My German Shepherd nips male guests. How do I stop this behavior?

Hello, German Shepherds are commonly aggressive and may require intense training and socialization to be good companion animals. It sounds like he has become quite a dangerous animal, especially to your mother. Please take his aggression seriously and do not allow small children or animals to be around him, as he has a history of severely hurting people. He also needs to maintain his rabies vaccinations to ensure he is not able to spread a fatal disease with his bites. I would recommend seeing a veterinary behaviorist, a good dog trainer, as well as pursuing neutering him. This will be the best way to try to make him a safe animal to live with. I hope this is helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

This is very dangerous. I don't have enough information, like your brother's age, to give you a good answer. If your brother is under 10 years old, he may not be mature enough to be around a dog unsupervised. Also, if he is teasing or playing very rough with Shad, he may have taught him this behavior, Or, Shad may be fear aggressive due to poor socialization and is actually afraid of your brother. All of these things are very common. First, you need to neuter your dog so his testosterone is not encouraging this behavior. Secondly, if you can find a veterinary behaviorist in your area, this is the best option. If not, explore this website for help with fear aggressive dogs: www.dogstardaily.com. Good luck.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is certainly possible and recommended but this usually requires in person training by a qualified dog trainer. I recommend you consider contacting a qualified dog trainer to work with you in person. Good luck and have a good day!

If you would like to keep Max, I strongly urge you to get him into a professional behavioral expert to work on his aggression. German Shepherds are very strong willed dogs, and need extensive training. Do not allow him alone at all with your chihuahuas for their safety. I would not pass him onto another family without training first, as if he's this aggressive with his possessions, I would be quite concerned this aggression could be directed toward a child that may try to touch one of his toys. Speak to his vet now about a referral to a professional behavioral expert.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I am sorry to hear that this has happened. This behavior is certainly concerning as you don't want Boston to cause serious harm to your wife or anyone else for that matter. I would recommend taking Boston to a behaviorist for training and other recommendations. There are trainers that will take Boston for several weeks for the training or trainers that will come to your house for in home training. At 4 months of age, this is easier to correct than when he is 4 years old. Now is the time to take action as it is much easier to train a puppy. I hope this helps and for now, please take the necessary precautions and keep Boston away from anyone until he is appropriately trained.

Definitely take Max into a veterinary behavioral expert for help! Aggressive dogs are not something to leave alone, and this behavior can and does get worse over time. In addition, if he did bite someone, he could seriously injure them and there could be very severe repercussions for that occurring including euthanasia. There are a number of cases where a dog has had to be put to sleep for biting people, and you do not want that to happen. Speak to your vet about a referral to a professional behavioral expert asap. I hope this helps!

That's not fair to the new dog to take her back to the shelter. I would spay Angel, as aggression can be hormonally related, and then put them both into training with a professional behavioral expert. The expert can help with aggression issues to try to resolve them. Best of luck.