Help With a shy GSD - Page 1

I just got a 11mth old male gsd that has had very little Socialization. He is not Aggressive in any way, my kids can pet him and he even hides behind them for safety. he is getting a bit better but still scared and pees when he get really scared. Any ideas on how to help it get more relaxed and his confidence?

igonore him when he is scared and the situation .  Begin gettiing him out and about, I would not flood him with new experiances right away, but  build on them and always tell him what a good boy when he is relaxed and treat him.. find somehting that is a favorite of his to play with and he only gets to play while with this at the time you are trying to expose him to take his mind off what is going on around him. Maybe try a bus stop and just sit there with him and play tug and treat. At fisrt he may not be comfortable, but if you do it every day he will relax with the cars going by and the people and then build from there.

Get him out there......have everyone & their brother give him a treat, and have them say "Good Boy"

Cause he is a good boy he just needs to get out of his shell, don't BABY HIM!!!!!

Please don't BABY HIM, that KILLS any and all confidence he could have ever known

Be strong, act like it's NO BIG DEAL THAT SOME STRANGER IS COMING OVER TO MEET YOU.....

Go to either a dog show that will let dogs that are not entered in or  bring him to a doggie day care that

has many dogs enrolled, get him out right awayand like 1doggie2 said: act like nothing is going on,

ignore him, and move forward, happy-------happy--------happy

cat1111,
If you would like to send me a pm I would be happy to walk you through some stuff.  This entails too much to take up the time here.  Hard work, much time, lots of patients, creativity, and little evidence of change for a long time may be what you are looking at.  This is not a 1 2 3 solution.  Pm me if you like, it is easier to go back and forth to explain things in detail and find out what and how you are doing it.  Imposible to write it out in a post.  Good luck

 I think it helps to have strangers completely ignor a shy dog until the dog chooses to come for a sniff.  Then they can drop a treat on the floor.  I ask people to treat one of my dogs like a stuffed animal, no eye contact, just ignor her altogether.  As the others posted, I think it is very important not to rush things, and not to comfort him when he is scared.  It is sort of like raising a timid kid.  If the kid falls in the playground, and looks at you with tears starting to well up, if you say, "oh no, you poor kid, let me make you better", the kid will cry.  If you say, "wow, you went kaboom", in a relaxed voice, the same kid will often dust them self off and return to play.  With kids and dogs, I try to find a balance between concern and over-protection.

Hi all. Thanks so much for all your help on this! I am happy to say he is doing VERY well now. Still not a big fan of the lead but his shyness has really gotten better.

Mindhunt- i got him from his breeder.
the breeder had 3 left from his litter. the breeder tells me he was the bottom of the pack. the breeder has his mom, dad, and another breeding female plus  him and one brother and sister. the other 2 siblings were fine. very friendly and out going. he did goto the vet 2 days after i got him as he needed his rabies shot done. i have 2 other gsd. i have had gsd for 10yrs and never had this issue with any of them.

as i said he is doing great. now when people come over he goes right up to them and some times jumps up to say hi, that is not allowed so he is told so. the only issue now is when he is on lead. if he is lose he is a very happy go lucky dog and plays with my females and even starts the play with them. when he first came he would not play, but now he runs and rumps with the best of them.

So still working on the lead issue with lots of goodies and prase.