My 8 month old GSD was chased by a Pit Bull and he hurt himself. Will he be afraid of other dogs now? What can I do?

Question

Hello Mr. Frawley!

    Unfortunately I read your article on dog parks too late and now I'm not sure what I should do with my dog.

I have an 8 month old GSD puppy named  Shaman.    He got sick when we just got him and he did not get his shots until he was 5 month old, so he did not have any experience with other dogs.  I slowly introduced Shaman to my friends dog (girl shiba-inu, his age) and it took him a while to get used to her but now they are best friends and play very nicely. Shaman also plays with a male Newfoundland puppy who is only 4 month old.  What always bothered me is that Shaman gave up his toys and his bones to his friends without any arguments.  Shaman even lets them take over his bed when they are visiting our house.

    One of my friends told me to meet with a guy who supposedly used to train GSD and ask his advice.  We met in a dog park and the guy showed up with his 8 month old pit bull.  His dog ran up to Shaman and of course Shaman backed away and tried to run away from this dog because pit bull was in his face and Shaman is not used to this.  The guy told me to take Shaman off the leash and I did (big mistake).  The pit bull started to chase Shaman around and Shaman would run for cover to me or my husband (fortunately we did not push him away but rather let him come down and then told him to go play), the guy insisted that we should "let our dog to figure it out on his own".  Well to make the long story short after one of the chases Shaman fell and hurt his foot and he also looked shocked and scared.  I took Shaman and we went home.  I did not say anything to the guy but realized that I did a huge mistake and never again I'm listening to stupid advices.

    Do you think that now Shaman will be afraid of other dogs and is there something I could do to make Shaman feel more comfortable around other dogs and not to be afraid of them? Is it bad that he gives up his toys, food and bad to other dogs? Also does it mean that he will be a bad protection dog?

    Thank you for your time,
 Victoria

Accepted Answer

Your problem with this dog is your lack of knowledge of dog behavior and care.

Let me begin by saying that I NEVER ALLOW MY DOGS AROUND OTHER DOGS!!! NOT EVER!! Dogs are pack animals. Strange dogs are not from their pack. Pups expect their pack leader to protect them – You are suppose to be a pack leader – your pup expects you to protect him and instead you put him with Pit Bulls and other strange dogs. BIG MISTAKE!!! Your dog expected you to protect him when he was chased – you did nothing to protect him.

As far as this so called GSD expert – where is what I say about people like this - “Everyone has an opinion on how to train your dog – just ask your mailman – the problem is that very few people have the experience to back up their opinions which results in a lot of bad information being handed out.”

Forget everything this guy told you.

Get a dog crate for your house. When friends bring dogs over put your dog in the crate. I don’t understand how you allow this – no one brings a dog to my house – if they do they leave it in the dog crate in their car.

Stay out of the dog parks.

Train your dog –use my DVD on Basic Dog Obedience.

If your dog ends up being dog aggressive because of this, I suggest you also get my DVD on Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs.