2 days ago we brought home a 1 year old GSD from an older couple in the country where she was mainly an inside dog. We were informed that she hasn’t been socialized much her entire life & we could tell when meeting her. She’s incredibly shy, & runs away when we tried to talk to her. when we brought her home she ran to the corner of our dining room & stayed there all evening & the following morning.
I know it’s recommended NOT to, but I just felt like maybe she was needing some reassurance & I laid down on the floor next to the table & got her to come out & ever since then she’s warmed up to us quite a bit, considering this is all new to her. I took her for a long walk with my daughter when I got her out & on the walk she was perfect. No pulling, no aggression, no nothing. Calmly walked beside the stroller the whole time.
Fast forward to the evening, we went for another walk & once we reached the part of the neighbourhood where there was a lot going on (residential area & people in their driveways) you could tell she was getting overwhelmed & began pulling HARD the rest of the walk. Almost as if every little thing was scaring her. We understand it’s all new to her & figured that was why. We went for another walk this morning & I tried going down the same area to maybe try to get her used to our surroundings, & she saw someone jogging in the distance & got VERY scared & somehow got loose from her collar & leash & went running the opposite way into an empty field away from everyone. Took me about 15 minutes to get her to come back to me & I knew this was hard for her as I’m still new to her. Now I’m terrified to take her out again & I know I can’t keep her inside all day.
Shepherds especially at this age are usually energetic & like to be active & we are active as well & we feel that her lack of socialization is the reason she is not active at all. We feel so bad for her because she never wants to play, she’d rather sit inside all day in her corner & doesn’t want to go outside with us. We also know that she has no medical issues. Can anyone give us any tips on how to proceed with her? I should add that when we’re home she likes to sit with us & is comfortable enough now to walk around the house & interact with us, it’s jsut when we go outside that we run into problems.
I know it’s recommended NOT to, but I just felt like maybe she was needing some reassurance & I laid down on the floor next to the table & got her to come out & ever since then she’s warmed up to us quite a bit, considering this is all new to her. I took her for a long walk with my daughter when I got her out & on the walk she was perfect. No pulling, no aggression, no nothing. Calmly walked beside the stroller the whole time.
Fast forward to the evening, we went for another walk & once we reached the part of the neighbourhood where there was a lot going on (residential area & people in their driveways) you could tell she was getting overwhelmed & began pulling HARD the rest of the walk. Almost as if every little thing was scaring her. We understand it’s all new to her & figured that was why. We went for another walk this morning & I tried going down the same area to maybe try to get her used to our surroundings, & she saw someone jogging in the distance & got VERY scared & somehow got loose from her collar & leash & went running the opposite way into an empty field away from everyone. Took me about 15 minutes to get her to come back to me & I knew this was hard for her as I’m still new to her. Now I’m terrified to take her out again & I know I can’t keep her inside all day.
Shepherds especially at this age are usually energetic & like to be active & we are active as well & we feel that her lack of socialization is the reason she is not active at all. We feel so bad for her because she never wants to play, she’d rather sit inside all day in her corner & doesn’t want to go outside with us. We also know that she has no medical issues. Can anyone give us any tips on how to proceed with her? I should add that when we’re home she likes to sit with us & is comfortable enough now to walk around the house & interact with us, it’s jsut when we go outside that we run into problems.