My 19 month gsd is only shy around people when people look at him directly or if they come up. He's fine when he walks around them or sees them. He'll even eat and play with his balls. It's just, when people come up to him he kinda backs away. I do consider this shy, and I do think it is in his temperment, but do you think he'll ever get over this? Help please.
At 19 months the dog is still a puppy some what going by your post he may be a little resevered.
But as he matures he may come out of it, most dogs don't like strange people to stare and get close to them.
You dog seems to be Ok when people are just walking by or when there is usual interaction on when the uncommon happens does he back away.
My puppy at that age would bark at you if you tried to stare him down, maybe even step toward you, to smell you or see what your itention are.
Each dogs seems to handle this a little differently some will circle growling or crounch low and growling inching closer. Some will even take off and run and hide.
You dog is klnd of in between so that not real bad, when he matures you will see his true colors.
With your help you may can turn this into something positive.
At 19 months old, it is likely NOT a phase. You need to make a concerted effort to take him places and socialize him. In this case- with a dog that tries to hide- turn friends into hot dog machines.
If you have not already put this dog through an OB program- that is my first step to fixing him. Ed sells a basic OB tape that will give you the info you need to do it yourself and it will cost a fraction of what group classes will. Once you have put him through this program you can go to a group class if you like.
Nervous dogs are DRASTICALLY improved with Obedience. It relieves them of having to think "what do I do"- because you have control and they take comfort in that.
Please though, I beg you at this stage of the game don't wait for him to outgrow this. It isn't a time or age issue- it IS a temperament issue.
Jenn Kavanaugh Webboard User Reg: 01-05-2004
Posts: 560
Loc: Bushkill, PA
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I agree with everything Deanna said. Though you may not want (or ever get LOL) you pup LOVING every human he sees, I would not want the amount of uneasiness he's showing currently either. It's stressful on a dog to distrust 100% of the humans that are always walking around.
Think the obedience classes and walking around asking people to feed treats to your dog will show a huge improvement. But you need to start like yesterday, because the dogs age is an issue.
Intelligent dogs rarely want to please people whom they do not respect --- W.R. Koehler
I mis-read the dogs age I didn't reconigize the 1 in 19 I was thinking of my pup at 9 months, disregrad my answer unless it is a 9 month old puppy.
But at 19 months a GSD can be a patrol dog or PP dog pending the dogs developement. I wrote that on the way out of the office, and thought about once I got home. 19 months is a mature GSD, maybe a Rotti would still have some puppy traits, some of the giant breds don't mature until 2yrs old.
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