Hi from Gainesville, Florida!
 

Hi All. My name is Tasha King, and 3 days ago I acquired a 10 month old GSD. Her uniqueness and apparent special needs brought me here. She is incredibly phobic. I don't think she received any socialization whatsoever. She will literally belly crawl if I try to walk her down the street. She paced constantly around the home for the first day and a half. She still has to be glued to someone's side at all times. I am trying to get her to be independent and attempting to do everything right. She is good in a crate. Lots of whining, but not destroying things, barking etc and settles down after 10-15 minutes. When out though, everything makes her jump. I am getting used to her potty habits. The initial problem was her constant pacing while outside as well and not focusing on the task of pottying. She went nearly 20 hours without peeing at all, then we woke up to a terrible mess of pee and poop in crate the first morning. That hasn't happened again...thank goodness. Anywho, I am excited to get some advice for this scared pup. I thought if I would get a shepherd, I would need a totally different tactic to training than it turns out I will need. And to those who ask, she IS a purebred! I have the registration papers...just haven't submitted them yet. From what I gather, she is a liver sable, reverse masked. One parent was a white shepherd, other a liver sable. How many recessives could you possibly get at once?! LOL.

Just wanted to say welcome from another Floridian!

She sounds like how my Zira is with a few things. Luckily, it was just certain situations and items that scare her... not just everything. I don't have a lot of useful advice... but I will say, it's going to take a bit for her to trust you and start a bond. So all the issues are probably 10x worse then they really are since she's stressed with all the change.

Hopefully some others with a bit more experience with intense phobias can chime in.

Anyway, welcome to the forum! She is very pretty.

Welcome aboard !

I ditto that. I'm sure with time and patience nature will take its course and everything will be OK.

In the mean time...remember alot of positive reinforcement.

Hi and welcome and I'm in total agreement with TrickyShepherd time and patience will be needed. I just recently got a 3yr old that did many of the things your girl does and while it's been a month and a half she is now starting to feel comfortable and getting used to things. I'd say give her time and go slowly with her and she might slowly get over some fears. I just wouldn't push her , I noticed ,with my girl brushing her daily has been a bonding experience for us. Hopefully someone with some advice and or tips will offer you some pointers. Good luck and congratulations on your new baby girl (does she have a name) And yes she is very pretty :)

Welcome from gainesville, fl!! Beautiful girl you have there :)

Hello from Gainesville! Your girl is gorgeous! Though, I'd say she doesn't have a mask, as opposed to a reverse mask. My dog has what is referred to as a reverse mask-if you search on here there's been a thread or two about it. She does have such a unique look though.
You might want to do a shut-down period with her (I think that is what it's called), where she isn't exposed to anything new for a week or two until she gets more adjusted, then slowly introduce her to new things. Gainesville is such an awesomely dog-friendly town so once she gets to the point where she can be in public, you have lots of options to expose her to new things. You might want to think about getting a trainer to help, too. If you do, look into Melanie at Eager Pup. She is great!

Thank you all for the warm welcome! Lots of Gainesville folks here, it seems! Her name is Freya (formerly Sheba). Good to know about the mask! I just assumed that since she has the white around the muzzle, that there was a mask, but I thought the lack of anything around the eyes was odd. Shows how much I know, lol. She has gotten SOOOO much better. I will post her progress in the appropriate forum. Thanks again :)

...Oh, and I am fairly confident with training and rehabbing. I foster greyhounds that have never seen the inside of a home, worked in dog kennels, have tamed feral kittens and pseudo feral adult cats, and am a pet sitter. I will be the first to acknowledge when something needs a professional trainer to step in though (which I have had to suggest to a couple of clients of mine!), and looked up some trainers a couple days ago. So far, so good, but if I need to seek one out, Melanie's site/philosophy stuck out to me during my search. I have heard mixed reviews about a couple of other local trainers that just didn't sound like good ones for her, but Melanie definitely does and am glad to hear more good things :)

Welcome! I must say, that is one of the most unique patterns I've ever seen on a GSD. My first thought upon seeing her was that possibly she might have a bit of coyote in her, just because of coloring. But I'm sure her color scheme is not unique in the breed.

Lots of patience, love, and training will help her. Good luck!

Hey! I agree with Mikko, 100%. Melanie at Eager Pup is beyond awesome and she would be perfect to help you. She's a great trainer, knows her stuff and the dogs love her.