Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hi there,
First off let me say that I really enjoy this forum and I am so happy that I found it. I am a new Dutch Shepherd owner and have found a lot of answers here. My question is about my 7 month old pup, Kai. She has recently started to bark and lunge at other dogs when we walk. In the past I could get her under control and focused on me but not lately. Her sister lives right across the street and they play together just about every day. Today after playing all day they bumped into each other, fetching their balls and started to fight (Kai instigating) and had to be separated. Kai has started to show a little more dominance lately over her other playmates (other dogs in the neighborhood) but today with her sister really shocked me. She did not come when I used her recall and usually she comes right away. We have gone through level one puppy training and she does really well. We start level 2 in about 2 weeks and I am nervous about how she will be with the other dogs with this change in attitude she is having. Has anyone ever had anything like this happen when their dogs were puppies and is it a phase or something I should be concerned with. She is so smart and quick to learn everything so I don't want to do anything to reinforce this behavior in her. Any suggestions and comments would be greatly appreciated.

You said she has been through level 1 training, what training is that exactly? Whats involved with level 2?

I would be interested to hear what your trainer says about this problem and a solution when you ask him/her about it on the phone today. *hint*hint*

Let us know how it goes, then I'll give you my 2 cents.

In the mean time, no fighting allowed. Your the leader, enforce the rules of proper behavior.

Thanks for responding! Level one is just the basic training. Sit, Leave it, drop it, walking on a loose leash, recall, down etc.. Level two is using what we learned in level one and bringing it up a notch. Heel on & off leash
Sit/Stay & Down/Stay with handler at a distance, Recall from a distance, Recall through a tunnel of dogs & handlers, Figure eight exercise, Stand for examination exercise. Some of this she already does well but I want to go through all the levels to be sure we are getting it right.

I do have a call in to her trainer (vacation week) to see what he thinks. We don't let them fight at all but she and her sister play really rough sometimes. If I think they are getting too rough I will step in and distract them. I just don't really know just how rough I should let them get. Her sister can give just as much as she can take but yesterday it seems like my Kai had enough of her and just lost it. At least I hope it was just that.

I spent about 3 hours (not all at once) last night going over all the different topics on this forum and took a few ideas here and there that I am going to try. All your recommendations and comments are appreciated.

Sadie did the same thing about that age. She tried to get the top position over Thalie. Having the two together all of the time, I can see when its just a rough play and when Sadie is trying to make a point, thats when I step in. Watch the body language, it is alot stiffer and slower. Rough play is bodies flying all over and quick movments ( well, so is fighting once it starts). If I dont see bodys twisting and the faces are together I know someone is not happy and I step in.

I am having the same problem just recently with my Kai. We've only had him about 2 months now. Just recently he went after my female (non DS) and had to be pulled off. He did get a severe correction, so we will see if that did the trick. We do not allow that kind of behavior from any of them. He is still young and I believe still testing the boundaries with us. He would not dare do that to Odin who is extremely condfident and alpha, whereas, Dakota is lower ranked (if that makes any sense).