# Overprotective German Shepherd: Any advice?



## LittleOne91 (May 11, 2014)

I have a bizarre but serious question. 

I have a 2 year old German Shepherd who is "attached at the hip" to me. Besides once when he was a puppy I've never really left him for more than a few hours. Otherwise he is at my side and always making sure I'm safe and happy. (Which I have no problems with).

The problem is the only time I ever dated someone while owning him was when he was 6 months old, and he had some issues with that:

He would sit in between me and the guy when we were on the couch.
He refused to leave my side when he was in the house.
He would constantly watch him, and be in between us.
and the one time we tried to lock him out of a room he almost broke through the door.

That relationship promptly ended lol. 

Now he is full grown and at least twice that size…. and I am ready to start dating again. The problem: I have no idea how to work these issues out. 

He is completely obedient(only to me) and will do anything I ask without question with everything else, but I have no idea how to approach this. 

Do you have any advice or suggestions?


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

First thing I would do is a ton of obedience work, and get it SOLID....have you gone to a basic obedience training class? If not, I recommend it. You absolutely can work on all of the important obedience you would need to deal with this on your own (and getting a start on it is definitely a good start), but I think a training class, with other people and dogs around might be a help....and you can ask the trainer if they can help you with your specific issues, maybe help set up some scenarios to work on it in some private sessions. Again, you could set up some of these scenarios with a personal friend, but with a protective dog, it would probably be best to get someone with a good eye for the dog's behavior to be part of it at least at first. 

Some commands that would be a HUGE help:
Off (as in off of the couch)
Place (put a dog bed in the livingroom, or anywhere else, and if he is trying to sit between you, or getting too intrusive...tell him to go to his "place"). 
Stay
Other basics (sit, down, etc). 
You'll have to get all of these super solid, AND super solid with another person around, who is standing or sitting close to you. 

You say he is completely obedient, which I don't doubt....but he isn't in the scenario you describe, or else you would be able to give him a cue to do something that isn't as intrusive, and he would follow it....You having another person around is too distracting for him and you'll need to work on that. Don't forget (though YOU may be distracted by the other person being around) to praise and treat him, especially at first for doing the right thing, and following your cues. 

That's my thoughts, I'm sure others will have some great ideas for you too!


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## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

He also sounds a bit insecure. The obedience training - positive only - will help build his confidence so that he doesn't feel threatened by another person taking your attention.


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## goodgirl (Jan 14, 2013)

Some Q. to consider: how is he around people in general, does he interact well with them? At home and other places? How about when and when you are not present? If a well-known female sits near you, will he follow some cues? Does he show anxiety when you do leave him for a few hours, or does he rest comfortably? I think the suggestion for a class is excellent, especially if they'll set up some scenarios to add distractions to proof his obedience. You can take some care in introducing him to a new guy, make your dog see the guy as the BEST GUY EVER! Basically educate the guy on how you want him to behave toward your dog, explain that you're training him, etc. He'll probably do better now he's 2 years instead of 6 months old!


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

To me, it sounds like this dog needs to know that you are in control of when he is allowed to "protect" you and when he is not. For now, he's the one deciding what is a threat and what isn't.

I will not give advice on how to do that here, but I would recommend that you find a professional trainer who is familiar with breeds like these or perhaps talk to one of your local Schutzhund clubs, since they would have a lot of experience training dogs to look to the handler for permission to protect, rather than making that judgment on their own. I'd also echo working on building confidence. An under-confident dog will see threats everywhere and be more reactive.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!


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## LittleOne91 (May 11, 2014)

His obedience is solid at this point now. Ive worked with him every day for the last year and a half at home, parks, dog parks, stores, festivals, you name it. He listens to me under any situation I throw him into, or so far anyways. 

As far as with people, he LOVES everyone. Friends, family, strangers, babies, the elderly, you name it. I've worked on socializing him almost every day, he goes out with me almost everywhere. He will stand in between me and whoever is near me, but it's not aggressive, its more playful. He still listens to any cue given to him, he just seems to prefer to "stick" to my side. The only problem I have seen is he dislikes when people play fright or rough house near me, he will attempt to herd them away from me and persuade them to stop. I can say "enough, back" and he'll return to heel, but he still watches them constantly. 

When I leave he sleeps on my bed, when I come home he is immediately at my side again like I never left. 

But i will work on the "Place" command more, and start using it to interact with people without him by my side. I'm sure he'll listen, but it's going to take a while for him to get comfortable with him. We have been glued to each other since he was a baby, and that's probably not healthy. 

The two other problems I also need suggestions on are:
1) I talked to my roommate about this and she said I had another problem, Gunner refuses to let her get near me when I am asleep. She tried to come into my room to tell me something while I was napping and Gunner "herds" her away from me. 
2) Would working with the command "place" while introducing people rough housing/play fighting/picking me up/etc be a good idea? He's never seen this with me involved before, and I don't know how to desensitize him to this. I was told by the breeder to warn people about this and I won't have any problems, I never really thought about it much until now.


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

For me, it's very important that my dog look to me before acting when he thinks there is something amiss or that he needs to deal with. I don't want him deciding on his own that he needs to protect me or any of our family, but rather look to me for guidance when he senses a threat, for the exact kinds of situations you mention.

For this kind of training, I'd be really wary of giving advice over the internet since I can't see your dog and can't really tell you what I think might be going on. Plus, I'm not a professional. I'd really recommend working with an experienced behaviorist, dog trainer familiar with GSD's and other similar breeds, or a Schutzhund or other dog sport club that works with bitework and other protection. This doesn't mean you have to train your dog to be a protection dog, just that these kinds of trainers are very familiar with dealing with that drive coming out in ways you don't want and may be able to help you redirect that.

I prefer to adjust the way my dog behaves rather than try to make people work around it because, in general, people are much harder to predict and train. Even if your roommate knows not to rough house with you or approach you while you're sleeping, what about a guest? What about a child? There are just too many circumstances where someone who doesn't know you or your dog could make the wrong move and things could turn out badly. None of us want our dogs classified as dangerous or put down because they thought they were doing the right thing. I prefer to train my dog to wait for my command and not to act on his own because that way I feel safer that someone ignorant of dogs isn't going to put him in that kind of situation.

And that kind of training is going to have to happen in real time with someone who knows what they are doing, not from online advice.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

well if you have all that on him, then you need to draw a line for him, that you don't need protecting when there is no threat.. As a life long GSD owner I find it obnoxious for a dog to take possession to you... Your not a dogs possession and that is not the dogs place to take charge of you... I don't find it flattering at all, don't put a dog like that in a Hero status... and it's not flattering for the an intelligent dog to be so unable to read the situation and be confident in social situations. You've accepted the behavior for it to be set and even unknowingly encourage it.. You have to draw a line and put the dog in his place off to the side not the focal point. off the coach away from your company, sent out to the room... having a solid command status with him it is up to you to start enforcing it.. set a boundary for your dog (space wise) when you are around other people.... sit stay, lay down stay.. on your spot stay...


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