# We met STRANGERS?!?!



## Tessa99999 (Apr 16, 2010)

In an effort to be more active on these forums and the German Shepherd community I thought I'd post and brag about one of the greatest accomplishments with my GSD Addie.

LOOOONG story short, my GSD takes the "aloof to strangers" characteristic of GSDs to a whole new level. She was poorly socialized when she was younger unfortunately, so she has developed a bit of a fear of strangers that manifests itself with fear-based aggressive reactions. No one wants to mess with an "aggressive" dog. It works. So we've been taking group training lessons to try and help ease some of her tension around strangers.

We're currently taking our second set of classes, Intermediate Training, and Addie and I met strangers! She did not react, and relatively friendly and even let them pet her! I am SO insanely happy about this I just can't tell you!

Does anyone else have any awesome stories about their dogs conquering some fears? I'd LOVE to hear about it!

You can read our full story and all about my adventures with Addie on our blog, Doggy **** and Back.


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## CarrieJ (Feb 22, 2011)

Congratulations! Isn't nice when all the hard work pays off?


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

That is GREAT! BIG Congrats to both of you!


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## Tessa99999 (Apr 16, 2010)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! ^_^ I'm still beaming! (This happened over a week ago!) And yes it feels AMAZING to know the hard work and money is paying off!!


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Great job! It is so heart warming to see how committed you are to your dog! Congrats! Love to see some pictures of your girl!


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## Tessa99999 (Apr 16, 2010)

As requested, pics, because I don't think we can get enough beautiful GSD pics on these forums! =)










For anyone who wants the much longer version of the story you can read it on our post Learning to Conquer Our Fears.


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## GSDOWNED (Mar 16, 2010)

That's awesome! Congratulations to you both! She's beautiful!


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## Mac's Mom (Jun 7, 2010)

You should be really proud! And wow is she pretty.


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## Tessa99999 (Apr 16, 2010)

Thanks again! =) Her beauty is her greatest gift and her greatest curse. She's absolutely gorgeous, and because of this EVERYONE wants to pet her, sometimes without asking. =\


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## HeidiW (Apr 9, 2009)

Congratulations!! I also have major problems with my Male when we go places.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Congratulations! Your hard work paid off. It's so nice when you finally see progress . 

My issue is not as big of a deal as yours but Jazz doesn't like having his paws touched and we want to take the CGC. Our training instructor tried to touch is paws and he pulled them away, got up, and attempted to walk away from her. She said that would be a fail. For the past week I have been practicing touching his paws and lifting them with lots of rewards. The instructor was able to lift his paws and touch his legs last night which was awesome. Now the only other thing that might cause him to fail is the isolation so were going to be working crazy hard on that.


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## juliejujubean (May 4, 2011)

congrats!!!! :happyboogie:


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