Anyone know when fear periods occur in GSDs? I think we have just entered one. My GSD is now 14 months old and suddenly seems spooked by things that he has seen before. For example the garbage bag rattling into the wind inside a metal trash can at the park. That occurred yesterday, today we purposely approached the garbage cans (I even banged the top of the can as he was sniffing the can) and got no reaction from him other than a strange look as to ask what are you doing? We did however go to a different part of the park as well and we were doing well until a runner came behind us and then tried to approach my GSD. He then tried to run away in the opposite direction from the stranger. prior to this he was nervous about something he was picking up in the wind. Even when the runner was gone he bucked like a bronco and did not want to go further down the path. We continued on despite his protest including trying to block me from going forward. There were numerous deer trails in that area as well as a herd of buffalos and longhorns. The wind was coming from the direction of the buffalos and longhorns. I thought perhaps the scent of the buffalos had spooked him. We continued along the trail and after a while settled back down. When we came back through that area he once again was very nervous. Once we past that area everything was back to normal. He met and greeted several people including bikers, a lady with a stroller and another jogger. No problem at all. As we were driving out of the park, I saw that same runner that he had been so spooked about. as we past by he could easily see the runner as well as catch his scent since it was blowing right into the vehicle. No reaction at all but a big happy smile on his face. Last week at a different park, we also ran into this nervousness at a certain area of a trail. Same thing get out of that area and everything is normal, go back in and he is in a hurry to get out of there. The common ground is that both these trails had deer trails in the area of nervousness but the other park also has black bears in the woods that the trail runs along. He also spooked at the vets 2 days ago when the staff cornered him but once he knew they did not have nail trimmers he calmed down (annual shots and exam). About 5 months ago he had a bad experience with the staff trying to trim his nails. Four vet assistants held him down in a corner and trimmed his nails, he was cut into the quick twice. Once I saw how traumatized he was getting I told them to stop. Now I am able to trim his nails with a dermal tool without any problem but back then trimming the nails was a big issue with him. I think I am going to purposely taking back to the part of the trail where his was scared . I am not sure what to think of all this for I never had such problems with other GSDs. Everything seems different with this GSD.