A question about agression

[Rangers-mom]

I am a new GSD owner and i must confess that i did zero breed research before i got Ranger. I have had him since he was 7 weeks old but just adopted him 2 weeks ago and just started researching the breed. I am really nervous after reading the thread about Kira lunging at a visitor. Honestly, i never saw Ranger as a protector of our family, did not adopt him for security reasons. But while reading that thread i realized that i may have gotten myself into more than i expected. Ranger was dropped from the seeing eye program for fear issues but he has never shown fear of or aggression towards people. Do i need to be concerned about him developing fear aggression? He is only 9 months old so i am sure i haven't seen his total personality.

I have never had a dog that was overly protective and i am nervous about having one.

Thanks for any advice.
Robin

[ksotto333]

Our German Shepherd will be 2 in June. I have yet to fear her being aggressive towards family, friends or neighbors. She is inseparable from my 17 month old granddaughter. You've had Ranger since he was small, I doubt if you will see a complete change in his personality. He'll still change as he matures, but please don't assume every shepherd is a ticking time bomb.

[Anthony8858]

Robin,
Sorry if that thread spooked you.

Kira is a well trained, amazing temperament, beautiful, warm and loving GSD, and I wouldn't give up for anything. My "questions and stories" tend to produce some fiery threads. The people here have gotten to know me, and only voice their opinion.
Fact is, none of them know my dog, and if they were to meet her, they may have an entirely different interpretation than I do.

Read between the lines of those threads, and there's a wealth of information.

Your dog will give you unconditional love. I wouldn't be concerned.

[Rangers-mom]

Tanks to both of you. I guess i am just getting a little nervous about Ranger's fear issues. He is afraid of things like grates, bridges, big objects he can't identify. I have been taking him to a trainer to work on these issues. Yesterday at the trainer's facility he barked at a huge dog, his hair stood up a little, and he backed up like he was scared. I have never seen that sort of behavior before. He has not had a lot of contact with other dogs - probably once a week or so - so i started to worry that he wasn't socialized well. As for people, he seems to love all of them. As a seeing eye pup he has been to a lot of people places and met lots of people, but when i think of it we don't have a lot of people in our home. I just started to worry that he would feel that our home was someplace he should protect, and since he is naturally fearful he could react. This is pure speculation since at this point he has greeted every guest in our home with the same eyes as the cat in Shrek - big, sweet, "I am the cutest thing in the world" eyes.

Robin