[DTS]

well since it is the holidays we have been doing a lot of running around visiting family etc. well, today we went to have dinner with my parents and do some laundry. ( i'm 19 and dont have a washer and dryer in my apt.) well i felt it was the perfect oppertunity to socialize jasmine. she has been over there a dozen times and loves my mom. she isnt as fearful of my stepdad as she used to be, but my step siblings she is scared. so she barks. we are trying to break her of that. so i admit ive slacked off with her socializing the past 2 months b/c of her leg problem ( possible pano we have fianlly concluded) so no dog park and b/c of the incident at petsmart where the lady got on her high horse about jaz needing puppy class and how she was a horrible puppy and we were bad owners long story short. which hit my confidence a bit. she's been to class and the trainer says to use lime juice or vinigar when she barks after we tell her no and she doesnt listen. i am determined to break her of her fear barking. i am trying to build up my confindence and if someone says something i am trying my best not to let it bother me and then her sense it. she is very intune to my emotions.

so here is what grinded my gears today. we left my parents and went to see my cousin at my aunts. she loves jaz and she's my age, but hasn't seen her in a while. we let her out and she of course was scared, and barked. once she found out if was her, she was fine. she even met my real dad for the first time, sniffed him a bit and was fine. then some guy i never met came out of the house and was walking towards her. she went nuts. barked growled with hackles raised. we told her no barking etc. and he says " no, you want her to do that." my boyfriend politely said, no we don't. we are trying to get her socialized and to except people. he then gets all huffy and says, " if you want a friendly dog then why did you get a german shepherd?" if it was my dog id pop it on the nose like i did mine. it left a welt on its nose. i was livid. i said if you lay a hand on my dog my foot is going to go in your.... hindquarters...
jasmine sometimes just wont except some people. certain people set her off more than others. which we are trying to break her of as much as possible, however, she forms her own opinions of people.
but honestly, that man is how people form bad opinions about the breed. i was livid. just because he has a yapper dog that barks at everything and he picks it up by the harness and carried it like that doesn't mean i treat my dog that way. nor the fact that my dog is going to be a visious killer. this is how german shepherds get very agressive and mean because of people like him who want them to be and make them mean.
i am taking her socializing slowly because i dont want to overwhelm her.
we go to the dog park again but i dont let her play too rough and we dont stay past an hour and a half. we go to the pet stores and do the training with the juice and even though people stare and whipser i try my best to not let it bother me because i am doing exactly what my trainer told me to do. she is getting better slowly and i am okay with that. but i was pissed because of what he said. some people have no sense how to treat an animal and make it apart of their family or a nice part of society for that matter. i would have hated to see his gsd and i feel horrible at the thought of what it might have went through

 

[DJEtzel]

That does suck, but with the fear barking, I don't see how lime juice is going to do anything other than teach her to be more fearful.

Have you tried just having strangers toss her treats without approaching/petting to get her used to them? That is generally the best way to help dogs socialize when they are fearful.

 

[DTS]

she wont take them. she spits them out.. everytime. most strangers she will bark if the approach her. she quits after a while and warms up to them. but on 2 seperate occasions ( this being one of them) she flat out didn't like him. the trainer ( whom our vet recommened and is the best and practically only one in town. our other option was petsmart) says that the juice is a signal that when we say no and she doesnt listen to give a small squirt of the juice. she says that dog with then incorperate the bad taste when it doesnt listen. this goes with any command like no digging or after they rip something the know they shouldn't as long as it is the same day. it worked a bit, but im researching other options as we speak. its been two weeks and though she has improved, the juice doesen't effect her. she keeps barking after we give her some. the trainer told us, if that doesn't work try vinigar. but, im not so sure about that route.

 

[DJEtzel]

But the dog is FEARFUL. It doesn't know not to bark, so it doesn't know it isn't following your command when you yell NO at it. It learns that it barks and then bad stuff happens, much like correcting a dog for growling, I can see this leading to the dog supressing the bark and going straight for a bite instead of showing its fear.

You need to overcome the fear before the barking will stop, not the other way around.

 

[novarobin]

I am by no means a trainer but to me, the lime juice simply teaches the dog not to bark, it does not address the underlying issue of the fear.
If you remove the bark, the dog may decide to use another option in the future when faced with a "threat", including snapping.

Edit
I think dj and I posted at the same time.

 

[DTS]

yes, i definately see what you are saying here. she is most fearful when on leash. when she is at the dog park and must be off leash, she is everyone's best friend. she goes around and makes sure she gets her pets in, and she even lays down infront of other people and will just lay there. the hardest thing is when she does bark/ become aggressive on leash i have to pull her back because i am uncertain of what will happen. she's never bit anyone, but she is an animal and has limits that can be pushed. this just makes the leash tense up and signals her to see oh well the leash is tense there must be danger. i want to listen to my trainer and i go to her for questions but adive would be greatly appriciated. i want to get a handle in this.

 

[DharmasMom]

How old is she? Is she going through a fear stage? I personally wouldn't be squirting lemon juice in her mouth esp during a fear stage. They do out grow that. Dharma wouldn't take treats from strangers either, still won't if she is scared. But I kept taken her to PetSmart every week and walking her around, being calm and acting like nothing was wrong. i wouldn't let people approach her though. I would stop and talk to them and let them talk to her in a calm voice. Once she came through the fear stage she started gradually approaching them if she wanted to be petted. She still won't approach men though.

 

[DTS]

she's going to be 10 months jan. 8 and is in full fleged teenage stage. she doesn't listen as well as she used to, and now we have to get on her a little more, but she isn't a bad puppy. i tried the juice after our 1st class about 3 weeks ago. but i quit carrying it 2 weeks ago. it doesnt effect her and to me im not quite sure if it is even okay with her system and i am not about to load her up on vinigar. if people ignore her on leash, she is fine. its when she is approached she feels threatned. she has always been more drawn to women and is mainly afraid of men. i am home with her either 24/7 or atleast 16 hours a day so she bonded with me right away. she likes my stepdad and his dad and his brother and she LOVES our mothers.

 

[maxtmill]

But the dog is FEARFUL. It doesn't know not to bark, so it doesn't know it isn't following your command when you yell NO at it. It learns that it barks and then bad stuff happens, much like correcting a dog for growling, I can see this leading to the dog supressing the bark and going straight for a bite instead of showing its fear.

You need to overcome the fear before the barking will stop, not the other way around.

I totally agree. Two of my French Bulldogs are temperamental/fearful. The one will fear bite in a flash when something scares him - no warning, he just snaps. he appears to have no recollection of it a second later. Clipping toenails or ear cleaning is a good example - he will be terrified but show no warning signs - he will bite & then return to his friendly self. So we muzzle him both for his sake & ours. When the muzzle comes off, he gets a treat & feels like a good boy, instead of fear biting & getting reprimanded. His brother, on the other hand, will give a low growl when he is uncomfortable with something, & I appreciate that. He will look at me with his eyes big & give a little grumble. Then I know to wait for him to settle - sometimes he will even remove himself from a situation & place himself in a sit! Then he gets high praise! Every dog is different, but I do appreciate a dog who will let you know if something isn't quite right for them!

 

[doggiedad]

get out and train, train, train and socialize, socialize and socialize.
find a class or take private lessons. what do do with the vinegar
or lime juice???