I agree with the above post.  He is young and over excitable and the best avenue is that he does not get any attention until he is calm.  Do not give him eye contact or speak to him and ask your visitors to do the same until he realises his behaviour is not getting him any attention.

My little jack russell used to snatch at the ball when i went to pick it up.  So I would tell her to sit and wait and slowly bring my hand towards the ball and if she looked like she was going to make a grab for it repeat the wait command whilst picking it up.  Our retrieve game then became a chain of commands, drop-it, down, wait and then after picking up the ball - fetch.  She loves it!

It may be diet related.  My sister-in-law had a staffie that shivered frequently and saw a nutritionist and the correct diet eliminated it.

I would suggest that a dog the size of a border collie requires two people to lift him in order to not unintentionally hurt him.  There are correct ways to lift a dog and one person lifting a dog this size is quite likely to hurt him.  I'd guess he has experienced some pain when being lifted and is now not prepared to be lifted without a fight.

If he instigates play in this manner, tell him a firm 'No', stand still and fold your arms, if necessary turn your back on him.  He needs to learn that you instigate the play, on your terms and not him!

Yes, I think I will suggest they get a second opinion about his ears/shaking of his head.

I'm not sure what breeders they got him from - I have seen his pedigree papers but cannot remember what their affix is, it was not one that I recognised.

I think your right aswell Denis that he has minor problems that would be resolved with sound training.  He is not a 'nasty-natured' dog, in fact can be quite affectionate and very responsive to training and eager to learn.  He is very attentive doing heel work and lights and up and prances, eager to know what his next 'task' will be. He loves the mental stimulation of doing a little obedience work. 

Thanks for your responses.  The owners are naive but willing to do some work.  They have had one session with a trainer one to one and are starting to make some changes that are showing but have enrolled him on a training class.  They have tiptoed around this dog out of their depth and I agree they have got the wrong breed of dog and hope they will put in the work as he has amazing potential.

As I said, I walk him once a week and there were two reasons for this.  1/ To get some outside input and 2/ So they had somebody other than themselves thatthe dog would allow to access the property during their abscence and would petsit if they needed to go away.  They asked me to visit initially when he was young enough to have not started to guard and he let me in the house with no problem - had they left it another month or so they would have had a problem.  Most of my clients dogs that I walk, I walk daily and have a strong bond with.  But this boy is an aloof GSD and walking him weekly it is harder to build on that bond. 

Thanks for mentioning the muzzling - I think I will start there! 

With regard to the health problems.  I observed he seems to have a problem with his ears.  He constantly shakes his head and I mentioned this to the owner.  They took him to the vet and he had to be muzzled and restrained as he was most unhappy about having his ears examined.  However, the vet could find no infection and said he could not see anything but may have an allergy.  I found this diagnose a bit of a mystery and he still shakes his ears but particularly hates being touched around his ears/collar. He is fine with being handled around his back end as the first time I helped him into the car he put his paws in and tried to climb into the boot and I gave him a lift up no problem.  He is not used to going in the back.  I can stroke him around his shoulders and chest, side of his face and he enjoys this but around his ears he gets touchy.

When I look after him next week I will try some retrieve games with him - he does willingly give up his toys, thankfully. 

Thanks again for all the advice. 

I dog-walk a GSD that is about 9 months.  When I first met him at his owners' house he was extremely unruly, mouthing and playing mauling games and not very obedient.  He was pulling on the lead to the extent that the woman was finding it difficult to take him out at all.

I agreed to work with him on the condition that the owners would work on stopping the biting totally.  He is 100% better on the lead now and walks nicely.

However, I only walk this dog once a week and have not built up a great amount of trust with him as yet.  I took him in the car for the second time today, in the back of my estate.  He reluctantly got in after using treats to encourage him and he put his paws in and I helped him up, as he climbed in.  The problem arose after his walk when trying to get him back in the car.  He refused.  Treats were of no interest.  I need to mention that he is used to sitting on the back seat of my clients car unsecured.  Eventually, I tried to put his front paws on the back so I could help him in and he snapped at me.  Unfortunatley he does not wear a harness but I had no choice but to carefully drive back with him on the back seat unsecured.

The dog does not like being handled.  The only warnings he issues are a slight wrinkling of his nose if you are fortunate enough to spot it. 

I'm looking after him for a few days whilst his owners are away and looking for ideas to build on the trust with the dog without challenging him so that I am able to handle him without him getting
bitten!

Would really appreciate any ideas.  Thanks.

With regard to my post Coconettie, I would like to make it clear what I was actually advising.  Sometimes when another dog is brought into a home where there are already 2 dogs fights can start due to the fact that they need to re-establish a hierarchy.  This can be the case irregardless of whether it is a bitch or a dog, although more common with a bitch in a two male dog household.

My advice with regard to getting any of the dogs done, was not particularly suggesting that you should.   But should it be an avenue you decide to explore, that to get both dogs done may not change the situation.  If the dogs are very close in ranking getting them neutered reduces the ranking but getting both done would reduce both of their positions thereby the same problem would exist.  By getting the less dominant dog neutered it widens that gap.

My advice was relating to the fighting problem not whether or not you should breed from him.

Have you tried walking her on a long extending lead?  I'm just wondering what her reaction would be if it were a different type of lead and she did not feel restrained close to you.

With regard to the advice regarding getting the dogs done, use caution. 

Quite possibly you have two dogs close in ranking position.  A bitch brought into the picture could bring this into a hierarchy situation whereby the dominant male needs to assert his position. If they are close in ranking the less dominant dog may not accept this. By getting both dogs done the situation will not change.  You need to be clear as to which is the dominant dog and get the less dominant one neutered thereby making the dominance gap between the two more clear. 

It sounds like the dogs get on quite well up to a point so I would try to identify what is triggering the fights first.  Is Aggie being territorial?  It could help to let them greet each other on neutral ground - perhaps she would be less territorial in the garden.  Sometimes our dogs get 'on their toes' around their beds or feeding areas with visitor dogs.

Our GSD started throwing her weight around with our other dogs and it has now resolved with, thankfully, no damage.  After the first 'spat' I became anxious (especially as the size difference between dogs meant potentially fatal damage).  My anxiety was then triggering fights as they were sensing a tension from me when the dogs were together.  In order to reduce my anxiety I worked hard on the 'down' command to reassure myself that if I gave the command the dog would drop to the floor.  This was useful in breaking fights before they had really kicked off.

Recently I brought a young labrador into the house for the first time that she gets on well with outside the house.  The dog approached her bed and she flew for him - I gave the down command and she dropped but he got the message it was her bed and out of bounds to him!  They are fine together in the house now.

Back to terriers - don't prize their jaws apart or you will risk getting bitten.  I don't know if people will disagree with this or not but my JRT grabbed a laso apso by the fur on the park (they were playing slightly raucously and the owner of the laso apso panicked thinking they were fighting and grabbed my dogs collar and she proceeded to grab the dogs fur!) Her dog was hanging from my dog's mouth as this lady held her in the air by her collar and I told the woman to let go of the collar and grabbed her scruff instead and she instantly let go.  If all else fails - ring the doorbell - that is usually enough distraction to break up most fights occuring in the home.

Try a little evaporated milk watered down and get him to the vets for a check-up.

I am certainly of the opinion that dominance can play a part in problem behaviours.  Some posters are very against the use of the term but in fact are clearly holding a position that is dominant over their dogs.  Demanding and aggressive behaviours can be a result of a dog that is dominating its owners however I believe that it is important to understand that there can be other reasons for such behaviours and not to assume that it is a dominance issue. 

As a dog-owner I would be looking for a class that understands that dominance issues can exist but does not automatically assume that problem behaviour is a result of a dog that does not recogise its owner as the leader.  Some problems can be as a result of for example, poor training despite the owner clearly being the leader or fear, lack of socialisation, trauma etc etc etc

Clearly some dog-owners have solved problems as a result of a rank reduction problem and have then had much greater success implementing various training methods. 

A problem that can occur is that our dogs learn very early on that when the postie/delivery boy posts something in the letter box and the dog barks at them they always leave straight away and the dog is satisfied that they are leaving due to them and therefore they have accomplished getting rid of a would-be intruder. 

From reading your post I am wondering if perhaps more recently the paper boy/girl or somebody delivering a leaflet could have taunted him from the other side of the door worsening his behaviour.  Just a thought.

Firstly I would put a box outside your front door or a cage on the inside of your letterbox to catch the mail and prevent fingers getting bitten.

An exercise that may be worth a try is to get a willing helper to post a leaflet through your letterbbox when your dog is on the leash and you open the door whilst holding the leash and allow your helper to greet your little dog and if safe to do so give him a treat.  This would then need to be repeated several times to help him understand that the delivery person is not a threat.