Skittish GSD.

[FeliciaJ]

I was raised in rural Texas, with German Shepherds, my entire life. I'm no stranger to the breed. My mother breeds them, and absolutely adores each dog she has (Mitch, Isabel, and Camille). They're all named after hurricanes! My dad is a retired Navy meteorologist.

The litter before last (about a year and a half ago), she decided to keep one of the puppies that had been extremely sick with some sort of skin condition. With proper attention, medically, he was able to heal. She named him Hugo.

When I first encountered Hugo during a visit up to my parents' house, he barked and barked. Would run away, from both my fiancee and I. It was a long while before he started to trust us. By this point, he was a year old. And my mom had decided to rehome him to us, as she took on another GSD puppy (Camille) that was a major handful. She felt Hugo wasn't getting the attention he needed.

Hugo absolutely adored my fiancee before we brought him over to the house. He was doing really well for a few days, despite not marking.

He was always really extremely submissive; even the cats picked on him.

One night, when my fiancee was taking him out to do his business. Something startled the dog, and he darted for the gate. He knocked my fiancee over, dog yelped... and now he won't go near him. This happened roughly two weeks ago. I've done everything I can think of to get him to trust Dave again.

Tried treats, ignoring him, playing games with the hose (loves water) etc. He'd get better for a day or so, letting Dave pet him and taking treats from him, etc. Something would startle him, even if my fiancee was in the other room at the time! He'd still associate that fear with him. Dave is getting discouraged because Hugo adores me, and is glued to my side.

He's trying really hard to try and get the dog to trust him. But I'm at a loss for ideas. Not sure what to do anymore He tries to play with him everyday, takes him outside.. so it's not like they don't share time together. He also doesn't bark at strangers, just stares at them, and does an odd 'Brumph' sort of noise, like he wants to bark. Then the moment they come inside, he enters 'run away' mode. He was so afraid of my fiancee one night, he curled himself up into a ball and laid under our nightstand. He's not a small dog :P He's 1.5 years old, and is 80 pounds, and he hasn't filled out yet. So getting under that nightstand is quite a feat for a dog that size.

Any feed back would be wonderful..

[onyx'girl]

I would have Dave do all the feeding(by hand) and caretaking of Hugo for awhile...if Dave is on board with it. How is Daves attitude toward Hugo? Dogs sense tension and angst even if it is subtle.

I know this may not play into Hugo's case, but dogs that were ill as pups may not have gotten proper nutrition and process vitamins/ minerals differently as they get more mature which can affect their neurology. Maybe a holistic vet can assess what his history is and help with supplemental nutrition.
I know of a dog that had a blockage as a young pup, had his stomach tacked and then after a few months developed seizures...could be because he isn't processing/digesting properly.
Another dog had parvo as a pup, only one in the litter to survive. She had severe fear of most everything and the owner decided to have her released from her demons when she was only two. She was just a basket case living daily life. The only option was to have her drugged to the point of zombieland, and it wasn't fair to her to be in that state.

[DavidMJr]

I'm more than on board with it. I will admit, though, it's really discouraging sometimes.

To go more in depth, for the past couple weeks, I've been trying to get Hugo into a routine where I'm the one that takes him out to do his business at morning, before I head off to work, and at night, before we go to bed. He settled into it just fine, and that's actually what confuses me the most.

I can call him, leash in hand, to take him outside, and he'll walk right up to me, no fear at all, sit on command for me to put the leash on him, and then stay right by me as I take him out to the yard. Once finished, he comes right to the gate when called, sits again for the leash, and calmly waits for me to let him back in the house.

Once back in the house, though, he won't come within an arms reach of me, sometimes jumping over obstacles in his way just to get away from me. It hurts a bit. I've tried feeding him, both being the one to refill his bowls and by hand, playing with him, and taking him for walks. I've also tried ignoring him, just to see if neutrality would get him to come investigate me. Nothing seems to work. If he acts friendly with me at all, it's completely momentary, or the moment something scares him, he immediately goes back to avoiding me, like it was my fault.

[onyx'girl]

What about taking a training class with Hugo, DavidMJr?
It may help you build your bond with him one on one in a neutral evironment. Lay his meal in a track and track him~praising him along the way, it is a nonconfrontational way of bonding and builds the dogs confidence.
Hiking or just doing something out of the normal routine may help if you can't commit to classes, but I would try if it will help Hugo. Try to build his confidence in himself.
That comes from obedience and learning commands, getting lots of praise and rewards.

From the whole pic, I think Hugo has weak nerves and it will be a long road ahead. I hope you and Felicia are both up for the challenge~Wish you luck!!!!

[DavidMJr]

I think we're up for it. A class really isn't an option right now, unfortunately, but sometime in the future it may be, so I'll keep that in mind.

Felicia suggested something similar to hiking with him. I have long work shifts, but I usually have enough time in the morning to start taking Hugo out for a morning walk, so I'm going to start doing that, maybe that'll increase his confidence in me and in himself when around me.

We appreciate the help. Hugo means a lot to us, and we intend to work as hard as we have to in order to make him comfortable living with us.