At this point in my dog's life, I am unsure if I should continue trying to socialize her and get her used to strangers and not be so afraid. What is your advice?

Question

Hi,

    I have an 11month old GSD. She has not yet been spayed? I am waiting for her to go through one heat. She is a bit shy and I spent a lot of time when she was very young having her meet and play with other dogs and I introduced her to lots of people. I would stand out in front of stores and ask folks to pet her and I would take her on walks where I knew there would be lots of people and activity. She is very gentle with my granddaughters and she is very sensitive to a correction. A firm but soft no will do the trick. There are a few dogs her age that she has play dates with and all was going very well. But I have recently noticed that she is growling during her play at times especially when she really gets worked up or there is a toy involved. I also noticed that she growled at one of her playmates that came up to me while she was there. I make a point of petting her friends and she has seemed fine with this in the past. My question is about continuing her socialization. I have been told I should stop the play because these other dogs are not part of her pack and she is maturing. I question this because I thought socialization was a life time activity? I do not want to put any dog or person at risk. In addition to her training, what is the best way to keep her socialized with other dogs?

    Even with all the people socialization, there are certain people she will bark at generally tall men. Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

    One last thing? I would love to get a cat. I have rescued several of them and the GSD has a barking fit so I have placed them in other homes. I thought having her around a cat would help her to adjust but it does not seem to work that way. Any suggestions?

    Thank you for your time,
 Sandra

Accepted Answer

Socialization is a lifelong endeavor, BUT socialization doesn’t mean letting people touch your dog, or other dogs play with her. This is a huge misconception.

Dogs are pack animals and you are her pack.

We don’t let our dogs play with dogs or even interact with dogs that are not in our family pack. There is no reason for her to play with other dogs. I also don’t want my dogs to be seeking out strangers for treats or petting, I want my dogs to be aloof, indifferent and neutral to people. I would not force a dog that is unsure about people to get close enough to take treats, in many cases this only makes the nervousness about people worse.

I would suggest our groundwork program for your dog, and our Pack Structure DVD.

Once your dog realizes you aren’t going to put her in a situation that she is not comfortable with, you may be surprised that she becomes much more relaxed around people she doesn’t know.

I like Cesar Milan’s mantra “no touch, no talk, no eye contact”…. This is what you need to be telling people that are around your dog, instead of “give her a treat.”

Here is an article about introducing dogs into homes with cats, you can get the general idea of how to introduce them.