Please help - Page 2

the reason i did the stranger with treats is the dog i was training at the time is a Search and rescue dog. thats why i stated what you want to do with the dog. i want her to run up to people and solisit love. my male who is SchH could care less if another person is around.

     I agree with Chaz...The treat thing never worked with my male..lol..

     I am not saying it would not work, only it did not work with my male...I laugh just thinking about it...: )  I  spent more money on string cheese and hotdogs...lol...: )

     The last time I went to Petsmart a mother sent her 3 year old or so little girl running down the isle towards Prince to give him a hug....: (

I was the 'stranger with treat' for this method.

It worked alright so long as I never looked at the dog and just presented the treat.  The moment I didn't have the treat I was growled at and bit.

For a puppy (and by puppy I mean 8 to 22 weeks) maybe.  Older dog, I haven't seen it work.

Well that's half the problem. You want the dog to "run up to people to solicit love", but that's not what they're doing.

Ruger, that's why I said Friday at 8pm. Usually not too many kids.

yeh his confidence is building each training day.
we had a helper come from the united states. he use to breed shepherd.
he said for a puppy he has a high defensive drive. and he also said to me that hell grow out out of this phase.
he said hes a classic shepherd. so i assume that is good.

for training, he is out at the end of classes he runs around see everyone.
he just barks at new people, once he meets them once. hes ok. but i cant meet 5 billion people in my life time. kinda hard!!!

the helper is coming back in amonth, and im going to take him aside. and see how we can fix it. and what is causing it.

anymore suggestions please.

Kaoboy, please look up an experienced trainer familiar with GSDs and behaviors, when my dog was 6-7 months he started that behavior, and my trainer told me he had idiopathic agression and needed to be put down. She had 30 years of experience, so I was surprised by this since he was still a puppy and I asked two veterinarians, 1 agreed and the other said no way. Basically I found a great trainer/behaviorist and through appropriate training, I modified MY behavior, built up my dog's confidence. Oh and another big thing was my dog also had to mature, that was a big part of it as well. A good trainer can read your dog and tell you what you need to help the situation. Good luck and keep us posted, Jennifer

Idiopathic aggression? LOL Did your dog have to lie on the trainer's couch? Or did the trainer just use ink blots?

Ink blots... he kept seeing males who squat :(

kaoboy.....take him for a long run/walk...than get a cup of coffee at Starbucks and sit there for an hour or so....if he is tired he will be laying down and high traffic of people in a hurry who have no time to pay attention to him will pass by ignoring him...he will learn to ignore them..

Someone suggested this on here about 6 months ago for someone else with aggressive dog...i tried that and it worked...my dog was not as bad as yours, she was more skittish and if she could not back off far enough she would growl and hair would stand....I think we did this every weekend for two month and eventually she completely ignored people even those who stopped by to talk..where before she would be eyeing them and making sure they were not close to her,  eventually she just laid there, sometimes even napping.

We still do the Starbucks (well it's Liquid Highway now) thing because I enjoy it..LOL...my coffee shop before i moved was about 25 minutes away if walking so that is what we did we walked every weekend to it, I used to put a small sign on my table.."Dog In Training- Please ignore" and I would sit with my coffee and a paper or what ever else was available to read from 7am-8am. than walk back...try it..what do you got to loose? $3.75 for a cup of coffee?

EDIT: just noticed that you are not in US....but i am sure there are high traffic areas where you can sit to a side in some cafe and just let the world go by....if you have 1 person approaching he has something to focus on..but when there is constant movement and people changing they can't focus on one specific person..its like sensory overload...eventually he will have to ignore it because he cannot stay focused for too long...and it also helps that he is exercised and is tired..