I have a 11 month pup that is untrustworthy of strangers - we are o'key in a big crowd of people, he will not touch anybody or jump on anybody, will sit if asked and I want to introduce smbd to him. Will sniff the extended to him hand and take a treat but as soon as the person wants to pet him, he starts to grawl or even may jump on person if they are rasing their hand too high to pet him. Our guests in the house are usually greeted by his loud barks but after that he usually settles down and just may follow the person around the house. He is a great pet for the family, friendly with other dogs, strangers on the street, but the "petting" thing started to bother me a lot. Is there a way for me teach him to be more acceptable and trustworthy to people or these are the genetic traits. Really need your input on this. I hope that this problem is much easier to correct now when he is a pup.

I encounterd this problem and I did the following that seemed to work actually quite well.

I had 2 or 3 buddies that the pup did not know join my other friend for a walk down my block.. they set up several houses apart and he walked pup down the street, first guy comes up and completly ignores the dog, even with jumping, barking etc.. like he was not even there, shake hands with the handler chat for a min and walk off... same for the other two gys and thier girlfriends... after about 2 or 3 of these, when the dog stoped "trippin" a quick eye contact and pat on the back was all that was given the dog. It took about a month before he would just sit and allow petting from strangers.. and it was hard to find strangers..after the first two times... I ran out of friends, so I started using people at one of the dog parks.

Moral of the exersise is dog begins to see that mabey not everyone is a threat and petting from strangers can be ok. He now wants to be petted because he has been ignored like the low ranking pup should be.

If you don't mind using food, once your dog will sit or stand quietly while strangers approach (and if they're willing) give them a piece of food. Maybe make it a bigger cookie if your dog will not take food gently. I did this with my dog and kids since I don't have any kids and didn't want him to feel uncomfortable with them. I used to do it with willing adults too, especially during his first 2 years. The best thing is to get him out and walking around people. Sit by a mall entrance, or a dog food store, etc. I also used that approach. You are the best judge of your own dogs character, don't rush him. You don't want to give him a bad experience with something he's already not too sure about. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Vagabund, I reread your original post and it's not so much the greeting as the petting, am I correct? How does your dog react when you or family members pet him? Does he resent being examined or petted by anyone? This is a more difficult situation and requires an answer from someone with more experience than I regarding this type of behaviour. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Thanks Lonny and Caniche. The funny thing is that with a treat and stranger approaching him he perfectly understood what's going on - he will always take the treat, sometimes gently sometimes not, but with the next attempt of hand extending to him, and especially if it is empty, he will try to grawl or jump on the person, so who would risk petting him. Maybe I should do increase the treats encounters and more in the unfamiliar areas? Any other approaches would be helpful too, as I am not sure that this will work for him. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

You are right Caniche. That's mostly petting and examination. Any family member can touch and pet him, sometimes he will show teeth or grawl at my son. But that is mostly because my son is bugging him too much. We are working on this. But strangers, except our trainer, cannot pet or examine him.

You know... if the previous does not work, your dog just may have a messed up temperment that way.. just a sharp dog, in which case your really going to have to be careful the rest of your life..If his hackles are up and snarling like that.. that is clasic nerves, and in your sons case.. rank tossed in. I'd surely hammer my dog if he growled at my kid, I don't care how much he was "buggin" him. I had to do this with my dog dealing with my kitty, now the cat can lay right on my pup all he will do now is walk away if he don't like it, that's it.

Has he always been like this, or has it just started as of late... if your bite training, could be he is just expermenting his big head being a bad ass. My pup lights up at cart people now trying to scare em, but he is not hackled up and looks like he is having fun...I just let him, keeps em from bumming money.

I think if you can't correct the problem, socializing and that, you may need to use compulsion, in when he jumps on a stranger or growls, hammer him, and I mean Hammer him, so he is more afraid of the correction then afraid of a stranger petting him. It should only take once or twice. Kinda like "Who's your daddy?"

What does your trainer say about this?

Sch3FH2, VanCamp, Vince sure could use your input here.. case I'z all wrong about this...

Come on...where is "captain correction" when you need him?LOL <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Ok seriously now, a couple of questions.

1. How long have you had the dog?

2. How long has the dog been displaying this behavior.

3. What breed and where did you get the dog?

I saw an earlier post - 11 month old GSD and "I have sire and dum as Armaigis, grand parents with lines of Von Batu, Armaigis, Vax V. Weibrussland, great grandparents from Valdovin, Von Batu and Kirschental, and great great grandparents as Kirschental, Von Batu, Valdovin, von Noricum and von Trienzbachtal. I am assuming this is mostly show lines, is there any addition of working lines in this mixture and any idea on what it will develop into? "

another post: http://www.leerburg.com/ubb//ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000022