[Ben]

Pup is probably going to be a maniac on the leash for a while. I started on loosh leash walking with my GSD around 11 months, introduced casual heeling around 12 months. When he was a puppy my focus was on building his confidence and our relationship. Play was the #1 thing. Once you get the puppy playing you can bring that play into the areas that are scary, and that’ll help get there confidence up.

[Ben]

Sounds like you’ve trained him very well. I do think you have an unrealistic expectation about strangers petting him. Best to respect the dog on this one, it’s his genetics, and also respect the safety of other people. People ask me all the time if they can pet my high drive gsd. In all cases, I say “No he’s not friendly, thanks for asking.” Simple, to the point, we all move on with our lives and no one is the worse off for it.

[Ben]

This is a breed bred to chase, bite, and fight a grown man. It’s ok if he doesn’t do well with other dogs, its not uncommon or anything to fix. The easiest thing would be to keep the pup away from most other dogs. It will only reinforce the aggresion because it’s all very fun to him, and as he grows older it’ll be hard to keep his focus on you when he see’s other dogs. God forbid he comes across a dog more aggressive than he – he might be traumatized for life after that. The best thing would be for you to play with him 100% of the time. For socializing with other dogs, just keep it to dogs you know and trust. It doesn’t have to be much. You’ll find some dogs he gets along with, it might not be many, but they’ll come along. He’s only 4 months old – his manners will get better in general as he matures and builds a relationship with you.

[Ben]

I would strongly recommend against it for most people. It’s doable though. Working dogs can have a great life in the city with the right owner.

[Ben]

I wouldn’t put the crates outside for a number of reasons. But I think the trainer’s idea is to expose them to the “outside world” in a way that doesn’t stimulant them as much as the mall does. Basically they need to work their way up to being in a place as busy as the mall. There are lots of options. Anywhere where they will come across other people, cars, dogs, bikes, skateboards, etc. Ideally not everything at once. A park with other dogs / people may be a good place to start, and parks are nice b/c there are lots of space. The idea is to take them somewhere that triggers their fear and make it a positive experience, and then they’ll learn there’s nothing to be scared of. It sounds like their fear is genetic since they have had such a nice upbringing. My dog is naturally more suspicious / fearful also. He used to be scared of skateboards but now it’s not a big deal. He still doesn’t like them but he can deal with it, and if he gets to worked up I can give him a heel, focus, or sit command. The fear may not ever go away but they can learn to obey you in the midst of being scared and that is reassuring to them.

[Ben]

I had some similar stuff with my working line gsd. We live in a busy area so it was hard when he was a cute puppy to step outside and not have people wanting to pet him. You got a dog that is naturally suspicious and loves to chase and bite. It’s genetic and no amount of socialization will change that (and too much socialization can make it worse). My approach has been more about understanding and managing the desire to bite as opposed to removing it from the dog. That drive will always be there.

[Ben]

I would test the idea he’s wanting interaction. I would try to catch him just before he starts the behavior, when he’s thinking about it, and then give a sit command. As soon as he sits I would bust out a tug and play with him for a little bit. If it has already happened, then while he’s doing it I would say “no” and just sort of push him off with my hand or a little bit of leash pressure, but not a pop. As soon as he stops even for just a fraction of a second I would say “yes” and bust out the tug. The idea is that he will start to associate sitting with getting to play, or, more generally, good manners with getting to play. He’ll also learn that being annoying and humping is definitely not the way to play. If he’s wanting interaction then I think finding a way to give him that while using it as an opportunity to teach him how to behave nicely is a good approach.

[Ben]

I would usually keep my GSD in the crate for 2-3 hours at a time at that age. Really just for as long as he could go w/o going to the bathroom on himself. When she gets worked up, what about giving her something to chew on? I would wait for my pup to get calm for just one second then reward w/ a frozen wet towel, pig ear, stuffed kong, anything that could occupy him for a bit.

[Ben]

I have an 8 month old high drive GSD and a 5-6 month old cat. I think it’s a little easier because they are both young and like to play, but I still have to stay on top of the dog for no chasing the cat. If your pup was able to do 10 minutes of training in front of a cat then I think there is hope. You just got to correct the dog every single time it gets out of line with the cat, with increasing intensity of corrections as needed. An e-collar will help a lot. Get a good one and it will have a vibrate button. I would say “leave it” and hit the vibrate setting anytime the dog tried to go for the cat, and it helped a lot at first. Now I don’t really need it. If things start getting out hand, then I crate the dog. They do like to play with each other and I allow that, but before the dog got to play with the cat he learned to leave it completely alone.

For the reactivity, is it just he neighbor dog or all dogs he sees?

[Ben]

9 months is a great time to start. Robert did a podcast with Avi Cohen and Avi talked about buying a 18 month old or so german shepherd that lived on a farm it’s whole life – essentially it had no “socialization.” But he took the dog through an airport and had no problems – the dog remained confident and calm in the face of all the new stimuli. It prompts the question what is the value of early socialization. That’s a big topic on it’s own, but my point is that your dogs probably aren’t acting fearful because they didn’t get socialized enough. It’s probably more their personality, driven by their genetics. You may well be better off having not done the typical home depot socializing trips all the time. But a lack of socialization wouldn’t be hard to overcome at 9 months with gradual exposure. If you’re dealing with a genetic issue it will probably be something that never goes away fully, but you can certainly control and manage it. Either way gradual, structured exposure is the place to start.