# HELP. GSD scared of EVERYTHING



## Tyler617r (Jun 1, 2017)

Thank you for reading my post. I have a 7 month old German Shepherd and she's a sweetheart. She is treated very well at home but she always acted very strange. She has always followed my wife around and really wanted nothing to do with me and shes always been scared of me. We have improved on her being timid towards me but the main problem is her towards other dogs. She is absolutely TERRIFIED of dogs. I have always tried to socialize her with other dogs and theres only one of 2 she is okay around other than that she is pulling me away nearly choking herself with her tail down. I take her to dog parks often hoping it will help bit while the other dogs is playing she watches and once one runs towards her she sprints under the nearest table of bench with her tail down crying . She's scared of anything and just something falling over or random noises. I don't know what to do. I've heard of scared or timid dogs but this is the worst I have ever seen. I am very concerned. What should I do??:crying:


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Sounds like the dog park trips are only making her more anxious.Let her enjoy the two doggy friends she's comfortable with.Keeping calm and matter of fact when she startles at an unusual noise or object will help her realize that it's nothing to worry about.


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## thegooseman90 (Feb 24, 2017)

I agree with the above post. You're making her fear and anxiety worse by forcing her into uncomfortable situations. It sounds like confidence maybe and I'm sure there's some practical way to help her along but idk how. Let her do what she's comfortable with unless it's absolutely necessary that she's around these other dogs and then I'd probably seek advice from someone who's experience with these issues and can actually see the dog to assess her. Good luck


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## Dracovich (Feb 24, 2017)

There are definitely things you can do to help, I have not owned a 'severely' fearful dog myself but I have seen some rehabilitated.

I want to put out there that with this breed it is often genetic, you dog may always have fear issues that cannot be trained out, and you might have to learn to accept that about her.

A common method of ridding dogs of their fear is flooding, this is a pretty controversial method though because even though it does work on some dogs, it does not work on all and the ones it does not work in it makes them DRASTICALLY worse. The common denominator in the successful rehabilitation methods of genetically fearful dogs is they all take a LOT of time and patience, a lot of time, because rushing these dogs makes things worse.

The difference between dogs fearful due to situations in their life and dogs who are genetically fearful is dogs who had a bad life and become fearful KNOW what they are afraid of and why, so often times gaining trust and showing them what they are afraid of is not going to hurt them can make all the difference. Genetically fearful dogs have not had situations to base their fear off of, they don't know why they are afraid, they don't know if what they are afraid of can actually hurt them, they simply cannot help their fear and it has no real basis other than their brain forcing it.

I think before you try to help her fear of dogs you need to strengthen your relationship with her.


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## Dotbat215 (Aug 19, 2015)

More Harm than Good: 3 Reasons Why I Never Socialize my Puppies | The Collared Scholar

"And I do “Socialize” my puppies. Just not in the traditional sense. Instead, I take my puppies places and focus my attention on fun engagement and focus games, and teaching the mechanics of strategic gameplay.

When we are out and about, we simply PLAY….

And as a result, the world becomes background noise….

…… And as a result, my puppies learn to focus on me…..

…… And as a result, nothing scary happens and my puppy leaves every encounter with even more confidence than he began with.

And listen – I never push the issue. I don’t get my puppies out to new places every day. I don’t push young puppies into new environments. I want them to grow and toughen a bit. I want them to build their relationship and trust in me, and I want to spend time building their drive and engagement so that they know the games before I start playing them in public."




I think this is a good article for owners who may not know the difference between healthy exposure and flooding.


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

Locate a very experienced trainer or if possible a behaviorist (difficult to find an experienced one). You want to move forward on this rather quickly because at some point your pup may have that one bad experience that will flip this fear behavior over into dog aggression. In the mean time, work on ob training and games with her, build that relationship. If another dog appears in the distance, good time to work on her focus on you - with the other dog remaining at a distance. I had to desensitize Woolf to dogs barking, I started with very low recordings and slowly increased the volume as he learned coping skills- just an idea for sounds.

A good confidence building game is Nosework. The dog accomplishes this on her own with lots of praise when she finds the article. Getting Started in Nose Work | Dog Star Daily


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## Findlay (Jan 8, 2015)

Twyla said:


> Locate a very experienced trainer or if possible a behaviorist (difficult to find an experienced one). You want to move forward on this rather quickly because at some point your pup may have that one bad experience that will flip this fear behavior over into dog aggression. In the mean time, work on ob training and games with her, build that relationship. If another dog appears in the distance, good time to work on her focus on you - with the other dog remaining at a distance. I had to desensitize Woolf to dogs barking, I started with very low recordings and slowly increased the volume as he learned coping skills- just an idea for sounds.
> 
> A good confidence building game is Nosework. The dog accomplishes this on her own with lots of praise when she finds the article. Getting Started in Nose Work | Dog Star Daily


I agree with Twyla. 

Something else, If you have'nt done it yet, It might be a good idea to introduce her to playing with a ball. It will be a step in the right direction if she shows even a little interest in playing with and chasing the ball. Keep it simple and make it fun but low key. Because your dog is fearful, Begin playing in the house. Get down on the floor with her and roll the ball around, hopefully she'll chase it. Encourage her with an upbeat voice, be fun, and praise her when/if she shows interest. 

When Finn was a pup I enrolled him in basic obedience class. before the 1st class the trainer evaluated him. One of the 1st things he did was try to play ball with him but Finn showed very little interest in the ball. He lacked Ball Drive. 
Apparently it's very important for a GSD to have some ball-drive. The trainer showed me how to encourage Finn's interest in playing ball.
And once he learned to enjoy it, the ball became his biggest and best reward. 

I literally used the ball to teach him all commands. Sit, stay, bring it, drop it etc.

I wish you luck. Take care. 
Ps. Your pup is beautiful!


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## John C. (Mar 6, 2013)

I have had a dog aggressive GSD. He started out as a puppy just being terrified of other dogs. As he got older it turned to aggression, but aggression based solely on fear. We actually added two dogs to our pack after we got him who he totally adored, it just took us two weeks to gradually introduce them.

I agree with other posters, your current strategy of trying to "socialize" him out of his fear is only going to make things worse. Also, to be perfectly honest, given how fearful your dogs seems to be, I'm not sure you're ever going to have a dog you can bring to the dog park and just turn loose.

However, I do like the suggestions about training and focus. Particularly if he has either toy drive or food drive, you can teach him to focus on you and ignore other dogs, people, strange things. This needs to be done gradually, first with no distractions and then by slowly increasing number and proximity of distractions. But, if he has sufficient focus and drive, you can teach him that sitting by you and focusing on you creates a "safe space" and that he can simply ignore everything else around him. Of course, you have to do this in a settings where he really is safe. You can't bring him to a dog park and try to do this and then have other dogs running up to him or pouncing on him when he is in his "safe space".


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## konathegsd (Dec 3, 2016)

Have you tried letting your pup see dogs at a distance yet? 

Play fetch with your dog and build a good bond and trust. I enrolled in puppy classes and it really brought my dog out of her shell with dogs. She used to be terrified when younger and now she loves every dog and is very social. I still do not take her to the dog park though.


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