ever dog can be startled. How is her recovery????

There's no way to tell over a forum since nobody here can read the body language first hand, but pups so act stupid. Don't worry about it, even if your dog does have issues, calling attention to them makes them worse. Ignore your dogs behavior, either it goes away or it doesn't, most likely it will.

OK sounds good to me. I thought I was over reacting, and from what I am reading that is what it sounds like I was doing.

I do have one more question that is important.

At one of the local malls they have an outside flat fountain where children play in and it is right outside of the food court and other people bring there dogs from time to time. (This is not an off leash area for dogs) However there is teenagers, children, adults, people in wheel chairs to walkers, and all kinds of noises from loud cars and there booming stereo's systems to there zipper car mufflers. Do you all think this would be a good place to start Amber out to begin desensitize her to all the noises or would this be to much at first?

I do think I have really good control over her around people and children. I been training her, walking her, and I started doing something called “BELLY” the first day I got her. What this command is, is every time a child that I feel is under 12 - 13 years of age I give Amber the command “BELLY”, she lies down rolls over and shows her belly to the child and I have the child rub her belly, she loves it. Adults that are not scared of dogs I just have her sit to get pets. If an adult is scared of a big dog and is willing to touch her I will give Amber the “BELLY” command. I have found I get a lot of adults that are afraid of big dogs to approach her with this command. Anyways what do ya’all think about the outside portion of Arrowhead Mall is this a good idea or NO?

Hey by the way ya'all have been a really great support on here, thank you so much.

Aubrey

 Quote: aubreyjalbert

OK sounds good to me. I thought I was over reacting, and from what I am reading that is what it sounds like I was doing.

I do have one more question that is important.

At one of the local malls they have an outside flat fountain where children play in and it is right outside of the food court and other people bring there dogs from time to time. (This is not an off leash area for dogs) However there is teenagers, children, adults, people in wheel chairs to walkers, and all kinds of noises from loud cars and there booming stereo's systems to there zipper car mufflers. Do you all think this would be a good place to start Amber out to begin desensitize her to all the noises or would this be to much at first?

I would start out small and work your way up to that. Too much too fast can turn into a nightmare really quick.
I start by taking my pups or dogs that are not used to this type of stimulation to work (very few visitors), the park when school is IN and there are not people but enough to make it a good experience and then we work to my fire department meetings, the police department for paperwork. We gradually work up to walking in the "Relay for Life", high school sporting events, nursing home and parades ect...

Aubrey, the way you describe the mall and all the various activity there, I think it's too much all at one time. Start with a quieter place and get her used to light foot traffic, then more foot traffic, working your way up to what you described goes on at the mall. When she does good in one controlled environment you can move her up a step in the exposure/desensitizing program. Her first crucial and important months of her life were spent locked up with no desensitizing to any environment but her own. Not so good for her.

I would never ever make her give her "belly" to an adult, any other adult other than you or in your family. Period. Wouldn't even make her do it with children either. It's a very submissive posture and there's absolutely no reason to make her do that with people outside her family pack. It's not fair to her. She doesn't need to be submissive to every Tom, Dick and idiot. Her position is as part of your family, part of your team. She deserves more respect than having to be submissive to everyone outside the pack.

I agree with Carol and Sandy about starting out gradually. The mall sounds like a place that you should aspire to, if you know what I mean.

I also agree with Sandy about not having her show her belly to adults. I'm not even sure I would do it with children.

The reason I say that is because you have owned her for about 2 months or so, right? This is a dog that appears to have been unsocialized and therefore, untested in various situations. She may seem sweet...and she very well may be!

BUT, that belly-up command isn't just submissive...it's a very vulnerable position for her to be in. She has already demonstrated that she has a certain fear of people. When dogs feel vulnerable...they can often act in ways you wouldn't expect and those ways can be with sudden and unexpected aggression. I wouldn't risk it.

I understand trying to help children or adults overcome their fear of dogs. But your dog is not their therapy. She needs her own therapy. If she's already nervous, you don't want an equally nervous person approaching her after you've commanded her to be vulnerable! If people are afraid of her...well, they should leave her alone for now.

Just what I would do...by the way...great name for your dog!

Wow once again ya'all have giving me great information. I never knew that the BELLY command was a bad thing to do, but it does make perfect sense. Well let me ask this then, could I have a child approach Amber when she is just lying down? (No belly) Even with some young children when she is in sit command Amber towers children. I was trying to find some way to get her to be at their level because she is so tall. At 10 months she all ready weights in at 78.8 pounds and she still has more growing to do. Brandy my last GSD was 80 pounds full grown and she was a little over weight, the vet said she would have been better at 75 pounds. HOWEVER, Amber is in NO way is over weight and the two vets she has been to said she is very healthy. When I was buying her I took her to a Banfield (I KNOW!!!) to have a check up before I bought her and they said she was healthy... Now she just goes to my regular Vet that is about 20 miles from my house in downtown Phoenix, AZ and he says she is very healthy too. Again thanks for the information about the belly command.

Aubrey

Aubrey:
I live in the east valley, are you on this side of town?

We started Jäger's socialization by taking him places where dogs are allowed like Home Depot, Lowes, and big box pet stores. Amazingly everyone we met seemed to have a goldfish cracker for him. I kept the meetings on a onesies and twosies affair in an environment I control.

Set up situations where Amber is bound to do well, then, let her succeed. Keep the training crawl, walk, run. Save running kids, boom boxes, fountains, and stupid people for Amber's graduate work.

And yes, people get real stupid around dogs.