Oversocialization? Dog too friendly. - Page 2

Cocking a leg when urinating has nothing to do with whether your dog is too friendly or not. My 5 year old in tact male does not lift his leg and trust me, he would take down a bad guy in a millisecond. Agree with a poster above that it's better to have an intimidating yet friendly dog than have a dog that may be a liability because it might go after someone, especially if you have kids. That's a recipe for disaster. Thank your lucky stars your dog is so friendly.

Often people cross the street way ahead of me when I'm with my GSDs just because of how they look. On the occasions when we do meet people they ALWAYS want to pet my showline female, who really does not care for being petted and tolerates it only because I tell her to. Meanwhile my working line male, who looks mean and scary but loves everyone, is craving their attention while they look at him all scared and unsure.

Socialization is very important. Sometimes, the natural protection instinct does not develop until later and also some dogs simply don't have it. I can observe possessive behavior in young dogs, puppies try to be area dominant, where they will guard their "corner" if you will while eating, they will dominate the siblings over places to sleep, eat....

I don;t know your dog, bloodlines and temperaments along with personality. You should have your dog evaluated by someone who has the knowledge and experience. It is really impossible to tell from a post if your dog will or will not grow into a good family guard dog.

My puppy bit a person at the age of 7 months. That poor guy came into my house and mistakenly opened my room door thinking it was a bathroom. He nailed him full on thigh bite and that guy finally smacked him off with the door. I was fortunate my dog was a puppy and did not have the training back then. He is a liability. Social, friendly ...on his terms. He goes to parks, BBQ, hikes, 4th of July fireworks, camping, downtown ice cream trips... he goes to festivals.... and he is a major liability where I must be very observant as what is going on around me.
He came that way, I only molded him to a dog he is now.......a load of control work, call offs and scenarios where he had to learn to not make calls because he is a civil, dominant bastard!

Have your puppy evaluated.

Family dogs should be just that. Family dogs. Count your blessings your dog is over friendly. We expect so much from our professionally untrained dogs. On the one hand we want protection, on the other hand we want friendly. I would think with children and childrens' friends you would want to have a very friendly dog. If you want protection get yourself a good burglar alarm and a shotgun at the ready. Unless you have your dog professionally trained, you can't have both. In my opinion. ( or at least not very often)

Who disliked my first post and why? Curious to know where the disagreement lies since I agreed with everyone else...

Balanced it up for you, Andhourspass !!!

Maybe they were disagreeing / disliking the first sentence,
about leg cocking not having anything to do with sociability ?
LOL

I can empathise with what you said about different dogs
getting different reactions from the public - sometimes it makes
NO sense which they prefer / want to fuss over, sometimes you
can 'see where they are coming from' just based on external
appearance.  Sometimes this can be a bit of a pain -  it did not
worry me if my bitch was given a wide berth, although I was never
sure why that was, because she hated being mauled by strangers.
But my current boy is too attractive (big flashy B&R) for his & my
own good -  he is very friendly, to everybody, and a fairly dominant
natured dog, so he can go deaf & wander over to complete strangers
for a fuss, sometimes, if I'm not quick.  The fact that the public almost
always respond well to him has not exactly helped me to break him
of that habit !

I'd be more concerned that he's not cocking his leg than him being too sociable.  I would think you would want a dog that isn't afraid of people.  But the squatting thing means that he isn't a dominant dog, at least not yet.

Why is cocking the leg so darn important? If he never lifts his leg to pee is he less of a dog? Hell i had a female that would hike her leg and pee up on poles. She was never the alpha in my group. Just a cocky bitch.
I'd be most concerned with having a stable dog.  One that is fine with everyone until someone bring reason to show concern.
My male Am Bull never met a stranger. Luther loved everyone and could clear a busy sidewalk in Orlando just by going for a stroll. Literally had people jumping off the side walk! But he was not a dog to mess with. Get ugly and he came alive. That's the kind of dog i like. Safe, friendly, easy going and able to eat the bad guy alive. He was my state fair and school demo dog. Miss him dearly.
Fry

Dragon - doesn't it depend on what he wants to do with the dog?  If he wants it to be a working GSD, then squatting might mean he isn't alpha enough to get the job done. If he wants a pet, then it doesn't matter.

I should have also made the point that some boys learn to pee by example and some just seem to know. Maybe this male has never observed an older male urinating on something. He may be merely mimicking what he has seen as a pup. Which is the rest of his litter and him dam squatting. Some males take a lot longer to lift.
I know some people that teach their males not to lift a leg on anything. Because the last thing you want is a great dane pissing on everything he sees.
I know some of the K-9 cop guys discourage their dogs from hiking a leg after they did a mall search and had to pay for a lot of ruined garnets.  Dog figured it was on a pole it was fair game. Even during a search.
If he wants a leg hiker then take him out with an older intact male and go for a walk. I'm sure he will get the lift after hanging out with the older male.