Why did my dog attack?

If your dog attacked the neighbor's loose dog in this situation. She did not f#ck up(sorry the way I speak. Yeah, I have to talk like this to my neighbors so they back off and let me walk a dog. We are nice to each other they just nit pick my dogs I sit). She did not mess up though. You did a little bit. Do not let anyone touch the dog's food. It does not matter who they are. The dog eating should be left alone. I dog board and I tell everyone the dog's eating when they are. It is important the dog has their food left alone. They will protect their food.

But the situation. She was just protecting your kids from an intruder. To you, the loose dog was your neighbor's dog. To her, it was just a dog who could put your kids in danger. But she was just doing her job. She is a German Shepard they have a natural instinct to protect. She does not see the neighbor's dog as the neighbor's dog. She saw an intruder. She knew your kids were with her and she protected them. To her, she is in a pack and she defended that pack. Also, she defended the pack's territory. The territory being the backyard. The house, front yard, and backyard are territory to the dog.

You can not think that a dog sees everything as you do. Put yourself in a dog's shoes or mind.

Like you said she took the GSD stance and it was done perfectly. To her, the neighbor's dog was an intruder and she just acted just right. She was aware your kids were in the middle so it was from in the house to out the house. Your dog is first, your kids 2nd and in the middle and in the backyard neighbor's dog, 3rd.

She put herself between your kids and the dog intruder. In your eyes the neighbor's dog

Dog's need their owner or pet mom or dad to introduce each other if not they can not just come over and yes the dog will defend. They are not like people. If your neighbor says but they know each other and have met. Say what they saw was a loose dog outside and your kids were the only ones there. A loose dog is an intruder, lots of people do not understand just because they met before. They need to meet with their owner not just by themselves and the owners think everything is fine.

This is dangerous thinking it should be fine just because they know each other. Once again your dog saw a loose dog, an intruder they did the right thing. Also, you and your wife were not there with your dog and the kids and there was a loose dog. Your kids opened the door. A loose dog was outside. Yes, this was a dangerous situation for your kids. Your dog protected them. She is ... (more)

Dogs know the difference between adults and children.(Human or animal) So When she meets younger dogs she isn't going to display any negative behaviors because she knows they are younger.

She attacked the dog because he stepped on your property. She was already aware and on alert because your wife was outside so The neighbors dog getting out was was just a situation that she was "waiting for". By waiting for I mean she was already on go . Think of it like the secret service (hope for the best prepare for the worst) with 100 times better hearing and awareness.

My assumption is that the aggressive behavior, bark and body language is because the screen door was open. The kids were taunting her and she was telling them to pay attention because more important things were going on. It could have also been in response to the neighbors dog barking. The male dog May have been challenging her. She attacked him because he was in her territory.

Dogs are extremely empathic. I am willing to guess that whoever stopped it or intervened displayed panic or anger towards her. Either she didn't get the positive reinforcement that she was looking for or she could feel that you guys were not happy. Which is why she came back sad and remorseful.

If she signaled to get outside your kids probably thought she was trying to get to your wife and recognized it as regular behavior. However the missed cue was the Aggressive behavior, body language, and an audible bark. She was already clearly upset.

The only mistake that you guys are making is letting the children agitate her (jokingly or not). They are literally pissing her off To see how far she will go.

Regardless if they knew the other dog was outside or not she had already displayed signs of being agitated & they just let her outside. She was already annoyed & nothing was done to calm her temperament.

The reality is just because they stop /leave her alone does not mean that she has fully calmed down. Just like humans animals hold feelings. So purposefully pissing her off isnt a joke. Even if they are just playing and testing her limits growls and barks are warning signals. If she does hurt one of them one day it would not be a flip or wild instincts it is simply her being fed up! Your kids are provoking her and unnerving on a regular basis. If they were not they would have been able to recognize that something was wrong and calmed her down.

On a serious note regardless of what they feel is A good stopping point or joking you can never assume the same for a dog. One day they could go to do their normal jokes and she just bites instead of her "usual" warning bark. Her only biting at the children wasnt playful it was a warning. If she was playfully biting she would do it ... (more)