what makes him snap

[blevins-david@sbcglobal.n]

Three year old neutered black german shepherd, family pet, has had some training. Kicked out of 4h because of unsure disposition, limited to dog training classes because of unsure disposition. He generally listens but when something inside of him snaps any discipline is thrown out the window. He recently ran his shock fence twice in one week to get to dogs across the road. His greeting was not a friendly one. The puppy got flipped and pinned, thank goodness he had his muzzle on. He shares his house with a fox terrier and a cat. They repeatedly get herded. How does one deal with the unsure disposition.

[KOPcaroline]

Hi there,

A couple questions first off-

How long have you had the dog? And how long has his misbehaving been going on? Do you know if some specific incident triggered it, or has it always been a problem?

Have you done alpha training with him? Does he know that you're the boss of the house, not him? If you haven't started this, you might try working on this aspect of training at home, so that he listens to you better and doesnt act up around you so often.

In the meantime - If you see him acting up with your foxy and other pets, correct him immediately, and remove him from the situation. Try to make it clear that harrassing them is not allowed, and he'll be put out if he doesn't listen.

Is there a pen you can put him in to keep him better confined, instead of the shock fence? And try only letting him out when you can be in the yard too?

Just a couple basic start off points, I'd like more info on his background to think it over better Thanks!