07/20/2021
This is a great read. Before adopting any dog be sure you have done the research on the breed and choose a dog that will fit your family style rather than one you think is cute!
Just like with huskies! They love people and are very outgoing however they tend to stick to their pack/person more.
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Edit: Moving this to the top because there are two pieces of misinformation that are making the rounds regarding this post that need to be cleared up. 1. Nothing below describes protective behaviour. 2. There are many stable, confident dogs who simply do not like to be touched. Nothing below suggests we should be accepting of nervy or fearful behaviour.
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With the number of dogs that have been sold over the past year, I’ve begun to see a trend of posts popping up on German Shepherd Dog forums that go something like this:
“I brought my baby home 6 months ago and he’s been the sweetest thing until now. Then yesterday I took him out and just as a stranger was reaching in to pet him he snapped and tried to bite the stranger’s hand. What’s wrong with my baby?! How can I fix this?!”
Inevitably, a bunch of commenters chime in with helpful advice like “give the strangers treats and let them feed your dog before they pet him”, or “oh, you should have redirected to a toy”, or my personal favourite “you should get him neutered”.
Let me make it easier. If you wanted the personality of a golden retriever you should have bought a golden retriever. But that’s not what you brought home. You brought home a large guardian breed that is genetically predisposed to be wary of strangers. That a GSD owner is surprised by their dog’s aggressive reaction to having its personal space invaded by a stranger does not indicate a problem with the dog, it indicates a misunderstanding of the breed. Now there will be some GSD owners who will push back, saying “my boy just loves everyone. All he wants is to meet people and get pats and treats. He wouldn’t hurt a fly”. Those dogs unquestionably exist, but know this: as working line GSD breeders seeking to preserve and advance the breed, this is not a trait we select for.
To be clear, a properly socialized GSD (note that proper socialization does not mean allowing your dog to meet and interact with every strange person and animal it comes across) should not be lunging at the end of its leash at every stranger passing by. Non-reactivity should be a training goal from early in the dog’s life. However this is NOT the same thing as expecting your dog to enjoy - or even tolerate - being touched by strangers. As owners it is our job to train our dogs to be non-reactive to stimuli outside our control. A dog that does not like being passed by strangers on a sidewalk must be taught to tolerate this stimulus as we do not control who we pass on a sidewalk, or when. However it is also our job to work within the bounds of our dog’s individual personality as it pertains to stimuli that are within our control, and to have enough respect for our dog to not put it in avoidable, uncomfortable situations.
The solution is not to give strangers treats to feed your dog before petting it, or to redirect to a toy, or to spay or neuter your dog. It’s not to try to train your dog to tolerate something it is genetically predisposed not to like. The solution is to stand up for your dog and stop allowing strangers to approach it. Some pet owners may not like having to manage their dog in this way. They should have bought a different breed.
In closing, allow me to leave you with the 5 words every GSD owner should get comfortable saying loudly and firmly: “Please don’t touch my dog.”
EDIT: To avoid any spread of confusion by the few who have misunderstood the post, most GSDs can be trained to tolerate being touched by strangers. Nothing above says otherwise. But if you feel the need to train your GSD to tolerate being touched by strangers when it hates it, perhaps you didn’t buy the right breed.
EDIT 2: Once again, none of the behaviour described in the post relates to being protective. The behaviours people most often interpret as their dog being “protective” are almost never actually protective behaviours.
EDIT 3: Although it’s irrelevant to the message of the post, I changed labradoodle to golden retriever. A few people were getting hung up on what kind of dog was chosen for comparison rather than figuring out it was just intended to be any kind that contrasts “a guardian breed that is genetically predisposed to be wary of strangers”. To avoid distraction I changed it to a Golden Retriever, which is probably what I should have gone with in the first place.
