Is my german shepherd puppy temperament normal or too shy?

Question

My GSD puppy (female) is 4 months and a week now, 42 lb., ears erected, very beautiful, black & tan. I brought her to city off-leash park 4 times. I found she got some progress when social with other dogs and people. She likes people, eager to kiss people when got praised and friendly tapping. But she was very shy and seems no interesting play with other dog approching her. Most of time, her ears turn flat back and run away from those dogs. Ocassionaly, nose to nose with other dogs. Even some very small dog can aggressively chasing her. I felt very sad. Could be her temperation problem? I was guilty that I hit her once when she was about ten week old. Not sure that cause her so. In the home, she is very friendly with my kids. She can understand sit, lie,come,stay and in the middle of Heel training, she walks a little bit forward. In feeding time, when I put food and water there, she looks at me and does not eat until I say OK. Pretty nice except this shy. Please help me for next step.

Answer 1

how much do you weigh??? seems pretty lame to hit a 10 week old anything..... are her parents shy?? temperament is genetic,, go for a visit to the breeder.. also,,, at 4 months old,, you are probably giving her too much responsibility by having her off leash in the presence of strange dogs........ go to obedience school,, it will help to socialize her with other dogs and people and give you some pointers too

Answer 2

Socialization for a dog is critical in the first few months of its life. If you didn't let it socialize with other dogs then thats probably why its shy now. I doubt its because you hit it once, it would be afraid of you and not other dogs if that affected it.
That being said, its still not too late since your dog is only 4 months. It will probably always be somewhat shy, but you can help her by continuing to socialize her with other dogs. But please do this in a controlled way..... use a leash, she ll probably be more confident if your standing right there. If you take her to a dog park and there are like 20 plus dogs running around that may be too overwhelming and make it worse. Start out slow, Maybe if you have a friend or a neighbor with a well socialized dog that isn't too friendly or aggressive you can start with that.

Answer 3

As for how dogs behave towards other dogs, not a lot you can do if she is timmid. Socialize her and get her around other non-aggressive dogs so she feels comfortable. She just might be the submissive type and you probably won't be able to change that much over time. As she gets older and bolder it won't be as noticable, but they are what they are.

Parents are not going to pass on 100% of their temperment to the pups, each puppy should be temperment tested to find out where on the spectrum they fall. You can and usually will have the whole spectrum from extreamly dominant type to very submissive type in a litter. My personal preferance is a moderate middle of the road type temperment.

If you take the dog to puppy classes the instructor can probably do a temperment test on the dog, or recommend someone that can so you get a better idea of what will work best for the pup.

Answer 4

She is a puppy. She probably will be submissive with other dogs. The size of the dog does not matter! Obedience school with other young dogs might help. She can be socialized without being intimidated. GSD's are pretty sensitive, so just be patient with her. Also check out her parents. They may not be assertive either. It is a genetic trait.

Answer 5

Hully gee shes 4 months! Its very normal for a youngster in a strange place being approached by adult dogs (even smaller adult dogs) to be a tad shy (I mean when you were in first grade I bet you were a little sy of the big 6th graders too). Plus if till now she didn't have a lot of play dates shes gonna need time figure out what to do. Try to simply lend support & not push her into situations she isnt ready for & try to advoid letting agressive dogs chase her.

Answer 6

It is good that you have her trained to respect you but maybe that spanking left an impression. She may be somewhat intimidated by you but as long as she is eating, sleeping and playing normally - I wouldn't be alarmed. She is going to end up being a very large animal and it is important that she respect human boundaries. Some dogs - just don't like other dogs until they are ready to breed (this is perfectly normal). My dog thinks he's human (no seriously, won't sleep on the floor, needs his food warmed before eating) - he loathes other dogs.

Sounds like you have a great puppy on your hands. Just one more thing - I know you want the best for your puppy - but let her be a dog too . . . don't OVER train your dog.