I have a very anxious WGSD that I would like to train as a service dog. I'm not sure if he can be a service dog away from hom ethough. Any ideas?

Hello,

I have a WGSD that I adopted from the shelter. (I was there the day he came in)Since he was a puppy he was frightened in new situations and very anxious. He is a great house protector. But when I take him to stressful places ex. the shelter when I volunteer, or any place that's not at home. He ranges from being very anxious at the shelter and fails to listen, to sometimes frightened & tries to get away from the circumstances he is in. I know he can overcome this because he has excepted the local pet store and likes to go there now. He has gotten better socialized as well because of this. He likes the car ride but seems anxious and just overly excited (which may be my fault because I say want to go "bye bye").

Now on to the marker training question. I would like to train him to do this, and possibly training as a service dog. I'm not sure he can do this because of his temperament. Or could ever be out in public in the store with us, as sometimes he doesn't accept everybody right away. he will growl if they are trying to hard to become friends (the men are usually big,tall,wearing black or black people). He likes to take it slow on making friends. I have trained him to open and close the door (better at closing) but he gets so high in drive for treats, he tries to hard and doesn't really get it& messes up.

I think the training should be no problem, but I'm not sure if I would ask him to be a service dog away from home. Or do anything with a lot of people around.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!!

Ashley