My German Shepherd is 1year old and still nervous of anyone or anything outside of the house. When I walk him in the woods,and we don't meet anyone, he is very well behaved and happy. If we meet another dog  or person he will run away, and back, and away, and back,if not on his lead. If he is on his lead when we meet anyone, he will try to run away, or if it is a dog, he will jump up on his hind legs, barking. When I walk him near traffic he jumps up and tries to grab the passing lorries and cars. I have tried to introduce him slowly to things and he is no longer scared of the wheely bins or blue boxes,put out for collection, by the road. I took him out for a walk in the wood and then out onto the pavement last week and he did seem a little better with the traffic with some reassurence and treats. He really is a lovely looking dog, with a very nice and loving personality and everyone who see's him comments on how nice he is, and this is another problem. The other day a man was in his garden, as we approached the man leant over his hedge and only said ,Oh he's lovely, this caused my GSD to  go into one of his blind panics, twist and jump until he got his gentle leader off and he nearly ran into the busy road. I can't take him to classes as he has always been like this, we thought with persistance and patience he would improve. Any suggestions or ideas welcome.

Hi, l just posted a similar question, my dog is fearfull of traffic, large dogs and people and also goes into a blind panic if someone approaches him. He is two and has come along way and overcome his fears of weather, hoovers bags and everything else, but lm having trouble getting him used to people in particular.
lm just glad lm not the only one having problems. Let me know if you discover some magic formula that helps.

ive got a similar problem with my staffy when a stranger approaches her she gets very nervous.
what was your dog like as a puppy when you took him for a walk did he behave in the same way?
i think he feels very safe in your home but outside its a whole new world to him and he dont know what to make of all the strange and noisy things.
i think you should keep reassuring him offer treats and talk to him when he starts to get nervous so he knows that he is not going to get hurt and theres nothing to be afraid.
with other dogs when kacey was younger she was very weary of other dogs i would let one approach her and stroke and talk to her so she relaxed a little

Hi

I have no GSD experience, but I do have Malinois experience and I can imagine they are not all that different when it comes to behaviour. I do remember from working as a vet nurse that the dogs that were the biggest wimps of them all were always GSDs. ;) With Malinois, you have to work ten times as hard with socialisation as other breeds to prevent fears from developing. They also go through a particularly bad fear stage from the ages of roughly 7 months to 18 months, so I'm wondering if the same could be true for your GSD. I've just worked through this stage with two of mine, that went from being happy and confident to not allowing any judges at shows near them. It is all patience and doing things very slowly, and above all NEVER forcing the dog into a situation. I.e. if the dog gets scared, let him hide behind your legs or similar, or walk off until he calms down and when at a distance he considers to be safe, and he has calmed down, reward. Try not to confront things at all to start with, but do everything at a distance, and very, very slowly build it up, using a lot of praise and treats. My trainer always points out that if anybody is scared of snakes, it's not going to help them to be placed in a room full of snakes, and dogs are the same. :) So it will be a lot of hard work, but it can be done, and age will help improve confidence as well. Just make sure he isn't neutered anytime soon as that would make things much worse.

Hi Pammy. I am sorry to hear of your pup being nervous, love him. It must be so awful for him. I have always owned GSDs and they have always been very confident and self assured outgoing dogs who loved people and other dogs and being fussed.

However my girlie who is nearly 12 months was quite nervous with children for a short while. She was 17 weeks old when I bought her. The first time we encountered a child and they approached her she ran behind me and was quite scared. I called her breeder and asked if she had encountered any bad experiences with children and apparently a child had spooked her when she was younger.

I overcame her nervousness by carrying treats with me and when encountering my neighbours children, I explained she was only a baby and that she was scared and that they mustnt approach her or try to smooth her. I would stand a little distance away and talk to them, at the same time fussing my pup and telling her good girl, all the time watching her body language and if she was looking at bit nervous, I would tell her "its ok". After a short time, she would be inquisitive and want to have a sniff. At this point then, I would give my neighbours children some treats for her to hold out in the palm of her hand and my pup would feel confident enough to take the treats. Repeating this on each encounter showed my pup there was nothing to be scared of. It only took a short time. But it is important that you let your dog do it in their own time and that you dont push them into stressful encounters as it could prompt a fight or flight situation.

Perhaps you could do something similiar with people you meet. Stand a distance away, far enough for him to feel comfortable so he doesnt need to try to run. Try to have him sat by the side of you and give him fusses whilst you are chatting, at the same time telling him its ok. Make sure the person you chat to doesnt look him in the eye as he could feel a bit intimidated. After a while he should start to be a little curious and once he gets to this stageand he has started sniffing the person, a treat could be offered in the palm of their hand. Something really tasty that he loves.

Dogs also feed off on on our energy as well mind. So if you start to worry or feel tense then this will feed to your dog through the lead, so its important to always remain relaxed and confident.

GSDs do go through different stages when they are puppies as they are growing and they can go through various stages where they are not as confident and its important to be consistent with them, providing as much socialisation as you possibly can and rewarding them when they have been good so its a positive reinforcement.

GSDs are wonderful dogs and like you have said pammy, they do have extremely loving personalities and with a little time and training, your boy should be ok as my girlie now nearly 12 months was fine after a short space of time of positive training.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

xxxx

Thanks loads

I think one of the main problems is, he is so strong and will not sit still long enough for me to reasure him. I will try standing further away if we meet someone who looks like they are going to speak to him and warn them that he is very afaid, and try the treats thing. Will let you know how he gets on.

thanks for the info concerning being neutered, I did wonder if it would help, but the vet said it would probably make him worse, so wont do it.

Have you tried the "Gentle leader." It is brilliant for dogs who are very strong and pull and its much kinder on their neck too. My male GSD (who passed away last year was nearly 13yrs old) and he went through a period when he was younger where he wanted to pull and he was a really strong dog, but we used a Halti (which was the product available at the time) and it worked wonders. No more pulling to the point we could then swap him back to a collar and lead. Its a phase they all go through.

My female GSD started going through this phase too and I have used the Gentle leader on her also. However what will sometimes work is every time he pulls to stop and start to walk the other way. You dont tend to get very far up the road, but they are intelligent dogs and they soon learn that pulling means they go nowhere quickly. lol...

Pammy/Barghest/Kerrie
Giving a fearful dog reassurance is good.....you just need to be careful how you go about it.  If you do the 'there, there, don't you worry, it will be okay, I won't let the nasty car/dog/person near you' (or words to that effect - and it is the tone that is important and not the words per se!), then you are telling your dog that there IS something to be fearful about.  You want to give your dogs confidence and to do that YOU need to be 200% plus confident and cool yourself; ensure that no anxiety transmits down the lead and adopt what I call the 'jolly hockeysticks' type approach. 

Agree totally with MarianneB about not confronting, just be careful how you give the reassurance.  :-)

Good luck.