11 wk old pup aggression

Question

------I met the mother and father. The father was very calm when meeting us. The mom was a little reluctant but we also contributed that to her having her pups. She wasn't nasty or anything. She was a typical Shepherd. I realize force isn't the answer and we do not use it unless she is biting at our feet bad enough to cause pain. Your heel area is a very sensitive place ya know. Anyway, if a person comes into lets say our house....she will approach very cautiously. When she gets to this person, the person will bend over and try to talk and touch her. She then starts the backing off and barking at their hands. After I tell her no, I usually have them ignore her and let her smell them as they are moving around the house. Sometimes our family members come in and ignore her and she will bark at their feet and follow them. When they try to say hello the whole backing off and barking happens. My husband will call her to go outside and she will run from him. Once he catches her she is fine. She shows no aggression towards him but she will bark at him sometimes too. I find she is reluctant more w/men than women. I walk her to school in the afternoon so she can see the kids and other people. She is usually alittle reluctant when the strangers come up to her but better because she isn't in our house. The other day she started something new. As we were walking home she started trying to chase and nip people walking by us. What is her deal? She gets plenty of love and I am trying to establish clear lines of where her place is in the pack but she doesn't seem secure w/that. She is very loving and you can tell she wants attention but is just scared to go get it.-------------------------------------
The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I have a 11 wk old pup. I've had her since 8wks. Great pup, very smart. We are clicker training. She is taking to it very well. The question I have is what to do about the possible aggressive problem we may have w/her. When you tell her no as she is looking at you or you point at her and reprimand her she will jump at you and try to nip you. I call it talking back. When she is biting at our feet sometimes she is going at it so vigorously that you literally have to pull her away using her scruff. She will then come back at you nipping. She doesn't back down. Using force only increases her persistence. I put her in her crate when she keeps biting and keep doing this until it stops. The problem is she isn't getting it. I don't know how to stop this behavior before it gets worse. She shows fear aggression towards toddlers, strangers, and she barks constantly at the cat. The cat now wants nothing to do w/her and stays outside to avoid her. I tell her no but it is getting difficult. Thank you for your help.
-----Answer-----
Hi Angela,  When you use force, you are trying to dominate a dominate dog, which as you are seeing, never works.  My biggest worry would be the fear aggression.  What exactly is she doing towards strangers?  At 11 weeks old, you have a big problem.  Did you meet her parents?  Barking at the cat is not necessary that bad, she is a GSD, and they do have high herding & prey drives, so that is why she is harassing the cat.  That is genetic and will never go away.  You can curb that behavior by using a spray bottle filled with water and everytime she looks at the cat, spray her with the bottle in the face.  You are basically using the startle reflex against her.  Dogs don't like to be startled, so when she does something you don't like, you can startle her to correct her by spraying her with the water.  You can use the same technique for biting at your feet.  Hope this helps,

Dawn

Answer
Hi Angela,  Well it sounds like the reluctance that the mother showed probably was genetic fearness which has passed on to your dog.  This unfortunately is very common in GSDs, and can escalate to fear biting.  The one thing you do not want to do is dominate this dog as it can make the problem even worse.  You need to do leadership type training with her not dominance training.  Also, she needs to socialize with people, but not be forced into meeting people, so don't make people touch her if she doesn't want to be touched.  Let her go up to people on her own.  

As far as nipping at people as they go by, she could be using her herding instinct by trying to herd people as they go by.  A lot of fear biters that have strong herding instinct will do that.  The bottom line is you need to get her into a training program that institutes leadership training & works with you and the dog together.  Teaching you to work with the dog and learn how to read her, what she is thinking so you can be one step ahead of her.  You need to do it now, before she reaches her teenage stage and you have more problems.  Hope this helps,

Dawn