How friendly should your dog be............ - Page 2

As far as a one-dog encounter with a stranger, the dog should remain aloof and not react in a defensive or offensive manner. That said, he may bark and posture some, but not indicate agression to the end that he will make an unprovoked bite, or appear to want to do so. If the dog is with me, I expect him to stand his place, but remain friendly and reasonably approachable. That said, our dogs do read and interpret body language, odor, manner of dress, etc. perhaps differently than us and can react strongly with someone who does not appear "normal" to them. As a note, even after extensive socialization I find that all of mine are very agitated when they are confronted by an elderly person, as that is the one (1) type of person with who they have the least exposure. In those rare situations I have to be extremely mindul of the dog's disposition and help them keep their cool. Bob-O

Bob-O, you should bring your pups for socialization at my house. Plenty of old geezers around here!!LOL,jo

Kalibeck, I think that in ten (10) years or less they will have the "old geezer" exposure here, and never have to leave home! Bob-O

Hopefully, those weak showline nerves will fade away and the good ones will stay. I like to think "survival of the fittest". If a dog in uncertain of any stranger, it is OK as long as it is not uncertain of ITSELF.

Puppies: outgoing friendly and social Adults: either social and friendly or aloof. Never unsure, I want my dogs to be able to recognize a threat from a non threat. They should only be suspicious if the situation calls for it. I have a dog with an unreliable temperament, he is suspicious of everyone. I can never let anyone approach and always worried about his behavior. He is like this because he is insecure NOT confident. Aloof is perfectly fine and correct (breed stantdard). But after my experience with my am-bred snapping at old ladies, social and friendly is great in my book as well. If your dog has the right temperament, stable nerves and is clear in the head there's no such thing as too friendly. My most social GSD is the one most likely to act appropriately if threatened regardless of any "equipment" present.

As for the question about commands or food: the answer is NO. If people want to give them a treat (always get one at the post office) they will recieve it from my hand only. If he's a puppy I'd allow/ ask people to feed him/her if he/she needed help with socialization (ie. too shy).

So if you see a working line dog... who, even when youre already in terms with the owner (shaking hands and all, laughing and frequent casual talks on how the dog grew up still the dogs bites in the air and even the owner can't seem to know why the dogs just keep on snapping anything on site) This is definitely not an ALOOF Temperament... It's being uncontrollable... And a potential HAZARD not an ASSET, even to the owner.

Aloof: Distant physically or emotionally; reserved and remote. My female is very aloof, she'll completely ignore you. You can pet her and talk to you and she'll act like you're not even there.

That is being ALOOF... but really depends on the NATURE of work of the dog ... guide for the blind(normal for them the elderly and todlers) but harsh if confronted by people or things they think would pose a threat to their handlers // Compared to a high performance dog...normal to have a tough handler which he only takes orders from and consider all others dummies... What will happen if a BAD guy (just like GSDLVR said) would suddenly AUS the dog??? And the dog is really OBEDIENT... LOL :)

I agree and like that my female is friendly but aloof. Makes strangers wary which I like.