Ok, so I had a little time to think about this. Last year, all year pretty much, I worked for my sister at their building in the hood in the east side of Cleveland. And yeah, it was like some Jim Croce song, "The south side of Chicago, in the baddest part of town..." I mean, what's your first clue? the churches had barred gates covering up their front doors. Whatever, it was a neighborhood that was definitely worse than the one we grew up in when we lived there, and not even close to our rural county out here.
I started bringing Babsy right away, and she was nine going on ten years old. She's one of my smaller bitches, not tiny like the werewolf, or skinny like Karma and Hepsi, but only about 22-23" inches at the withers, where most of mine are 24-24.5" Not a huge difference, I know, but next to the others, she looks small.
But the thing is, she is my best obedience dog. I never used a leash on her in Cleveland, except when we went off of the building's property. The building was a public building, and I pretty much would go through the lobby down a few corridors, up a few steps, or through the elevator and park her in the Alcohol room. She stayed at a heel, accepted pets, if I told her to go to her place, she would go on ahead and wait for me at the Alcohol door -- sometimes I had to grab a cart or something.
They did drug testing on the second floor and from riding the elevator a LOT, I think most of those people were there because of part of their probation. They were all terrified of Babs. Before that went in it was the radio station, a pretty rough crowd, and we had some problems with them, not much, an incident here or there, music too loud, not willing to pay the extra money to sound proof a different location in the building to make it suitable. But they were very leery of my dog.
And she was just as polite as can be. She ignored everyone. And would only move forward to SAY HELLO, or accept pets, if I told her to go say hello. Focused on me.
I trained her to Find My Car, before I started working there. I took both the Explorer and the Honda there, so she would trot off in the parking lot checking every vehicle by sniffing at the trunk areas until she came to mine, and then she would sit and wait for me. Half the people there thought she was a drug dog. LOL.
I often closed the building after midnight. This entailed bringing the car beyond the gates, and then dragging the gates one at a time across the parking lot and hooking them together with a chain I would thread through them, and then padlock it. This was flat out scary. I would bring the car out, and open the back door, tell Babs to stay, and then do it quickly, close her door and then jump in and lock all the doors.
As much as I was a little irritated people for their fear of Rushie, I was happy enough about their respect/fear of Babs. Big guys over 6' tall would back up and look at me and ask if she will bite. I told them, only if I tell her to. She was not trained to bite, but they didn't need to know that. A well-trained dog might be trained for anything. A hyper youngster, barking, lunging, jumping on people shows that he is a fluff right away.
We chose a breed that is used for protection, guarding, herding, service, military, etc. A healthy respect for these dogs is to be expected. These dogs are also notorious for being good with children and babies, though there are exceptions. But we have to be prepared for people with children to provide some attention to the dogs. If you have one of the exceptions, you have to be quicker, and protect your dog from his own bad actions. When GSDs bite people, they generally do go to the doctor/hospital. It is usually not a mauling with multiple bites and tearing, but it can be to the face arms, legs, torso, and a GSD bite will produce significant bruising, punctures, and probably require drains and stitches. Unfortunately, being as popular as they are, and as attractive to all types of people, too many have bitten people, and some people are terrified of the breed.
It is usually more like a phobia, an irrational fear of dogs in general and specifically GSDs or Dobes, or Rotts, or Pittbulls, or large dogs. or bully-type massive dogs. Even if you are bitten by a shepherd, you could have a more lasting injury from a fall on a bike, but you aren't going to stop riding a bike. I remember drinking a German Beer once and wrecking my bike and landing up against a curb crushing my shoulder. I went to the hospital, and it wasn't broken (twice I took out that shoulder with my bike). But it was all tore up and I was given a sling, and it gave me pain for years -- I was 18 this time. I got home from the hospital, and got on my bicycle sling and all, and went riding. We do the same with horse-related injuries, and car accidents, and falls. But there is something about dogs, that when people are bitten, especially as children, they allow the incident to rule a portion of their nerve. I pity these people. Because that fear makes them all the more likely to be bit again.
When you have that hesitating child(I am talking about older kids, those old enough to be nursing this fear for a while, 12 and up) offering its hand because he is trying to conquer his fear, and when the dog reaches to sniff the hand, the boy rips his hand back, some dogs sensing the fear pharamones the kid is giving off as something bad or worth caution, and then the child pulling the hand away, or darting away from the encounter, some dogs are going to go for the hand, or for the legs. They are only dogs. And it is understandable, it is a set up for a dog that isn't bomb proof.
Kids who are terrified of dogs, stare into their eyes to see what they are going to do, and with their bad emotion pharamones, the dog is again set up for failure. So it is hard.
Never force your dog to meet meet someone. The dog may be reading something in the pharamones or the body language that you aren't seeing. If you see hesitation on the part of your dog, say cheerfully, "I'm sorry, not today." No explanation is needed. When you remove the dog from the situation confidently and cheerfully, you gain respect and trust from your dog.