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Just for fun...wha tis your GSD afraid of?

6K views 59 replies 49 participants last post by  Lilie 
#1 ·
We adopted a 1.5 year old GSD about about 5 months ago now, and while she has been improving, she is afraid of quite a list of items. From what the vet's office where we adopted her from told us, with her prior owner she spent all her time locked in an RV while he roamed the country, which I can guess resulted in very poor socialization.

So she is afraid of/nervous around...

running water
puddles
fans
hair dryers
children
large men
senior citizens
dogs, especially small ones

Running water she will refuse to cross a small stream on a hike, or if she hears it in a drainage pipe on a run she will jump sideways into me to get away from it. With puddles she will walk around, or if she accidentally runs through it she freaks out a little and flies away from the puddle

Fans and hair dryers she leaves the room

Little kids and dogs she gets close to investigate, and then if they look at her she runs away. With dogs she will go up to them and bark a few times, then try and get away.

Large men and senior citizens she tries to hide behind us and won't go near them unless you give her plenty of time and let her do her own thing, even then, she is very nervous and jumpy until she really gets to know them.

It certainly keeps things interesting!
 
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#2 ·
Mine was afraid of everything when we first got her as a puppy due to a rough start at the shelter (including being beaten up by the mother of another litter at about 9 weeks old). It took a lot of work, but now she's only scared of crowds (like at a festival), "gangs" of dogs (in her mind, more than 1 is a gang! :D) and large holes in the ground that make a lot of noise (open manholes, openings on a small ferry boat, etc). She keeps things interesting, for sure, but she's come a long way!
 
#3 ·
Baths are the worst for Kaiju. I can get him in, and then he just sits there and moans the entire time.

Oh, and he'll jump when the squirrels body slam the tin roof over the back porch. Though in all honesty, that tends to surprise me as well. :D
 
#4 ·
Honestly, at 4 years old. Hondo isn't afraid of anything. He's not fond of heavy gun fire (target practice), but he doesn't move off or go back to the house.

When he was a youngster he was afraid of a tooth brush in my mouth. No idea why. If I was brushing my teeth, he'd leave the room and wait till I was finished. If I went into the room he was in (while brushing my teeth) he'd walk away. He didn't like it. When I offered him the tooth brush, he'd turn his head away.

I took an old toothbrush and laid it on the living room floor. He had to walk past it a gillion times every day. Finally he ignored it. And I moved his kennel into my bedroom. I fed him his raw chicken in his kennel. While he ate, I brushed my teeth.

Now he doesn't even wake up when I'm brushing my teeth. Stays quiet when I brush his teeth. Never could figure out why he was concerned with a tooth brush.
 
#5 · (Edited)
The vacuum cleaner, my sparkly riding crop the hardwood steam mop, laundry baskets. (Tyson)
Dexter, same but also is very nevous of loud voices,
Shigs. Hates the vacuum has no fear other then the vac I dont know if its even vac fear, she just gets up gives it the look and goes in her crate and sleeps for another 8 hours. Of I were to say "shiggies what are you most afraid of" and she could answer me she would say "running out of snacks"


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#6 ·
Nothing so far

Though I saw him startle for the first time ever yesterday. There was a huge thunderstorm with hail going on yesterday when I got home and I let the dogs outside to do their business and there was a huge BOOM of thunder a few moments later, it shook the house and scared the bejeebus out of me and both dogs hightailed it for the door. Of course two seconds later he was back at the door whining to be let out again :rolleyes: So scared, no
 
#7 ·
The Obvious one

The Vacume Cleaner is not their favorite. The Roomba vacume robot doesn't bother them at all, but if you have the big push vacume they avoid it.
 
#9 ·
Halo is afraid of missing a meal. :D

Keefer likes to attack the vacuum, but I don't think he's actually afraid of it. Strangely, he only does that when I vacuum, he doesn't seem to mind if Tom vacuums.

They're both pretty bombproof.
 
#15 ·
The only thing he is consistently scared of are trucks. Ever since the garbage truck came by with the giant mechanical arm that lifts things into the air, any vehicle large and loud causes him to run and hide. Kind of. Only the garbage truck causes a huge reaction. I've seen him duck halfway into the bushes when school buses stop at the intersection. The other day a tractor was going by and he came trotting up casually but with ears looking a little worried and stood behind a hedge until it was gone.
 
#17 ·
Apsel isn't really afraid of anything that I know of yet. I've seen him get spooked a couple times when he couldn't recognize a strange noise, but the first thing he does is find me or my dad and then he's ready to confront whatever it was.
I accidentally spooked him once when he didn't know I was outside at dusk. He didn't see me, but heard me move a box across the concrete. He took off running a good football field away to make sure he saw my dad, who was mowing at the time, and then strutted back like he owned the place, hackles still raised and all huffy. He was pretty relieved to find me then lol

I will add, Apsel's bark gives me chills. I love it.:D
 
#19 ·
nothing I can think of - she does get spooked by loud sudden noises sometimes if she's in a deep sleep, but she has a quick recovery.

She can shy away from the hairdryer but she's not really afraid of it, it has just worked to get me to stop a bunch of times. If I bust out peanut butter and smear it on something suddenly the hair dryer doesnt exist, go figure ;)
 
#20 ·
Eli is afraid of nothing. The only time I've ever seen him kind of spook was during his therapy dog testing when they mimic a crowd. We were the first ones up, 4 people were standing in an X across from each other, they all put their hands behind their backs and started walking back and forth along their line at the same time (how this mimics a crowd is beyond me). He looked at them with a puzzled face and boofed. Walked through and around them but was definitely weirded out. He passed so I was happy. He totally threw me off with that though, he has been in HUGE crowds before, performed rally obedience in parades, met some very odd people. But 4 people walking back and forth in straight lines that all started moving at the exact same time - people just don't do that lol.
Cajun is a rescue and although he was afraid of many things when I got him his only lasting fear is of things falling on him. So if you move the baby gate too close to him, or the broom gets knocked over, he panics and runs but recovers immediately.
 
#23 ·
jasmine: the vet, the dishwasher (pants heavily and shakes) strangers petting her, chases the vacuum. If she sees other dogs regardless of size she will raise hackles. Doesn't bark or growl.

Titan: nothing as of yet. I have never seen him raise his hackles at anything. He might startle if someone comes around the corner but normally I will startle first.
He thinks everyone needs to pet him and will whine like a little girl when he thinks a stranger is going to give him attention. He has never been shy.
He Loves the vet.
 
#24 ·
K-Bar came from a home where he was not socialized ether. Left in a small pen outside and only used for breeding with some occasional abuse we believe :(

It took us a YEAR to get him comfortable around my husband. He is now a hilarious goofball who loves to lounge on the couch and his favorite thing in the world is FOOd, he gets so excited at dinnertime.

Things he is still afraid of:

Adults other than a select few (he is immediately comfortable with all children).
Loud noises like thunder, fireworks.
Anything that is out of place in the yard like a tent set up for the kids or a scary plastic bag blowing in the wind.


All pretty normal stuff for a dog with anxiety I guess :)
 
#25 ·
When mine were younger, plastic bags. Neither of them liked when they made the noise when you shook them to open them. They have since grown out of that, but it was both of them. Now, neither of them are afraid of anything. They like checking out new things.
 
#26 ·
When our GSD was a baby she was slightly apprehensive of PIZZA BOXES :) I guess the unpredictble way they flapped open worried her.

So, I started putting the box on the floor when it was empty and put a few treats on top of it.

She learned that there was nothing to fear.
 
#27 ·
I'm not sure Roxy is as "afraid" of the dishwasher as she is annoyed by all it's various noises. She used to sleep right next to it and it didn't bother her. Now she paces the whole time it's running. I try to run it when I'm leaving the house with her to go for a Llllllllllllooong walk so it's done by the time we get home.
 
#30 ·
Running water or large bodies of water freak Gunther out as do hair dyers (so just brush him out in front of a little space heater until he's dry). He's fine with my husband's heat gun as long as he's far enough away that he can't see it/feel it. The heat gun is never used on the dog haha just on shrink wrap and things of that nature.

He's not comfortable in my sister's truck either but she's had quite a few different kinds of animals in it so I think that might be why.
 
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