Hi. I just joined this BB. I found it while looking through the Leerburg website. My name is April. I have 2 spayed GSDs who I love dearly. We got Asia first. We picked her up November 3rd of last year. She was 5 months old. Changed her name right away. 3 days after bringing her home she was in the hospital dying from parvo. She pulled through (thank doG). She was badly abused in her previous home. I have been working with her for a year now and she is still a very scared and shy girl. I had someone walk into my home one afternoon and Asia ran to hide in my bedroom. Our second GSD we have had for a little over a month now. She is 6 1/2 years old. We changed her name to China. She has attached herself to our almost 2 year old son. They are inseperable.

What can I do to help Asia have more confidence? My husband's job requires him to be out of town anywhere from 1 to 4 nights at a time. We got Asia hoping that she would help me to feel safer being here alone with our baby. Hasn't helped at all because she's so scared of everything. What can I do to help her be even a little bit protective?

Thanks in advance.

April,
While I commend you for taking in this rescue, you must be realistic. Not all GSDs are going to be protective, and with your girl's background, she may not be able to do this for you. Protectiveness and confidence are genetic, now that she is in a wonderful home, if she is gentically capable of showing you more, she will.
If she ever barks, ie for a treat or whatever, you can teach her to bark on command, then teach her an *alarm* bark when someone comes to the door. Most dogs can be taught to alarm bark, which is all most folks require from a watchdog.

I do occasionally hear her bark when she is outside but she won't ever do it if she can even see me. Is there a way to get around that?

Just so you know...even if she never ever gets even a touch of protectivenenss in her I will always love her and she is here with me for life.

Hi, April...

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your Asia dog is probably afflicted with bad nerves. I would guess that most of this is genetic (which means there's nothing you can do about it), but perhaps some of it might have been due to her previous environment. How much do you really know about her previous owners and what they did to her?

In the meantime, two things occur to me:

1) When Asia barks at ANYTHING when she's standing near the door, praise her lavishly. I notice on one of your websites there is a picture of her standing by the door with an expectant look on her face. She needs to learn that you love it when she barks at things near the door. She may not even understand why you want her to do this--and it probably won't help her to be more confident--but it would certainly help to scare off an intruder. No one wants to find out if your GSD will bite.

2) What about your older dog? Is she naturally more protective? Encourage her protective behaviors too. You only need one alert GSD to keep all but the most determined bad guys at bay.

Hope this helps.

Pete Felknor

You're quicker on the draw than me, Joy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Pete,
Not really, just have taken in lots of rescues as have many of my clients. If there is one thing about which I am certain, it is that if the dog's core temperament is sound, the dog will turn it around once in a wonderful home, as Asia is now, no matter how severe the abuse may have been. Also, adopters *always* assume dogs who show alot of avoidance have been abused when in reality, they're seeing the product of yet another poorly thought out breeding. FWIW, the dogs I've seen who actually have been abused tend to show phobic types of responses to a narrower range of things, ie the dog may skitter away from a broom, etc but show confidence in other situations.
As for the barking, frustration will often trigger it. Extra interesting food, like a piece of hotdog might encourage her.
I wish I had GSDs who wouldn't bark . . .

April,

Neglect is more common for this type of reaction than abuse. You can get around some of it by doing socialization. The way I have done this in the past is to teach the dog some obedience and get the dog to heel and sit at least. Then just walk up to groups of friends and neighbors and have the dog sit. Nobody should pay any attention to the dog. Once she starts to figure out that people won't hurt her she will start to warm up to others and move to get their attention. Once she iniates the attention, let them pet her. Don't make a big deal about it. She will eventually come out of it and function more normally. I wouldn't expect a "protection dog" out of her, but once her fear of new situations and people decreases she will probably start to alert at the door when people come around. The last Giant we rescued ended up doing this. This was how we got her turned around. When I got her she was terrified of everybody especially men. Now she is my fathers dog and good with all the people that come in to my parents house.

 Quote:

Originally posted by Pete Felknor:
How much do you really know about her previous owners and what they did to her?

In the meantime, two things occur to me:

1) When Asia barks at ANYTHING when she's standing near the door, praise her lavishly. I notice on one of your websites there is a picture of her standing by the door with an expectant look on her face. She needs to learn that you love it when she barks at things near the door. She may not even understand why you want her to do this--and it probably won't help her to be more confident--but it would certainly help to scare off an intruder. No one wants to find out if your GSD will bite.

2) What about your older dog? Is she naturally more protective? Encourage her protective behaviors too. You only need one alert GSD to keep all but the most determined bad guys at bay.

What do I know about her previous owner? More than I care to know that's for sure. I had contacted a GSD rescue and they put me in touch with this woman who "wanted to get rid of this puppy". I called her and made arrangements to go meet the dog. I drove 5 hours to the womans house to meet the pup. I was there for 30 minutes and was totally mortified. In the time that I was there this pup was hit and kicked by her husband and the kids as well as being teased by the kids. I couldn't leave her there. So I took her. I have gotten very attached to this girl and love her dearly.

The only time Asia barks is when she is outside and I am not around. As soon as she even thinks she sees me she stops and just sits there. The expectant look on her face that you see with her sitting at the door is she wanted to go outside to go potty. She looked so pretty sitting there that I had to take a quick picture before letting her outside.

China is protective of my son. But she doesn't bark in the house either.

You might try the same approach in the house. I reread the first post and I am sure she is still trying to get her feet under her. When she matures some of these behaviors may improve. They may not, enjoy her for what she is, continue the socialization and take what ever improvement you get.