Dutch Shepherd Forum

I have a 6 month old Dutch shepherd that I recently rescued (he was previously in a hoarder/breeder situation.) We've worked through his initial issues (potty training, lead training) and the only issue we really have now is with strangers. He's ok as long as they are not in his yard or house (he wont go after joggers or walkers.) If someone new is in the house he barks uncontrollably, the hairs down his spine will raise and if they make any sudden movements then he lunges at them. I assume that this is fear and age related and I've tried redirection, rewards and the slow intro but nothing is really working. He is getting a trainer on the 19th but in the mean time I have family coming to visit very soon. Any advice?

To start with, get a basket muzzle for introductions, especially while he's new to your household. I like the black ones from Baskerville. http://www.amazon.com/Baskerville-2-Inc ... askerville

Odin's a size 4, his malinois friend is a size 5, so you'd probably be one of the two. I keep the muzzle on for visitors for the first half hour at least. I let Odin decide when to come out and see them and if he approaches, they give him treats with an open palm. The basket muzzles are nice because dogs can still eat and drink and pant with them on.

After he sees who the new people are, I let them walk him, with the muzzle still on. They start with heeling patterns throughout our front room and give treats often. The rest of the routine is dependent on his reactions and signs of stress. There are a few people I will just put Odin in a quiet room for because they're not willing to do things slowly and my way and it's not worth it to have him out.

Having a trainer there will definitely help because it's much easier to determine the reason for the aggression with all of the signs.

I wanted my dog's name to be Odin! We tried calling him that for a week, using it a million times, using rewards. Apparently he just really liked the name Adolf.

Thanks! I'll check it out today.

It could be fear related. Sadie is very insecure around new people and she will bark and act all scare. I have them ignore her and just come in and do their thing and not even look at her or acknowledge her. She will quiet down and go up to them and sniff them and then its all good.

Jrex wrote:I wanted my dog's name to be Odin! We tried calling him that for a week, using it a million times, using rewards. Apparently he just really liked the name Adolf.

Odin was supposed to be a malinois that I was going to name Elwood, I even had an ID tag made up for him, but I fell in love with this brindle monster instead when I went to look at rescue dogs and Elwood just didn't seem to fit a Dutch Shepherd. He came from his foster home with the name Odin (his original name was Otis) and after a few weeks I gave up on trying to find a more suitable name because it fit so perfectly.

LyonsFamily wrote:

Jrex wrote:I wanted my dog's name to be Odin! We tried calling him that for a week, using it a million times, using rewards. Apparently he just really liked the name Adolf.

Odin was supposed to be a malinois that I was going to name Elwood, I even had an ID tag made up for him, but I fell in love with this brindle monster instead when I went to look at rescue dogs and Elwood just didn't seem to fit a Dutch Shepherd. He came from his foster home with the name Odin (his original name was Otis) and after a few weeks I gave up on trying to find a more suitable name because it fit so perfectly.

Nothing is close enough to "Adolf" for it to be a swift and easy name switch. It got to the point where we were even looking in baby name books, haha

Dutchringgirl wrote:It could be fear related. Sadie is very insecure around new people and she will bark and act all scare. I have them ignore her and just come in and do their thing and not even look at her or acknowledge her. She will quiet down and go up to them and sniff them and then its all good.

We've tried the ignoring technique and it didnt work. He just got louder and more aggressive.

What we did this time was have them sit on the couch with a giant bag of treats. After I let him out of his room (he's too big for a kennel so I gave him his own room) they offered him treats until he was comfortable enough with them. So far so good this time!

I know what you mean. Had been kinda worried if ours ever was going to join the pack. Suddenly at 10 months things started to change then stalled and finally at 13 months he changed practically overnight. Our only successful punishment for tantrums we've found seems to be getting tied up in the kitchen. Works.
But there are some people Rocket just does not like and there's no changing his mind.
Still, I've never had nor worked with such a head strong or intelligent dog. Still working on that, "all things learned shattered" when excited though. And I thought Border Collies were smart.