Fear of new people and children

[Kac46047]

I need advice on how to approach my Pups fear of children and new people. He is about 5 1/2 month old WGSD. Once he actually gets petted or touched he is fine, its the initial interaction that he is Eh about. I also noticed if he sees children on walks he shys away and pulls in the other direction. Id love for him to get more interaction with kids but when parents see how my dog acts all scared like they dont exactly want to trust me that he wont bite or do something else. (I know he wont bite) He has even barked at children. I dont have children on any friends with kidds so any advice on how to best approach this would be helpfull!

[Emoore]

You have a shy, weak-nerved dog. Don't feel bad, lots of us do, I have one too. You say you know he won't bite, but do keep in the back of your mind the fact that a fearful dog will bite or nip if he is afraid of something and can't get away.

His interactions with strangers and kids needs to be slow, comfortable, and on his terms. Introduce him to calmer kids first and have them ignore him. NEVER let anyone force petting or affection on your dog when the dog is telling you he's afraid. Instead, have them ignore him and let the dog come up to the stranger on his own time. Once he starts to sniff them or lick their hand, have them gently scratch him under the chin or give him a treat.

If the kid is excited, bouncing around, squealing, or coming at him with their hands out in a claw shape, or with hands high above the dog's head, don't even bother. This is not the kind of interaction that's good for your dog.

[carmspack]

If the dog was showing avoidance, I would not be so sure that he won't bite .
In the meantime do something else with him. Don't force the situation .
Do whatever you can on an outing that will be positive . If it means walking on the opposite side of the street , do that and reward that .
Work just to the threshold of his discomfort but not beyond .
Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs

[Kac46047]

Thank you, he is a very mellow puppy, if someone walks by our yard he will run up to the door and just sit there waiting to come in unless Im out there with him. I'll continue his daily walks and bring him by the playground as usuall and just walk by their with him. His ears always go up and he stares down the kids lol and of course they all yell " BOLT!" cause right now he looks exactly like that cartoon lol. I guess it will be a slow process but good thing I love our daily walks. He has already improved so much since I got him, he used to not even wanna go outside let alone on a walk, everything scared him strollers, joggers, load cars you name it. He's gotten passed that ( still iffy on the joggers lol) But ill keep working with him, thats for the tips

[billsharp]

Same situation for us. Liesl is an excellent dog in every way except for being skittish around kids and adults she doesn't know. She used to fear them but is much more relaxed now since we have worked to condition her that most strangers are nice.

At 6 months she would cower if approached by adults or kids. She didn't show signs of abuse, just fear of the unknown. Now (10mths), she is at first skittish around adults, but recovers quickly and sniffs them, allowing them to pet her and then relaxing around them. She is even less fearful of kids, pulling on the leash to reach them, wagging her tail and tongue lolling out as she approaches them. This has taken a lot of work to reach this point, however.

I'll continue his daily walks and bring him by the playground as usuall and just walk by their with him.

THIS is the right thing to do. Bring high value treats. Walk him around near the kids, let him see them run and play and squeal. Be alert for opportunities for one-on-one interaction with small children or understanding adults. I often ask kids if they want to give my dog a treat, and if they do ALWAYS have them get mom's permission first. I will treat Liesl and have the kids approach her the correct way (young kids are eager to follow your instruction on how to do this). She will usually take a treat from a calm young child, and now even allows petting. The other day she actually rolled on her side and allowed them to belly rub her, a HUGE milestone for her.

Like they say in the theater, "leave them wanting more". Thank the kids, excuse yourself, and continue a calm walk around the park after a short, successful interaction. This will avoid the excited child squealing and jumping up and down with delight and freaking your dog out, negating the positive interaction that just occurred. If you can get 3 or 4 interactions like this on a park visit, that has been a VERY good day. Most days you'll get one or none, just because of the dynamic at work. You have to be patient and dogged! This will work, but it takes LOTS of time.

My personal feeling is that all GSD owners have a responsibility to rehabilitate the reputation of this breed as one that is good with kids, and it starts with what you are trying to do. Please keep it up, and let us know of your progress!

[ollie_leyna]

Hey I just found this thread--my pup is about 5 and a half months now, and he is terrible with kids. He's completely fine with adults, but I don't know what his problem is with children.

For example: we went to the park today and we passed a large group of people, some adults, and some children. He was completely fine with the adults, but then freaked out and started barking at the kids. On other occasions he has also gone out of his way on walks to run up to children and bark at them (as a result I rarely let him off-leash on walks). I'm not sure what to do about him. I would say that he's afraid, except that HE runs up to THEM sometimes. I don't know if he's trying to play, or what it is. Has anyone else had this problem??

My family's shepherd was always so good with kids, I'm just completely thrown. :-/

[chelle]

Well you're not alone. Weak nerved or not, MANY GSD's seem to have problems with young kids. My mixed boy included. It's a tough issue.

Here's a thread I started on this:
Seriously, how to socialize your dog to be around children when you have none?

Maybe there's something useful there.

As for us, we keep working on it.