(I have included all the correspondence about this particular problem as I think it could be a fairly common experience and sends a warning about trainers - Ed)
HELLO! I have a three-year-old male German Shepherd, who is very shy around strangers and especially kids. His shyness has never brought with it fear aggression. I am worried that he is too unsure of himself around humans (he is very brave with other dogs, even larger ones) to actually protect me, or the home, if necessary. I have tested him a little, and he runs, before he would stand his ground. Do you have any information on this behaviour? Building self-confidence around humans? Thank you. - Joshua, PA
This is an interesting behaviour. Have you had him since he was a pup, or recently bought him? If he has become yours recently it may be that he has had a bad experience with humans - maybe as a pup he was badly treated or lived in an area where kids regularly teased him. If he stands up to other dogs then obviously he does not have a genetic timidity problem, as some dogs do, so I would think that his confidence would build as he learned to trust people. It may be that he was not socialised as a pup and that could be all he needs - to get out in happy situations with other people and dogs and learn that being with people is rewarding and fun. Perhaps you could join a local club that he will enjoy such as tracking, agility, obedience, trials, even search and rescue training, as long as he is enjoying the experience and his learning potential is being fulfilled.
Introduce new people to him often, but don't force anything - if he doesn't want to be touched to start with let the new person sit on the ground and read a book, or talk to you and ignore the dog. Their natural curiosity should see him come closer as he realises there is no threat and the new person should not make any sudden or large moves until the dog is more familiar. After the first few people he should start to become less shy. Perhaps if they had a very small treat in their hand for him like a cat biscuit or a piece of cheese, then he could be gently patted as he came up for the treat and soon the treat would be after he allowed himself to be patted. - Ed
Thank you so much for your detailed response to my email ... I have had Newman since puppyhood. My uncle bred him, and owns two dogs to the same parents. These shepherds are ferocious when it comes to guarding the home from strange humans and absolute babies to those they know. They also seem to have no fear whatsoever of meeting strangers. To my knowledge, Newman has never been teased by kids, or treated unkindly by any human for that matter. He has also never allowed his fear to bring aggression. Often when people want to pet him he will run away, and I will call him... he tries to avoid me, as though he knows what comes next. I will call him more sternly and he comes reluctantly. Then I will lead him by the collar (not forcing, or choking, but it is obvious he would rather not be being introduced). The people will pet him nicely, and he tolerates it, and occasionally after meeting the person many times, he will go to them willingly. I have talked with my uncle, and he raised his dogs differently than I did. He NEVER, NEVER laid a hand on them no matter what bad things they did as a pup... even if they knew better. I was told by my vet to teach the dog submission by regularly holding him down until he completely relaxed in submission, and I am afraid that I made the mistake of swatting him on the bum when he did wrong, on a few occasions. I also wrestled with him a lot as a pup for fun, so that he would be familiar with the movements of people in such a situation, and not, for example, be kicked in the head by a potential bad-guy. I was always careful to keep it fun, and never hurt him, but I am afraid that the combination of my actions as a first time parent of such an intelligent animal has caused this undesirable behaviour. I feel like such a failure, when seeing how confident and strong my uncles dogs are, merely by letting nature and instinct train them. I appreciate your idea of trying some sort of training. One of his brothers is used by the FBI in search and rescue, and was a couple years ago, the number one dog for S&R in PA ( I am told). I have tried taking him on walks in the city, or at busy places like the county fair and parks... he nearly jumps out of his skin at every strange sound or movement... tail between his legs, and very, very nervous so, I think the key is as you said is the dog ENJOYING the contact. I can't trust him at dog parks, because if another dog shows any type of dominant behaviour, Newman wants to fight him. Another main concern stemming from this shyness is that I want him to feel capable of protecting the home. I have been told of some reinforcement behaviour - tying the dog outside and having a stranger bother the dog in some non-injurious way then when he shows a sign of aggression, the stranger runs away in fear. Repeating this action supposedly builds confidence. Do you feel that there is some truth to this, or that this is cruel, and is contradicting nature, as I have already done to a more limited extent? Thank you so much for your time and attention, hopefully this discussion will help other readers as well. My search for correcting this behaviour has turned up very limited results. - Joshua
Hello Joshua,
First, no, no, no! Never set up your dog so that it is rewarded for acting aggressively (as in your last question)! I sent your letter to our trainer who specialises in clicker training and she sent the advice below:
Hi Joshua,
The fact that Newman has shown aggression towards dogs in the parks shows he does have a problem with fear aggression that of course is an active defence aggression. You said his siblings confidently bark aggressively at strangers who come to the house. Unless the siblings have been professionally trained for this guarding behaviour, then it is quite likely they also have a problem with fear aggression and are not as confident as you may think.
What a puppy learns in his first few weeks in life will be with him for life and that includes learnt behaviour from his mother and other dogs he lives with in those few weeks. It is most likely this behaviour was imprinted on him in his first few weeks of life and not something you have done.
When Newman is in the park his aggressive behaviour is being rewarded when the strangers with their dogs run off. His behaviour worked by chasing that threat away, therefore increasing the likelihood of his aggressive behaviour happening again and again. If your dog wears a check (choke) chain and you pull him or shout at him or hit him when he behaves this way, your dog thinks your behaviour is also linked to the stranger with his dog and feels punishment coming each time they come into the park. He associates your behaviour with them, thus intensifying the behaviour even more. Just like dogs we all want to avoid pain and if dad (you) punishes me (the dog) when we see the strangers and their dogs I feel pain from dad so if I can chase them away then the pain stops.
Unfortunately there are many well-meaning people who have been told by other people and even trainers and professionals (such as your vet) that they must get on top of their dog and show it who is boss by holding it down on the ground and looking into its eyes; by stringing it up by choke chains; hitting the dog; and many other damaging methods of training which have long-term negative side effects. These teachings are very old methods of training. Dog training has moved on since those pre-1960s days and there are new modern methods of dog training using positive reinforcement. A good book I recommend for you Joshua is 'The Culture Clash' by Jean Donaldson. An excellent book to help you understand your dog, with a little bit of training help in the back of the book.
What I recommend you to do with Newman is to introduce him to people and other dogs one at a time - he is not ready for a park or down town situation at this stage. First set him up in your own home.
Have people call at your home one at a time (perhaps two or three people throughout the day). Have them sit down and you bring your dog into the room on a collar lead. Let the dog go up to the stranger in his own time, do not push him. When the dog approaches the stranger, have the stranger give him a nice treat and pat him under the chin if the dog lets him. Also as Newman's owner you must personally give him praise so he can see that you also enjoy the strangers' company and you are not going to punish him.
Once Norman is confident when strangers enter the house, which could take days or months, you just have to work at his pace and cannot push him, remember this behaviour is imprinted and will take some time for confidence to build, keeping in mind he may never completely build confidence in strangers or their dogs. Then take him outside the house but still on your property and set up the same situation.
Once he builds up confidence with people in the house and on his property, set up the same situation on a friend's property, building very slowly at his pace. If he fails any time, just go back a step in the training process and start again. Remember any bad experience during these sessions will only reinforce the behaviour you do not want. So keep it all in light-hearted fun and even have a quick fetch-the-ball game with him and the stranger once he feels confident, but just for a few minutes.
Then you can start on a quiet street, rewarding him with treats every time a stranger walks past, making sure the reward is given at the perfect moment when you see his ears up and looking confident, not when he is shying away. Turning his head towards you with the treat, so he also learns to ignore the stranger.
Then set up another situation where a friend walks by your house with a dog, keeping a lot of distance between your dog and the dog walking past. To prevent yourself from pulling your dog it may be best to tie him to something for this exercise. Try to draw Newman's attention to you with the treat when the other dog walks past and reward him for any attention towards you and not the other dog. Reward his efforts when he turns any attention to you, but ignore any unwanted behaviour by just turning your back on him for a moment. Yet keep one eye on him as any look to you should be rewarded, even if only a short half-second pause and glance at you.
Build on this if you can. Yet since this behaviour is imprinted on him, he may never become confident around other dogs and therefore should never be trusted, even if you manage to build his confidence to a good manageable level. Any threat could trigger that imprinted aggression towards another dog and if a human just happened to be caught in the middle, a bite to the human could have sad consequences for Newman. If you have any difficulty with these behaviour modification exercises, you may want to seek help from a professional canine behaviourist in your area to help you through. I once heard a trainer say, every time you are around your dog, someone is being trained. - Nicole Mackie (Cert: Animal Science, Canine Psychology and behaviour)
PS: Not all dogs like petting. Just like not all humans like people coming up and hugging them. Same with dogs. My own Bella (Labrador) has never liked hugs or much petting. She likes a tummy rub and sometimes a pat on the head but only when she feels like one, so why should we as humans presume dogs to be any different about their preferences, they also have the right to choose if they like it or not. Some dogs are very hardy, such as retrievers who love a slap on the side of the body, while sensitive dogs such as Dobermans would hate it and think of it as a punishment and not praise.
All breeds and all dogs have different temperaments and different needs just as we humans do - you should know, or be able to work out, what Newman likes best and have visitors pet him in that way rather than petting him where he is not very happy being petted. Some like their ears gently rubbed, others like their chin stroked or their tummy rubbed. Just use the method that he enjoys most. If you have a clicker training club or organisation in your area, do join or seek assistance. Be VERY careful about trainers as there are still some unenlightened 'old school' trainers around who will not help Newman at all.
Hello, I was just re-reading your email and had a sudden thought when it came to the part where Newman jumps out of his skin at noises etc in the town so thought I would pass on a little trick a friend uses for puppies.
First you have to make (or you may be able to buy) a CD or tape with all sorts of noises on it. Busses, cars, gunshots, people talking and calling out to each other, dogs barking, machinery in progress, train or tram whistles, car horns, every noise you are likely to confront. Then you play it with Newman sitting inside - but play it only very quietly to begin with until he gets used to that, then put it up a little louder gradually over weeks or months, don't rush him, and reward when he ignores it and seems at ease. A daily session of 10 minutes to half an hour may help him relax with all the noises around him. My friend uses that method with pups that are going to be used for hunting as not every dog is relaxed about gunshots - it depends where and how they have spent their puppyhood.
In the final weeks of the training you may be able to take him walking around the yard on his leash with the tape turned up loud to copy the intensity of town noises (just how loud may depend on how close your neighbours are!). - Ed
Puppy with docked tail
I have a friend in California that has a Golden Retriever, who had long-awaited puppies three weeks ago. My dog of choice is a Heeler and I also have a passion for Labradors. So it was no surprise when I received a phone call about the puppies, and was offered one of them, especially the one that is being picked up in three or four weeks - a female that was born with a docked tail. I have never heard of this before, both parents are registered and the history of them does not mention this genetic defect.
Do you know of, or ever heard of this happening before? I am doing a bit of research on it, to better understand. I do not plan on breeding her, she will be spayed like everything else in my house, and be part of the family, doing dog things on two-and-a-half acres of running space. Thank you for any information you have. - Syndi
Hello Syndi,
First congratulations for your very responsible attitude to your pets and it sounds like your puppy will have a really marvellous home.
Re the tail - I think that as there has been no record of such a defect in either the sire or dam lines the problem must be non-genetic. It is most likely to be a fault that occurred as the embryo developed, as it only needs a tiny bit of damage in the womb to cause such a fault. Luckily it was damage to the tail rather than to the development of the heart or kidney etc and your wee girl will be perfectly normal as to health and growth.
Perhaps readers may have had some experiences such as this and will write in to tell us about it and we may learn a little more about unexpected damage or perhaps mutation such as this. A friend who breeds Labradors had one puppy some years ago that had to be put down as soon as it was born as it had no urethra. This had never happened in any of the breeder's lines and has never happened since ... it was most likely to be some small piece of damage or interruption to the embryo that had cause incomplete development of the pup. It was one of 10 and the rest were totally healthy. - Ed
Worried over grapes
Could you please tell me if dogs can eat grapes without any harm? I thought I read that grapes were like poison to a dog, but friends disagree. Thank you. - Jan, Acapulco
Hello Jan,
I am quite sure that grapes are okay for dogs to eat - one of my own dogs used to pick and eat her own, straight off our grapevines - both red and white ones. The only effect was that she got occasional diarrhoea when she ate too many - the same happened with windfall apples, and she also loved to pick her own plums when the branches were laden and near the ground. Another berry that she loved was the dark red to black ones on fuchsia bushes - that worried me at first but I looked it up and found that they are harmless and people used to make jam or jelly with them. - Ed
