muzzle for training. They can drink, bark and accept treats through wire basket muzzles quite easily. I used a muzzle on my former dog to good effect when working socialization with other dogs in certain settings. However it should be said that some dogs are "muzzle wise" and their behavior will be markedly different with and without the muzzle. My dog was an excellent example of this, being a model citizen with the muzzle on. This limited the training benefit in her case, unfortunately.

That said, I would not do it any other way at this stage of the game.

Given that your comment is completely non-responsive to my question, and ignores the follow up statement, I wonder why you bothered to post it?

I think we have already established that you have done NO real reading or homework when it comes to spay / neuter surgeries with respect to dogs and aggression  .

Have you read ANY of the longevity studies done to compare average lifespans of altered vs. unaltered dogs?  

Have you read ANY of the studies that compare the possible risks to the possible benefits of spay / neuter surgeries?


Pretty sure the answer to both those questions would be NO...

You could not likely cite ANY published studies that compare the possible benefits to possible adverse reactions to spay / neuter surgeries yet that is the very first thing that you suggest the OP to do???


Scientific research studies that found spaying and
neutering do not reduce aggression in dogs...


(I bolded the Duffy research because it was an awesome presentation / study in MY opinion. The others should not be dismissed as they point to the same conclusions in many cases)





The 'in a nutshell' version because I know you hate to read long studies and doing actual 'homework' before doling out your 'advice':

Our dog Casey was an oversized Sheltie, biggest Sheltie I've ever seen. He hated kids. We never kept him on a leash, so when a kid(s) come around he would head in the opposite direction or go lay out of sight. Adults were OK. Towards the end when he started slowing down he would let the grandkid touch him but it wasn't out of need for love, more like the food the kid was carrying.