Hey,
I was just wondering about this.. I have a 2 year old German Shepherd dog, who really does look up to me. I have a large family and my GSD protects our house. The GSD is my dog and i do everything for him and the dog does look up to me.
Heres the Problem:
When someone comes to the house and im not in my dog will go to his box, as if he is scared ! And when i am there and the same person was to come to the house my he would bark and bark at them. I am wondering how to cure this problem, to give him more convidence in himself, because in my eyes, he looks up to me as a dad and the rest of them family doesnt mean anything to him and he only protects me. Without me he is scared as if it needs me for backup or something..
Is there anyway of curing this problem, to make him stand up to people without me ? have more faith in himselve ect.... THANKS !

there's an old saying; be careful what you wish for..... you might get it! I am curious; just what exactly do you want your dog to do when people come to your house whether you are there or not?

If you just want a dog to bark when visitors come just teach it to bark on command; that way you have a trick that you can turn on and off without encouraging any unwanted behaviours.

Sounds like a fear aggressive dog. He barks around you because he feels secure, nothing more, he is protecting himself not you, which explains why he is scared when out of your sight. GSD's are a typical breed to display this behaviour. I would suggest you get in touch with a reputable behaviourist, who will be able to help you with helping him.
Dawn.

It does sound as if he is displaying nervous aggresion when you have visitors to the house, are they friends he is doing this with or are they strangers? He probably barks more when you are there because you are his back up as was said in the posts above and i would suggest that if you feel he is protecting you more becuase you are doing everything with him and he sees you as the leader then include the family. let them feed him, take him out for walks, groom him so he just doesnt look up to you, but i would be carefull with this situation, has he just started doing this or has it been a while? I wouldnt encourage the barking thing if he does it anyway fine but try to ignore him when people come round, dont make a big deal out of it, just tell your friends to ignore him if he is safe enough for you to let them in with him, he should settle down.

I have a 90+lb gsd who started of like this who suffers with nervous aggresion and he started off just barking and he is fine with people he knows but if he doesnt know them then he is put up stairs out of the way, because he has in the past been very worrying in the way he behaves and has on two occasions in the house walked up to people put his nose just touching there arm giving a deep growl standing there rigid and the glazed eye contact which believe me is not a nice thing to happen to the poor tradesman!!! so i just dont take the risk anymore he is just put away but he does feel that he has to protect the house, us and the surroundings of the house, and he has protected me in the past from nearly being attacked, you just have to know your dogs body langauge and make the descision weather you feel he is safe around people or weather you need to put him away just for safetys sake.

Diane

My Gsd is both a gaurd dog and pet she gets all the love and attention when we are there (sleeping on chairs, cuddles, and lots of loving) however when i leave the house she changes her maner completely, has she knows were are going she imediatly goes and lays in the hall which is near the front door, and if anyone comes to the house or more neighbours all hell breaks loose and she does not give up barking until they have gone, if she is in the drive way and someone comes she will bark. But i have trained her how i want to be i can trust her every step of the way and i know how far she will go, for instense if the front door is open and the drive gates are open she may bark at someone she doesn't know but as soon as i am there she knows it is alright and sits down to let them pass. Basiclly she gaurds her property and us but when the gates and door are open she is off duty :-D.
I think that if you do want him to be a gaurd dog to bark when you are not in, then you need to start treating him when someone comes to the door and he barks, but your dog must be aware of vistiors you are allowing in, i will hold mine intil tey are in then she sniffs and lies back down because she nows they are ok.
But do be careful we had a male shepherd from a rescue home that would only bark when i was at home, 3 weeks later i invited my neighbour in, held hime whilst she said hello and he sniffed the let him go and he decided to sink his teeth into her leg, thankfully my neighbour was alright but she does have a scar at the back of her leg, the next incident was a few days later when he cornered my 3yr daughter and would not let her past, i crept up to grab is collar and just as i got hold of him he lunged at her, luckily he did not get toi her and the next day he was taken straight back to the rescue home in lincolnshire.

It is SO important to socialise dogs who are guards (hate that term!) and pets too :)

Most dogs with guardy natures or breeding (ie GSD, BSD, Dobe, Rottie etc) will bark and guard, but the best ones only do this when they sense true disturbance and intruders at work. It is irresponsible esp. in these days of the DDA to encourage a family pet to "guard" as it may get the wrong idea and bark at or attack the postman, friends and visitors, and it doesnt take much to get these dogs to do this. We then have image problems with the breeds if they do go ahead and attack :(

My dog loves waiting at the gate and will be stroked by people i introduce her to, and even reacts very well to other dogs going by and so on, because i socialised her madly as a pup. However, if somebody tried to break in, she would do her best to scare them away i have no doubt.

JMHO :)

Lindsay

I too socailised mum pup well with dogs and people she is a fantastic dog with any dog or person. She is now 6yrs anyone that knows her in my street knows that she is barking to protact but they can and will stroke her at the gate, strangers have a different idea and will not come in unless i am there and say it is alright, (works well with the bible bashers that come to your door :-D they see my signs hear the dogs and go to someone elses house :-D ).
Irresponsible to encourage a pet to Guard i think not, you train your dog to the abilities you want there for you should be able to trust them.
I have three children 10, 8 and 4 i also i various children under 4 i think there is about 5 in total, who treat me dogs like teddies and the dogs love it. When the post does come to the door yes she barks but when i open the door and say quite she automaticlly lays on her bed in the hall.