[nagdu] Protectiveness in shepherds

[Nicole Torcolini]

Vivianna , please reread the message to which you replied, and please stop
being so judgmental. The people in question were from work and church, so
they were not 100% random. Also, you are probably misconstruing the
situation. Even though Tracy did not say so, the people were probably told
what was going on and to only come pet the dog but nothing more. In a normal
situation, no, I would not want people petting my dog just because, but, if
it was the only way to fix a problem, I would do it. Also, just because your
dogs were not over protective does not mean that other dogs are not over
protective.
To answer Dan's question, there are many reasons that a German Shepherd may
become over protective. Yes, sometimes, it can be not being socialized
enough. A friend had a German Shepherd from a school who was a rescue. The
dog was a great guide, but the dog became over protective and had to be
retired. I do not know 100% that not being socialized as a puppy was the
issue, but there is a good chance that that was at least part of it. There
are many other reasons. Sometimes, it is not something that can be detected
early. I think that, even before the dogs go back to the programs to start
guide training, they know that the puppy raisers are not their permanent
owners, and the same with the trainers. After they figure out that their new
handlers are their final owners, they might start exhibiting different
behaviors.
The technique that you described sounds interesting, but, as you said, I do
not know if it would always work. If anyone tried it, I hope that the person
would know to stop if it was not working or the behavior was getting worse
instead of better.

Nicole

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vivianna via
nagdu
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2014 8:22 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Protectiveness in shepherds

neither of my GSD's were what i would consider over-protective.  protective,
yes, overly so, no.
why would i ever want to let random folks come and pet my guide?  i
wouldn't.
so, no, i disagree that one needs to get random strangers to pet your dog.
sorry but, i don't even let my friends play with or pet my dog.  lol.
i play with my dog a lot.  she does not solicit attention from others.
and, even at 5 and a half, she has loads of energy.  playing with her toys,
moving about the house, etc.  she is super eager to work and needs lots of
it.  if i don't work her for, 2 days, for example, the next time we go out
she is pretty wound up.  heh.

as for testing, i think that all dogs do this.  this shepherd was creative
about it though.  after i had her for about 5 months, one day, she decided
she would not go right.  nope, not for anything would she go right.  right,
nope.  sit, stand, right, still nope.  drop harness turn myself right, pick
up harness, forward, good to go.  left left left, makes a right, no problem.
this went on for about 2 weeks.  then, one day, rights were fine again.
weird.  very frustrating.  i just waited her out.  

Vivianna
	
On Nov 27, 2014, at 9:50 AM, Dan Weiner via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> In other words, the shepherd needed more socillization?
> Could he have not been sufficiently socilized as a pup and during 
> training or had this developed later?
> 
> Dan
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy 
> Carcione via nagdu
> Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2014 9:48 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: [nagdu] Protectiveness in shepherds
> 
> My trainer Sue had what I thought was an interesting idea on how to 
> prevent overprotectiveness in shepherds.  She had a student whose dog 
> was developing such tendencies, and she advised him to let people at 
> his office or church come up, say Hi, pat the dog once, and go on 
> their way.  She thought, if I understand it, that regular contact with 
> relative strangers would help it to not regard them as threatening.  
> She said it worked for that student.  She also said it probably 
> wouldn't work for a retriever, since they usually regard the whole 
> world as friends.  One of my classmates was having trouble with an 
> overprotective shepherd, and other instructors also advised this 
> method, although in her case it didn't work.  I'm just putting it out as
an interesting idea.
> Tracy
> 
> 
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