I am new to the forum. I am trying to find out why my dog tries to nip/bite at strangers. She is a 6yr GSD and we have had her for about seven months. She barks with hackles up and tail straight when any new visitor comes to our home. We will get her to quiet down and she seems at rest then all of a sudden she quietly will nip their calves and ankles when they move around. It is a grab and release. We immediately correct her with a stern "NO" and she lowers her head and backs away, but she will do it again and our response is the same. Once she gets to know the outsider she will be fine with them, but this may take a few visits. Originally we thought maybe it is a herding instinct in her because she mainly will do it when someone is leaving a room.

We had a new turn of events today. We had some young adults over, who she is not familiar with. They were playing in the pool with our younger children. They were playing dodgeball and our dog tried to bite, unsuccessfully, the young man who was throwing the ball at my son. She has never gone for more than a calf or an ankle, but this time she lunged for the upper body. Obviously the dog is protective, but to me once we accept someone into our home the dog should as well.

These young adults were not afraid of her and really wanted our dog to like them. This is the part that is truly baffling me. I get that she is protective of us but later in the day she showed fear towards these people. They were sitting on the floor trying to get her attention and she cowered, wined, and was heavily panting. She kept wanting to seek refuge in my daughters bedroom. It was like this big powerful dog, who scares most people, was confused and scared.

By the way, we have tried muzzling her, but that seems to make the situation worse...she barks more, shoves with her head, and tries everything to get the muzzle off.

We do know some of her background, but not all. We have had her to a private trainer, who was afraid of her. She is very obedient except when visitors come to our home. We are now looking for a good trainer who will come to our home to help, but that search has been difficult.

I welcome and advise. Sorry for the long thoughts, I was just trying to get out as much info as I could.

Browse through this, and see if any of these dogs sound like yours.

http://leerburg.com/qafear.htm#fb

As implied, it sounds very much like you have a nervous dog that has the "strike first" mentality. She is nipping and biting because she is stressed out and is warning the strange people away in a way that has been successful before, not because she is being protective of anyone.

The fact that she is hiding the a bedroom means she stressed to the point of freaked out and just wants to get away!

Be kind to her and pt her in a safe, comfortable spot when you have guest over. It is not fair to her and dangerous for your guests to have her loose at this time.

A crate in the room she sleeps in would likely be best at first, and eventually having a crate in the living room could work.

There are ways to ease her fears a little, but flooding her (the term used when forcing the subject to deal with their fears by forcing then into the situation) is the least likely to succeed.

"I get that she is protective of us but later in the day she showed fear towards these people. They were sitting on the floor trying to get her attention and she cowered, wined, and was heavily panting. She kept wanting to seek refuge in my daughters bedroom. It was like this big powerful dog, who scares most people, was confused and scared."

She IS confused and scared, as Jessica says, and no pack leader protects her from this highly stressful situation. This is not a situation to allow.

She's not "protective."

Please give the dog a break around new people -- in her safe crate, with no one accosting her in it, and no focus on her.

Welcome to the board. It's good that you are asking these questions.

Thanks Jessica,
I have one question, though. We have done this and she still barks excessively. Is this good for her?
Thanks again,
Wendy

Connie,
Thanks for the reply. I think we keep her on a good schedule and she gets plenty of exercise. I don't work outside the home so she is not left alone for any long periods of time. Right now we are working on obedience and building her confidence. She really does get excited when she performs well.

One thing I have to mention is that this one incidence is the first time she showed fear. Most of the time when we have visitors she tries to stay in between the visitor and our family. She does not cower and for the most part our visitors are afraid of her. Maybe I am misunderstanding her, but I have never seen fear in her until this one recent visit.

I really appreciate the feedback!
Sincerely,
Wendy

Aaron,
Thank your for the lead. I can now say I completely agree with all of the comments posted. I was misunderstanding my dog. She is fearful. Wow! I now need to focus my training efforts differently. Does anyone have suggesstion? What are the steps to take to build her up positively. My concern now would be to give her confidence, but correctly so that she doesn't gain confindence to forcefully bite. Shouldn't that be a concern? I am now so confused. Thanks to all of you for opening my eyes!

It sounds like the dog has weak nerves.
The best dog I ever owned had weak nerves...His nerves were so weak, he could have been pushed into being a "fear biter" which is what your dog is doing.

I am a pro trainer and a friend of mine had a pup in her litter that was so weak nerved that she wouldn't place him. I took him (at that time we had no children)and offered to try training him...if it didn't work out I assured her that I would have him humanely euthanized...in his case that would have been better than forcing him to live in a world that terrified him.
With the proper environment he went on to be a great dog.

To answer your question about barking in the crate....Barking prolly won't hurt her....but if she gets so wound up that she hurts herself that won't be good.

What she needs is for you to help her re order her mind so she isn't stressed about everything and frightened.

Right now she is scared of everything just about...you might not see it, but she is.

When you remove her from the situation, right now she is so stressed, that being away from you her protector is scary...that is why she barks like crazy in the crate....so she is scared of new stuff and people, she is scared to be away from you...she is scared and stressed all the time.....

You need to take control over every Little area of her life...when she poops, what she eats, when, how, when she plays, what she thinks..lol..in doing that you show her you are in controll, and so she doesn't have to be...she can relax and trust that you will keep her safe.....the vid goes into it.
I would not let her around any other dogs that she doesn't know or around any people that she doesn't know....Control her environment while you teach her what she needs to know.

The main site has several articles and videos.
I suggest that you buy these DVDs
There is a package deal on all three..or there was..call the office and ask them.
If you can only order one then do them in order listed...

http://leerburg.com/308.htm


http://leerburg.com/302.htm

http://leerburg.com/219.htm

Go to the main site and start reading...read everything on fear, bites, Ed's training philosophy, and on being the pack leader.
We will be happy to answer any questions on the articles that you have.

You have a dangerous time bomb on your hands, this is serious. You can help her for sure, I commend you for trying to find answers!!!!!

With the right help, she could turn into the best dog of your life........


Willie

Let me give you all some additional background information that may or may not help. Her name is Kinsa. I do not know anything about show dogs, but I have done research on her and found that her father is schutzund 3 and her mother CDX. Don't really think this means too much in regards to her, but thought I might throw it out there for someone who may know more.

What may be more relevent is that I am her 4th owner. Her first was police K-9. Don't know why she was sent to her next owner. The second owner was a breeder/farmer. Her job there was to guard the barn and herd cows. There she produced one litter of two and neither survived. Her 3rd owner was another small breeder. She was kept inside the home and socialized with the other dogs, cats and family. She did not get along with the alpha female in that family and did not produce any litters there. We had a deposit on one of her litter and long story short she came home with us.

She has had bouts of diareah off and on. We recently went on vacation and had kennelled her. When we brought her home, she had blood in her stool and we took her to the vet and was told it was from stress. The vet advised us that in the future we should have a housesitter as oppossed to kennelling her.

Again, I am now really realizing I have a fearful dog.

I am looking forward to more feedback. Thanks again for your time and thoughts.

Thanks Willie,
Since reading all the feedback, I am in complete agreement! I will look at the DVD's and purchase them. We love this dog sooo much and want her to be successful and happy. We have already taken the lead on her feeding, potting, and playing schedule. We claim everything down to the doors. She will not go in or out without being told to do so. She loves the hose but has to patiently wait for me to finish watering my flowers before playtime. She sits and gives good eye contact at every feeding. When she tosses her ball as us to play, it is quite cute, but we do not play unless we start it.

She used to be afraid of the pool, but I used treats to get her in and after her first swim she pranced around hopping and jumping so much we couldn't help but laugh and we praised her by patting up her chest and not down on her nose.

I hope that we are doing right by her. I definately don't want to build her up to be a confidant biter. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!