How to Train a German Shepherd to be Friendly

Hello Ash, The article "How to Teach Your German Shepherd to Be Friendly" was written mostly for dogs that lack confidence or are still puppies and you are trying to prevent issues, so most of those methods will not help him. For Raj I would highly recommend a Private trainer who has extensive experience dealing with dominance type aggression. You are right to suspect that he has issues with it, and in his case I would not wait to address it. Obedience will be a very important part of his treatment but he needs more consistency, firmness, and leadership than a typical positive reinforcement or clicker training class will provide. He needs someone who can show you how to lead him intellectually and through consistency, boundaries, and structure. Look for a trainer who utilizes both positive reinforcement and fair corrections, who has extensive experience dealing with dominance related aggression, high drive breeds like German Shepherds, and who emphasizes gaining the dog's respect in an intellectual way and through the use of body language and consistency and boundaries and not just by doing physical things like pinning the dog down. Neutering is certainly not a bad idea in his case because it will help decrease some of the potential hormonal contributors, but it will not be enough by itself. He needs behavioral modification. He likely has some defensive drive, fear related aggression toward strangers after his incident with the teenagers, but his aggressive display toward you is even more concerning. That is not fear related and needs to be addressed immediately. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Miranda, As a German Shepherd he is likely naturally prone toward protective and territorial behavior. If he is growling at you and your daughter that is a very different type of aggression, but the aggression toward guests is likely related to him getting comfortable enough in your home and with your family that he views it as his own now, and is trying to control the situation. That doesn't make it any less dangerous but lets you know it could be partially genetic, increased by the fact that he has an unknown history and may not have been socialized around strangers - so people are even more suspicious than they should be. If highly suggest hiring a trainer in your case. He may always have a tendency to want to protect but with a lot of training, building his respect for you, and improving his socialization around other people, you can often help a protective dog learn to look to their owner for direction and decision making instead of them trying to handle situations on their own. This can take a lot of training and long term management to accomplish and maintain though, so the outcome will often also depend on whether you have the ability and willingness to provide that. He will likely never be a dog that you can just let him do whatever he wants without worrying. Instead he might be able to become a dog who can stay on a Place bed (because you told him to) and focus on you while you let him know that he shouldn't worry about someone entering your home (when guests are coming and going). Opposed to him being loose and unsupervised while people are coming in and out of your home. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden