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May 18, 2011

My 6 month old female GSD has been showing signs of being weak nerved lately. What do you think?

Full Question:
Hi Ed,



I'm a long time follower of your site and I think it's good that you offer blunt/matter of fact advise.



I have a 6 mos old female GSD from German working lines and so far she's been a wonderful dog. I do have a couple of concerns though;



I came home the other night and had forgotten my keys in the house. I have a 3 year old son and a 7 mos old daughter and I knew they would both be asleep so I tapped gently on the door trying to get my wife's attention and not wake the kids. The first few taps were in vain as my wife was watching TV in our bedroom so I gradually tapped a little louder when all of a sudden I heard Lucy start barking her head off. My wife came down the stairs to the door to let me in and Lucy was right there beside her and she had a bit of her hackles raised. Apparently as soon as my wife opened the baby gate at the top of the stairs she ran down and continued barking at the door but it wasn't a happy bark, she sounded pissed off to me as I've heard her play bark a lot. Upon seeing me she went into dopey/lovey mode immediately, but I remember reading on your site about how a puppy shouldn't have these drives yet and that she probably is thin nerved. There have also been a couple of times where she's barked at strangers coming onto our driveway from our front porch or looking out the living room window.



The other concern is a last week we were all out in the front yard (I live in a regular subdivision) and a new neighbor stopped to chat with my wife and I. Our kids were out front and so was Lucy. Lucy went up to him wagging her tail (the usual routine) and was quite affectionate. So we're all there chatting for a min. or two and my son Joey comes around from the side of the house and when my neighbor approached Joey to say hi Lucy started barking and trying to get to my neighbor. I had her on her lead at the time so she didn't get far but she was definitely not happy about this guy approaching our son. After I corrected her she seemed fine and went back to normal and my neighbor came over to her and petted her again. But her initial reaction bothered me. Is this a bad sign? I'm worried she feels that my son may be omega to her and she feels obligated to protect him and I don't want to worry about the safety of the kids in my neighborhood (or adults for that matter). My neighbor didn't really move abruptly towards Joey but he did walk about 15 ft. from us in Joey's direction without either my wife or I joining him to help with the introductions.



My intention with Lucy was to get involved with Ring Sport or Schutzhund and I'm worried she may not have the nerves for it if this is the case. She has a ton of prey drive and is very eager to please and to date has proven to be extremely social with anybody she meets. She's somewhat wary about new people at the door but she's quick to wag her tail and seek a pet on the head from them once I've let them in the house. She doesn't bark at them, nor has any hackle show going on mind you, she just seems a little wary. Should I be concerned?



Thanks in advance.



Sincerely,
Grant
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
Grant,



I guess I am confused here.



This dog, in my opinion, is acting exactly like it should act. This is what people like me breed dogs to do.



1- I don’t particularly like a 6 month old puppy that barks like crazy at a stranger on a walk or something like that. But barking at night when someone is at the door – GOOD FOR HER!!



2- I also think the second issue in the front yard is not this big of a deal. Good for the dog. For one thing you now know your dog is going to be protective. This means you are going to have to either build a dog kennel, use a dog crate and/or train this dog and not allow it to be around strangers or kids it does not know. Basically you need to be a responsible pet owner. If you wanted a golden retriever that would wag its tail to everyone on the block – well a GSD is not the dog. But with this said it sounds to me like you have a nice dog. In this situation – you did the right thing. You are teaching the dog that this kind of aggression is not warranted and will be corrected. You are teaching her the manners you want her to live by.



3- These issues are not nerve issues. Work the dog in prey drive. Do the work in the DVD Building Drive and Focus and PREPARING YOUR DOG FOR THE HELPER.



4- You should probably study the work in HOW TO RAISE A WORKING PUPPY.

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Expert Dog Trainer Cindy Rhodes
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