German Shepherd, male/intact, 9mo

[beardedbloke]

I have a GSD who my only issue with is reactivity. Whether it’s in a hallway, outside in the dog terrace play area, in my house, an elevator…etc., he will barkbarkbark!
These are the places I’m experiencing the most issues with and I’m assuming it’s a result of them being the most familiar to him and he’s sort of claimed them as his territory.

He will bark on leash and off leash. I will try to redirect and correct after 1-2 barks (b/c I think some is fear-phase based too so I wanna allow some quick nervous energy release) but he’s so hyper focused that I cannot maintain his focus. I will try to:
a) leash-correct and walk away until he calms down, then try to return
b) practice the “look at me” command, quickly rewarded with praise/treat

Rinse and repeat

He will bark at his friends for a sec and then be totally happy so I think that’s an appropriate vocalization in terms of it being excitement.

He will bark if someone tries to pet him that’s a stranger or looks at him too long, will even run up to people and then after being nosey and sniffing start barking.

He hasn’t at all ever tried to bite anyone but being that’s he is a GSD who are meant to have this scary powerful loud bark and also being that he’s now 85ish lbs, people get scared and I want to walk down the hallway or go in public not riddled with anxiety that people will be afraid or want to avoid us.

Especially I want him to let people pet him without him acting ok and snapping into crazy bark mode in a seconds notice. Not everyone has the courtesy to ask to pet your dog first and it’s a shock to them when he reacts in a way that’s probably super scary to them!

I understand that this breed is naturally more suspicious so I don’t ever expect him to behave like a golden retriever. I just want to get him to a place of not reacting based on fear. I need for him to understand that I determine what’s a threat and what is not.

Help?

 

[mathwiz03]

@beardedbloke I wouldn't allow strangers to pet my GSD it creates too much anxiety. They are bred to be suspicious and guarding so it isn6on their nature to be a happy, goofy, friendly dog like a lab that anyone can come up to and pet.

You have a breed that most likely will never be okay with strangers petting them. You can however train the dog to ignore stranger and not react. The best place is a busy park and you work on it daily. With the dog. If the dog reacts you are too close to the trigger. Teaching a dog leave-it command will help you get through hallways, so work on that in many different environments.

Focus on getting the dog comfortable around people and not interacting with them will go a long way. .

 

[chifundo]

@beardedbloke Use something high value as a distraction/training tool. Whether it be a particular ball or liver treats, have whatever it is in your hands when you see a potential trigger. For example if you are walking him in the hallway and you see people up ahead, take out the treat or toy and have him follow it with his nose until you pass by the strangers. You can throw in a marker word such as ‘leave it’. Chances are he’ll be so focused on his favorite thing that he’ll forget about the strangers. Once you pass them then reward him by using a marker word such as “yes” or “good” and then give the treat or ball. You can do this anywhere as a means of socialization, it teaches the dog that you are more interesting than anything else in the environment and they eventually learn to ignore other stimuli (could be cars, people, skateboards, loud noises, etc.).
Also in general GSDs are super barky and vocal - training will help but won’t make it go away entirely