My dog is unsocial?
I have a German Shepherd puppy (4 months) I take her for walks daily and whenever we pass a person she immediately stops walking and gets serious in the zone ... She sometimes parks at the person and stares at them the whole time and when people come over she gets really protective... I want her to be a friendly dog ! Any advice? I believe she's afraid of other dogs aswell! I need help!!!! I want her to be a friendly off leash dog that i cant take to the park! Giving 5 stars to best answer!
Comments
My German Shepherd was exactly like this. I found her abandoned in a cat cage at my church at just 3 months old and since then she was very unpleasant and overwhelmed by people and other dogs. What I did was I took her to a dog park and let other friendly dogs approach her. Fortunately most dog parks welcome new comers and even have some of the most playful, nicest dogs around! As long as your puppy doesn't bite or act out aggressively she will do just fine around other social dogs. The dogs will not attack her if she is showing signs of protectiveness, they will merely back away or attempt to play with her so that she can be at ease. If she snaps or yelps at the other dogs then that is considered normal behavior for unsocial dogs. Just make sure you are careful b/c a dog can reach their limits. Seeing that she is still a puppy, it is the best time to have her socialize around dogs and people so that way when she is older she won't be as much out of your control. I hope this helps!
She is very undersocialized & somewhat fearful. This can get worse if not worked on, immediately. Sounds like you hid out rather than doing anything between 7-16 weeks, until she got all her shots. I would advise enrolling her in a puppy kindergarten or beginner obedience class ASAP. Take her to as many differnet places, on a daily basis as possible.
See if you can find a good location to sit, where you can get some friendly people to feed her treats (open palm). I personally think that the Gimborn or Protreat dried liver or the Bil-Jac treats (comes in what looks like a small 8 oz. milk carton) are good options. But you can cut small slices of cheese, hotdog, or apple, & place in a baggie too.
Could she have been abused by the breeder? That could have caused this, even at a young age.. Look up the breed.. are they known for being social? You can push her a little further to be social but if you continue to see no improvement, maybe that's just how this specific dogs personality is. Take her to the vet and tell them about this situation, if they can't find anything wrong you'll just need to accept this and focus on the good qualities your puppy has. (-:
She does not get protective....she is fearful. If she was raised correctly..meaning taken from mother no later than 6 weeks, and separated from litter no later than 7 weeks...and had daily interaction with PEOPLE from that point, she should be extremely people friendly and neutral to dogs. If she was left with the litter, this is quite common. Slight improvements can made, but she will have issues her whole life. If it is strictly genetic, it will never go away and she will eventually be a dangerous dog. See a trainer asap.
Train your ill behaved dog or seek professional help for yourself on how to train properly.
The law states all dogs must be leashed and under control at all times, you're not above the law.
Stay away from dog parks.
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