What do you tell people?

[PreciousSister]

We've only had our Trooper a week but already i can tell he is very aloof with strangers,he gets a lot of attention ,as where we live in PA you dont really see GSDs in the
Petsmart or walking in the getgo parking lot..mostly the ones you see are working K9s. I know by just watching his body he is not fond of people just coming up to grab and pet him ( i wouldnt either) .So far we haven't had that problem since he is already so big (68 lb) most people ask. We have a yellow ribbon on his leash in public which usually instigates people to ask why.." because hes in training" which isnt a lie ;they usually understand this ,just tell me he is pretty and move on. He isnt used to small children so if they ask to pet him i tell their parents no they may not and politely walk away..i dont want to push him to fast with kids as they can be much more obtrusive than 'some' adults. Those adults who do ask to pet him ..some that is; I tell them " let him sniff you first,and please dont go straight for his head" he may sniff them once but only three strangers has he let pet him.One was a very nice police officer .Iv also noticed when asking him to "sitz" ( we decided on tradition with training him) when in public people tend to steer away...i guess a dog whos being trained in german is incentive not to run up and pet him. I want him aloof to strangers but not scared or aggressive to them. Just my two cents .


Sent from Troopers Human

[debbiebrown]

true that weak nerved dogs are the ones who have issues with strangers and things in public. this is why focus and training are so important. you need to be on the ball with the surroundings. gaining your dogs trust and redirecting things through fucus etc help. with Sam, i usually will make the decision to approach people taking the lead. then he knows i am in control of the situation. when i get to someone i will make him sit and have a conversation with them in a happy calm voice. i do tell them he doesn't like to be petted by strangers, but if he wants to smell them i let him, but just because a dog wants to smell someone doesn't mean they want to be petted. although it is good that they are curious to smell and it means they are not in fearful mode.

[RugerandZiva]

My male is gigantic so very few people want to pet him unless they know him well. He goes off leash everywhere and people are very intimidated by him. He's an aloof dog who's never acted aggressive in a public social situation but I still ask anyone who wants to pet him to pet his back not his head.

[codmaster]

Originally Posted by RugerandZiva

My male is gigantic so very few people want to pet him unless they know him well. He goes off leash everywhere and people are very intimidated by him. He's an aloof dog who's never acted aggressive in a public social situation but I still ask anyone who wants to pet him to pet his back not his head.

How does he react if some stranger does try to pet him on top of his head?

Reason i ask is that my male GSD reacts differently to different people - most he doesn't mind at all and doesn't even seem to notice it as he is being friendly.

With a few people he will move his head so as to keep his nose near their hand - not aggressivelly or shying away as his body doesn't move. He just throws his head back as if to keep an eye on their hand.