Isolina 3mos./Insecure? - Page 1

Lina just turned 3 months and I have a question about how to handle a behavior. She is the first of my four GSDs to be showing insecurity. None of my others went through any obvious fear period/stage, so I'm not sure what the best way to handle this is. (3 of the 4 are being trained in Sch)
She, even at 8 weeks has always barked at strangers walking by our yard and came and sat beside me, barked some more, until the strangers passed. When I mentioned to the breeder that I thought she was being protective already he said it sounded more likely she's a bit insecure.

So a month has passed and today I took her out on a leash and when anyone approached me/us she would bark, back up, hide behind me, bark some more, try to approach the person, bark, come back and sit next to me... bark some more.. I guess you get the picture.

The same thing happened when I was leaving work and the security guard pulled up to chat with me.
She barked at him ferociously while we talked and I ignored her, since I wasn't sure if distracting her was the right thing to do, even though my gut said distract her!!.
The security guard wasn't afraid of her, so he stood there and eventually she came up to him and sniffed his hand, licked him then hightailed it back to me, Once she settled down and seemed at ease, I petted her and told her she was a good girl. A few minutes later he laughed loudly and she started with the barking and again I ignored her until she went over sniffed and licked and came back to sit beside me and relaxed.
My other dogs have all loved strangers and still do! Everyone is a potential friend (in public-not necessarily at home unless they are invited inside!)
My Sch club doesn't allow puppies to come to training until they are 4 months old, so I haven't brought her yet. I thought I would come here first and see if anyone has had any similar experiences and how they handled it.
She did not act this way to anyone walking by us, only people who approached us directly- if that helps... I want her to be confident,
So what were my mistakes, and what can I do to build up her confidence?
I don't care if she doesn't LOVE strangers and I also don't care if she barks at people coming up to my property. I do care though if we are walking down the street and she is lunging then hiding and I want to handle the situation properly. I didn't want to talk sweet to her, because I figured it would exacerbate the problem, so for now I ignored it.

Here are some pictures from today
Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Stacy



Sassing Me

she is too cute, you must quickly get her food motivated and start having people feed her treats it will cause her to see them differently a puppy like that is not interested in people 'petting'' her so avoid that but usually they will quickly learn to except treats sans the petting though

Hi Stacy, Your pup is just adorable! Agree with Lief. She needs to get out and have good socialization. I think this is fairly common at this age. Could you maybe talk to your club about your concerns and see if they would allow you to bring her just for socialization, as long as she is current on her vaccs? Our group generally has the same policy as yours for pups, but exceptions are made, and I personally would much rather take a tiny risk in that month period to make sure they are socialized properly. It seems like 3-4 months is when this behavior appears a lot of times. Take care! Theresa Ps, thanks for the compliment on my girl too! I responded late to you, but the thread was bumped down.

I always reply late to posts lol... Thanks Theresa. And Leif I appreciate the suggestion and will keep a pocketful of treats.

The food motivation should work...She's extremely greedy :-) Also Leif you made an excellent observation with out seeing her. Even after she sniffed and licked the guard, she didn't care for him petting her and came back to me. 

I will also ask my Clubmembers to make an exception. If they don't I suppose I will just have to "hire" friends to help out.
I'll also have to teach her to take treats gently, as I'm only typing with about half of my fingers from the focus training I was trying with her on earlier lol (Even when I make a fist with the treat in it she clamps her whole mouth down over my fist. I don't suppose my friends would much appreciate that!)

I greatly appreciate the advice. Also if anyone has any you tube videos of people teaching pups her age to focus , feel free to post them here. I know I have seen some on here before that were really amazing, just haven't been able to find them.
Thanks!
Stacy
P.S. I think she's pretty cute too ;-)

Batting gloves work very well I have found, for the focus work ans obedience in general with food for pups. They are thin enough, but still take the OUCH out for the most part. :-) Theresa

Batting gloves work very well I have found, for the focus work ans obedience in general with food for pups. They are thin enough, but still take the OUCH out for the most part. :-) Theresa

LOL too funny... Matt suggested using his work gloves which are similar :-)
Steve1 has her full sister from the first breeding and warned me...there'd be blood! 
Thanks Theresa, good to see you back :-)
Stacy