Good day to all,

I am a dog fancier but really a newbie when it comes to attack dog training and dog sports. For this reason I am soliciting for some advice from anyone that may be able to help….

Four years ago, my wife and I rescued a German Shepherd Buddy from a local pound. They told us he was 2 years old, but in my estimate, he was probably around 10-11 months, since he grew a little bit more after that. He was infested with tics, really skinny, and had some scars on his head and front paws (presumably he was mauled by another dog – to this day any dog that looks like a pitbull, boxer or lab evokes fear in him).

I wanted to do dog attack training with him, but it was apparent from day one he was not going to be the dog for that kind of thing. He was extremely skittish, afraid of everything and everyone, afraid of loud noise (still afraid of vacuum cleaner), did not want to play any kind of tug of war game or chase the ball; just has no drive.

Shortly after I got him, I called a K-9 handler to come over my house to evaluate him, and he said it would be possible to do something, but it would take time and I just did not have that kind of money to spend on training. One thing he used for his evaluation was a whip that made a loud noise; Buddy did bark, but it was out of fear. He was afraid of the handler the whole time. When the handler reached out to him, Buddy would cower and put his tail between the legs.

He has improved over the years, but still has a very low self esteem. I pretty much did everything opposite of what Ceasar Milan teaches in his videos controlling aggression and dominant behavior in order to build up his confidence a little bit because I noticed that that worked. And that was my own trial and error path. If it made him more submissive, I would stop doing it. I emphasized on letting him walk ahead on the leash (although he prefers to walk behind me), lifting his tail softly when it drops, giving him praise for barking at strangers… things of that sort.

He really clings to me for anything. He never EVER strays more than 50 yards. Always follows orders, is very obedient, and I can pretty much walk him off leash using voice commands. He is an excellent watch dog, in that he barks and does not trust strangers when they come over the house, but he really does not have that confidence in himself that will enable him to protect and guard. Being away from home frequently, sometimes for months at a time (active duty), I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing he will “take care of business” (sort of) if the situation arises to protect my family.

I need your advice on how to change my own disposition towards him as well as help him get confidence in his own abilities. I was really firm with him initially, thinking that was just how it needed to be, but I probably made a grave mistake. And I still believe if he saw himself how other people see him (27 inches at the withers, 90 lbs shepherd), he would be a force to be reckoned with! I need to build his self esteem and make him confident when faced with other dogs and people (right now he shies away from both).

Few more facts to throw out there… He is fixed – has been since we adopted him (I have heard that spaying/neutering dogs as puppies can lead to behavioral problems, shyness, and so on); according to the shepherd standard, he is missing a couple of teeth (not sure what they are called, but they are behind k-9s) from both upper/lower jaws. His left/upper k-9 is a little chipped, not sure if this causes pain and he has a soft bite because of that.

Nowadays, he will sometimes play tug of war with his leash, and occasionally retrieve a ball, but that is as far as I could go with him. And the last thing…. He loves BUT LOVES to chase squirrels, cats, and rabbits. Although I don’t know how to provide this as a positive reinforcement every time he does something good.

I realize I will never win a Shutzhund competition or French ring title with him; all I want is for him to believe in himself and his own abilities. I love him to death, and seeing him scared all the time breaks my heart. At estimated 5-6 years, he is still at good health and has at least 6 more years of healthy life ahead of him. If there is a single avenue I can explore to help Buddy be what he is (a shepherd in a true sense of the word), I would be up for the challenge.

If you can offer any helpful advice, please let me know.

Welcome to my world!

Here is what is working for my shy GSD, Vigo. Vigo is about a year and a half old and I have had him since he was 12 weeks old. He was a calm, reserved pup that grew into a calm, reserved, SHY adult dog. Over the past year, we have worked very hard in this order (will explain WHAT we did in a second).

First, we worked on making sure he was as comfortable as possible in new places with no people or other dogs around. This phase went quickly and Vigo actually enjoys going new places now, especially anywhere where he can run around a bit and jump on things lol. This was a pretty easy step.

Then we worked on his mild discomfort around other dogs. We did this by attending an obedience class. While there were people around, they were strictly told they must ignore him and I was very firm about that. As long as they ignored him, he tended to be more focused on the dogs around him at first. The nice thing about the obedience class was that it was all on leash. Vigo learned that dogs are not after him; in fact, he could work with me and not even worry that a dog would approach him. Something clicked his head and he was no longer afraid of other dogs. He did great in the class and we are still doing agility and obedience now.

Our last step is helping Vigo become comfortable around people he doesn't know. It's a big deal for him! Not to sound conceited, but Vigo is a handsome, unique looking dog...and this means that people STARE at him. This makes him extremely uncomfortable. Recently, we have been fortunate that he has been able to meet some new people in his home (where he is most comfortable and confident) or at my in-laws in the last few months. These people are all instructed to ignore him. If they do that, it only takes a little while for Vigo to be completely comfortable with them. (I should also mention that Vigo is all flight, no fight. He is not aggressive in anyway and I would never put him in the position that he would feel the need to bite). We are continuing on this journey by allowing him to interact with new people at a pace he feels comfotable...hoping by next spring we will be over this last hurdle.

So how it worked...

1. Marker training, marker training, marker training....
2. Working on our relationship and making sure he trusts me...agility has been huge for this
3. Spending time with confident dogs...luckily I have two other GSDs who are very comfortable in new situations, with new people...they are a great support to Vigo
4. Control Unleashed techniques (this is a book by Leslie McDevitt)
5. Behavioral Adjustment training (http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/bat/)
6. Taking training classes with no pressure on Vigo...keeping him below his threshold at all times...I am not afraid of sitting in the corner the whole class if that's what he needs (though we have never had to do it)
7. Moving at his pace, not mine This means also waiting for maturity since he is a young dog.
8. Celebrate the "small" things, like in our case Vigo ate a treat in front of the house where he was attacked by another dog. He won't eat if he is nervous and he was always very, very nervous here. He took that treat from me and I was shocked and so very happy!

I am lucky that Vigo truly is a great dog in all other ways. He is doing great. Will he ever be the ScH dog I hoped I would finally have? Nope. But I can easily live with that!

Here is a thread that might help you also...some great words of wisdom were given to me

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=31247&page=1#348356

I second the recommendation of agility training.

It has really helped my shy, reserved Leonberger build her confidence.

Being a large impressive looking dog may be all the deterrent your dog needs to be. And that's okay. Some people have the mental and physical ability and temperament to be soldiers or cops or firefighters. Some of us don't have it. But that's okay too. The world needs carpenters and taxi drivers too.

Respect your dog for what he is, build on the skills he has, and don't frustrate yourself and him by regretting what he is not.

Melissa has concisely provided the types of work that helped my shy, skittish GSD get to where he is today; he's a cocky lil thing now at 5 years old So I'll try to keep this short

The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog Playing tug with Porter in the proper way has also helped him gain a ton of confidence over these last few years! Plus, it is so much fun!

Advanced Concepts in Motivation The concepts found in this DVD would've helped out a great deal back when Porter was a shaking leaf version of a GSD. It's been wonderful to apply these concepts to interactions with my entire pack.

Marker Training was the biggest (and I mean HUGE) positive influence on Porter's personality. I can nail down the precise moment that he truly began to overcome his fear of other people ... the moment I finally applied what he had learned with markers to an interaction with another human being. That eureka moment still brings tears of joy to my eyes (he was three years old). We've never looked back

The only thing that concerns me in the OP's post is rewarding for barking at other people. Milo, I can understand why you would think this would help. It is, however, detrimental to what you are trying to accomplish with your GSD to encourage barking at people. When you do this, you are literally praising him for feeling fear. The times Porter would bark and growl at other people were the only times I was very firm with him. I had to insist (taught with marker training, then enforced once learned) that he stay focused on me when others were making him nervous. At the same time, it is crucial that you prove to him that you will always keep said people at bay. Sometimes that means all politeness (from me) went out the door.

Once Porter learned that all he had to do was stay focused on me and what I was telling him to do (usually sit still beside or behind me) and I would take care of the annoying human, he was able to relax around people. This eventually led to positive interactions with people ... although I would have been satisfied if we had forever stayed at the "just stay focused on me" stage. There is no law that says people have to be allowed to interact with your dog

Good Luck!!

I would stop this immediately: ".... giving him praise for barking at strangers things of that sort. "

This is the opposite of what you want to do, IMO, which is to increase upbeat focus on you and increase your bond and the dog's confidence.

As others have said:
1. Marker training
2. Marker training
3. Marker training




Check out the link Melissa posted .... loaded with good stuff!

You can change who your dog is if you do enough marker training and have patience.
Build on little things. If they know how to behave it gives them confidence.

My dog was a MESS. At 2 yrs old he is now REAL help on our farm, not imaginary help, but real help. This is a dog who was afraid to go up onto a round bale, now he backs up the bull, and he's only 27 lbs. Today, he jumped over the steel bucket of a rented skid loader and into the cab to sit next to me, it was 5 degrees, sharp metal, he came when I called. I used to have to pick him up to get him into a car. His courage is up 1000%. He put calves out of the yard for my husband tonite, backed up a sassy cow, my husband doesn't even know the commands (I was fighting with Christmas cookies)

They need to learn words, simple words, the same word every time, and get rewarded for doing what you want. You can reward bravery. Do it, and you will be amazed.