I recently met a beautiful German shepherd, my favorite breed, but this one especially stood out when she barked fearfully at the man I was with.
When people learn that I’m a trainer, they tend to share things with me about their dogs. This time, the owners said she barks and lunges at people on the street, but that they were more worried by how hard she pulls on the leash. I suggested working on her fearful behavior towards strangers, but they said she was really just protecting them -- something they didn't want to discourage. My heart sank.
German Shepherds tend to be stressy and hypersensitive, especially if not from the best breeders. True to the breed, they are highly attached to their owners and aloof to strangers, sometimes to the extent of distrusting them. Because of this, it is that much more crucial that German Shepherds are thoroughly socialized to their life-scape as puppies, and specifically to the many different types of people they will meet in their lifetimes.
This beautiful dog was fearful due to under-socialization and she was confronted by this fear every day. Strangers were, to her, ogres and villains and the boogey man let loose from under the bed. That she was left to struggle with and experience this fear day in and day out broke my heart. She was not trying to protect her people – she was trying to protect herself! In her mind, she was not ever assured of her own safety.
The Message Misunderstood
I don’t blame the owners for not being able to read her body language and, therefore, for misunderstanding her motivation. Aggression looks like aggression to most people and so fear-based aggression might well get confused with protective aggression. But what I do hold these owners responsible for is putting their dog at risk.
There will come a day when these owners are caught unawares, when they might not have a firm grasp of the leash or don’t have a leash on her at all, and a stranger comes out of nowhere. What if, on that day, this dog is absolutely certain that this stranger has ill-intent and that she is in grave danger? Might she bite? My own father was bitten by a fearful German Shepherd who got loose one day as he walked down the street carrying a violin case, something this dog had never seen before. My father got a tetanus shot and some stitches and that was the end of it, but not all bite victims will let it go at that.
The Lesson Learned
When a dog sends a message, it is only as strong as it needs to be in order to communicate her feelings. If a dog growls and the receiver, let’s say a human, responds by ceasing his actions, such as stopping an approach, then the dog learns that growling successfully gets the message across. If, however, the receiver continues to approach despite the growl, the dog might feel she must escalate the behavior in order to get attended to – the dog may now need to bite. If the bite makes the person get farther away, which is what the dog was trying to affect in the first place, then the dog learns that biting successfully gets the message across. Not a safe message delivery system for the humans involved. This is why dogs who have bitten once are more likely to bite again – because they have learned that biting works.
The Moral of the Story
So someday this German Shepherd will likely bite when a boogey man gets too close. And, biting once, she will likely bite again because she learns that boogey men tend to go back under the bed after they’re bitten. But a dog with a multiple-bite history is not looked upon as a safe dog, is she?
So this beautiful dog, who lives every day in the shadow of fear for her safety, has good reason to worry – the only problem is that she knows not where the real danger lies.
Dog trainer Laura Garber, CPDT, is committed to deepening the bond between dogs and their people. For this reason, she regards training as an exercise in building relationship rather than obedience. Such an approach promises greater understanding and symbiosis within our family packs, and this is what inspires much of her writing. Laura lives in Hoboken, NJ and works with private clients in the Hudson County and beyond. For more information, log on to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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