Bombproof GSDs? Discussions

A dog can be alert without being wary and reactive!

The sort of dogs which are called the latter IME have not been stable and been windy!

Agreed. I think it's expected for a GSD to be aloof with strangers etc, but when they are lunging and gobbing off on the end of a lead of their own accord, that's not protective, that's just completely OTT.

My most trustworthy GSD still guarded the house and the children.
And so did all the others, regardless of how much down the training / socialisation road they were.
But yes, I know what you mean.
It`s the single-minded loyalty of the GSD that is one of their most valued traits and must be present.
However - in the bad old days the way to turn a GSD nasty so you could use them as a guard dog (the ubiquitous scrapyard dogs) was to tie them up. They learned that `gobbing off` repelled the threat and was rewarded by the subsequent removal of the threat. An intelligent dog learns fast.
I wonder how many of these gobby shepherds are simply bright dogs who have learned to control their space because their owner won`t?

GSDs were never bred to obey one person, this is a myth supported by those who had dogs with iffy temperaments when the breed was introduced into the UK-the first GSDs imported were not of the best quality, being mainly captured dogs from the German army during & after WWI.

The GSD should be outgoing & friendly nowhere in the SV breed standard is there a mention of being aloof or a one person dog

The GSD was bred to be a working dog that could be a police dog, service dog, herding dog etc. They could in their lifetime have a multitude of handlers & if they were one person dogs they would have been useless

And let us not forget that many have been and are Guide Dogs for the Blind, not terribly useful to have a wary, reactive dog in this circumstance.

My previous 2 GSDs were both very aloof with strangers, particularly men, until "introduced". They were both very single minded and totally loyal to me. But i always felt i needed to be careful about the situations i placed them in, so not bombproof.
My new puppy (now almost 5 months old) is fine with everyone but does seem to recognise the "out of the ordinary" when it comes to people. On the night of the Diamond Jubilee there were celebrations going on everywhere. I took my pup out around 10.30pm for a last walk round the garden before bed time and he suddenly disappeared around the other side of a large tree and started barking.

It is the first time he has done this so i was concerned. I then saw that he was barking at a "youth" in a parka with his hood up who was walking very slowly by. I noticed he had a heavy backpack, but just assumed he was visiting in the area was carrying his stuff to wherever he was staying.
Next morning we saw police arrive at the house next door but one; it turned out someone had broken into their garage and had stolen a load of booze.

Now i don't know that this burglar was the person i saw, but putting two and two together, it may well have been the reason he was walking so slowly, so as not to chink the bottles together in his ruck sack?
But my pup somehow knew this was not normal behaviour and acted accordingly.

On the subject of gobbing off, we occasionally encounter a miniature pinscher on our walks that is a rehome, it is so aggressive and when it gets anywhere close to my pup it turns into a snarling barking demon. I try to avoid it if at all possible. The owner initially said that it was just my dog that he barks at, but now admits it is labradors and other larger dogs. The owner has started carrying a loud spray can around and squirts his dog with it when it gets close to mine. It just seems to be a can of compressed air and presumably he is using it as a decoy to shift attention, but it isnt really working yet.
Initially my pup just looks at it in bewilderment, but on the last couple of occasions he has started barking back under the provocation. Not something i want to happen so i rush by as quickly as possible and try to distance us from the problem.

Come to think of it, the dogs that normally gob off at us are bichons.

I would say it is right for these breeds to be alert and watchful rather than reactive and wary.

Yes that is totally unacceptable behaviour and is seen all too often in GSDs

I don't see it as protective at all but, like you, completely over the top behaviour and often it is fear related.

Agreed C&D. All of my GSDs have been good guards - no matter what the rest of their character was like.

However, the bombproof GSD is a good guard of property and person - but is also totally safe with the children, with strangers who aren't a threat, with other dogs etc. He is a self-confident animal.

Good post.

The GSD always seems to be portrayed as a one person dog - and, in my experience, he will often have a stronger bond with one member of the family - usually the person who feeds, trains and exercises him. However, he will readily transfer his affection and allegiance to another member of the family if the original person is away or, if he is rehomed, to his new owner/handler.

As Dyane has said, otherwise he would never have made the premier versatile working dog he is today.

I would consider sadie bombproof, I can take her anywhere with me and she is always well behaved.

.....

She will always 'choose' me over anyone else, but equally will happily mug others in the house of cuddles and affection, and will happily take fuss from other people she knows when out and about. She is a one person dog in the sense of her prioritising me over anyone else and actively choosing me, but thats probably because im the one who feeds her, rather than having an 'iffy' temperament!

Mine have all been like that too CC. They also choose me over anyone else in the household, but will happily go for walks with my OH without me there etc, without a fuss.

I think if any of them had to be rehomed then they would soon settle in with someone else.

My experience of the breed falls into two camps.

First are the experienced owners who know how to handle and train the breed properly. These are typically the 'bombproof' GSD's and are usually well behaved.

Second are the non experienced owners who purchase a GSD from a back yard breeder because they like the look of the breed. These dogs are often gobby, reactive and can be aggressive and unpredictable. There are quite a few of these 'types' living near me, usually accompanied by a chav bellowing at the dog on the end of the lead.

That said, I know several experienced GSD owners with BYB rescues and the dogs are lovely. One bloke who lives near me has 5 rescue GSD's, mostly of unknown backgrounds, who are impeccably behaved and well trained. I guess it all comes back down to the great nature vs. nurture debate again!