I have an 11mth old GSD that im training for patrol work.
I took him to a building to see how he would do in a new strange place. We first took the stair well, he did great. I through him the tennis ball he chased it up and down the stairs.( keep in mind he has never seen stairs before)
Next I took him to the basement of the building, with alot of machines and loud noises, and did not bother him. He played with the tennis ball down there also.
But then I procided to give him another test.
I through the tennis ball into a dark bathroom, he went half way in after it and turned around to come back to me, i could tell he was stressed by the way he carried his tail and his posture.
Next we went to the elevator, when the doors on the elevator opened, he had that same posture as in the dark room. But he procided in the elevator anyways. I tried to get him to play with the ball in the elevator but he would not.

My questions is- Is there a way that we can overcome the dark room fear an also the elevator fear????

He never went into full avoidence of the elevator or dark room.
He will climb on anything, he is not afraid of Heights.

If the dog is strictly a kennel dog, it's hardly fair to hold HIM accountable for not knowing how to handle stairs or elevators.


Are you actually *training* with anyone who knows what they are doing, or are you just running about, willy-nilly throwing "test" after "test" you've devised at this poor dog?

He's 11 months old.
You've never introduced him to stairs in 11 months of life, and then suddenly you expect him to magically know what to do.

If he hasn't seen stairs, I will wager, he was never really socialized as a pup.

So don't be so shocked that he is environmentally unsure.
What have you don't to help him BE sure?
Isolated him for 11 months of life?



---And once again, what does your training director say? You're training this to be a PSD? What does the Department Head say?---

Is he a kennel dog? I didn't see anything about that in the post.

Randy, Randy, Randy. What did we tell you yesterday?! ;-)

You need to stop testing him all the time and start WORKING WITH him. Or get an adult. He's a puppy. You haven't told us anything of his background, how you live w/him in the house, etc.

It sounds like he has some environmental issues brought on by certain triggers. This doesn't mean as much as you may think. Without seeing the dog firsthand, I have no idea if he is ok or not. What I do know is that he probably should've seen these things before 11 mos if you want to make a patrol dog out of him, esp. if he has issues.

Are you in LE? Are you going to be handling the dog or are you looking to sell him as a PSD later on? This is not as easy as you might think. What exactly are your plans for him and what have you done so far?

IMO, you are pushing him a lot. I don't mean what you are talking about in this post; I mean the overall picture. You want an 11 month old pup to focus on the decoy and not be equipment oriented, but it doesn't sound like he is anywhere even close to that in his training. Again, I don't know the whole story; I'm just picking up the vibe that you are doing a lot of scattered training and tests in very short, intense bursts and he is not necessarily ready for this due to lack of foundation.

As a side note of positivity: Xander had never seen stairs in his life. I lived in a ranch house and never thought about it. He was my experiment pup that I didn't socialize at all. He was clumsy on stairs the first time he saw them. He practiced a few times and was fine. He was definitely over a year old...don't remember how old he was exactly. There is hope for a dog who simply hasn't seen things before, if his genetic temperament is stable. Xander is highly confident and is about to start his PSD training course, despite a complete lack of exposure to different things like stairs, elevators, gunfire, etc. He passed all his environmental tests w/flying colors, apparently.

I guess what I'm saying is this: if the dog has the genes to get over what he hasn't seen, there is hope, even if you didn't do things quite right early on. Otherwise, you can expose and expose and expose, and get him to where he appears confident, but in a PSD situation, one day something will be thrown at him he won't be comfortable with and he just might fall back on his genetic uncertainty.

Exactly what Jenni and Alyssa said.

To answer some of these questions a base knowledge (just as the dog needs one to do what you are asking of him)is needed.

Where did the dog come from?

How long have you had him?

Are you working within a department? Club?

How does the Training Director or the K9 Master at the department think of all of this?

What are they telling you to do?

What training has the pup had?

How was he raised (kennel, home, crated...)?

How does he live today?

Is he a personal dog you want to be a PSD or a pup bought for and by the PD for work?

How many dogs have you trained?

Do you have any video of him working and or showing the issues you describe?

i am police officer in georgia who is trying to make the k9 team.my gsd pup is the son of my male who was a great psd ,but i did not train him he was trained by my friend who no longer lives in this state. i do not know much about the mother other than she was a sch.2. im not going to test the young dog any more im going to be pt. and wait and see how he turns out. i had to put this pups dad to sleep about 5 months ago because he was vary sick and hope this pup turns out as good as his dad.

Thanks for clarifying. So, you are hoping to make him a PSD; you have no guarantee that he will be hired even if he gets over this stuff, correct? So there's no real urgent hurry like he starts work in 3 mos, etc.?

Keeping this in mind, that it is not a sure thing, I agree that patience and backing off of him is your best bet. That, or get him into consistent training w/a professional. I know of very few (read: none) PSDs who were trained at home and then hit the street.

Sent you a pm Randy!

 Quote: Jenni Williams

Is he a kennel dog? I didn't see anything about that in the post.

Random guess based on the fact that the dog has never encountered steps, at 11 months of age.

Neither do dogs who live in ranch style homes, as all mine always have.

my gsd pup is a kennel dog but i do allow him to come into the house quite often. thanks for every ones words of knowledge they have helped me a lot.