My 10 month White Shepherd start being afraid of tall males recently

[4petAbank.]

My 10 month White Shepherd start being afraid of tall males recently. We got him from a breeder when he's 8 weeks old. He is very human friendly. He did not have this problem in the past (he used to play happily with many tall males. about 3 months ago, he somehow start "dislike" tall males. He's alert when they are around, but does not do anything. Until they bow forward and try to approach him, he start growling at them. What makes him change? And what should I do to let him get over this.

[mattie]

Contact your vet, if they don't have someone there who treats dog behaviour, they should know someone who does.

Our old dog - collie/alsation cross - wouldn't go near my dad, and a friend of mine had a female neapolitan mastiff who didn't like men wearing hats - hat on growl - hat off ok.

[terambulan]

If you want the dog to be friendly and less fearful of males then ask them to feed it.........best way to make friends.

[wildwood]

You need to do something quickly before this behaviour becomes too established. This dog needs proper socialising so take him to school. There is no shame in taking your dog to school, it shows you care for the animal.
You are not going to be able to have complete control over the dog for the whole of its life. If this is not fixed your dog is sure to bite a male at some stage as it gets older. This will almost certainly result in you losing the dog. Society is becoming less tolerant of dangerous dogs, and rightly so.

[Illyria54]

Strangely my white GSD doesn't like tall men either, you need to correct the growling, how do you tackle it when he growls? is it any particular tall men? ie. members of the family or friends? Not all dogs like all people they come in contact with, I used to instruct the puppy class in our village, before each lesson I would go along checking collars were tight enough and letting new dogs sniff me to let them see who I was etc. there was one Lab aged about 6 months old who 'hated' me for some reason, I had never touched him at any point but whenever he saw me he would growl , it was only me and only this one pup, he wagged his tail at everyone else, and none of the other pups growled at me, there is one thing I love about dogs, they never pretend to like you!

[4petAbank.]

Thanks all for your prompt replu and all good advice. I think I give my dog plenty of socialization. I took my dog to puppy classes ever since he was 12 weeks old, and had first several shots. He then went to many classes. He has graduated from advance class, and received AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate. I took him to puppy social 2 -3 times a week until he is old enough to go to doggy park, now he goes to doggy park daily for about an hour and half. (I also walk him an hour each morning). He plays a little bit with other dogs, more like to play with people in the park though. It started with one tall man we encountered during morning walk, he was pretty friendly, and my pup didn't seem to have any problem with him at the first place, but when he start use high pitched voice baby-talked to my pup, bent down try to pet him, somehow my pup getting irritated, I could see his fur on his neck stood up, and he started growling. The man back off. I ordered my pup sit again, and appologized to the man. After that incident , He seems start stay alert when a tall man approach him. Including some people he used to play with. He has no problem with family members, or any regular height man. And I noticed, many tall man in the dog park, they let my dog approach them first, then pet him, my dog accepts them fine, and often goes back to them ask for more screch. I think I will try let the man he fears feed him method next time. Hopefully he will soon get over this.

[Lucy Thomas]

Forget the dog and learn to write properly.

[whiffy]

And what do you hope to achieve by your whining criticism Lucy Thomas?

[puddicat]

whiffy loosey tomas has always had issues about spelling!!!

[whiffy]

Well so do I puddicat, but I can't see the point in being nasty to a genuine questioner. It seems so gratuitous, and slimey. I will watch Lucy Thomas very closely, and even the sniff of an error, I will be down on him like a ton of bricks and he will rue the day, believe me.

[puddicat]

To err is human and if i dont go through the edit first,i tend to type to fast and make the occasional **** up,as you say some people just constantly nick pick!!!

[4petAbank.]

BTW, answer to illyria54's question. I said NO to my pup when she growls. Most of the time, the person will back off. my pup stop growling, I then do nothing more. once with a neighbor my pup used to play with, when he came over, got closer, my pup somehow start growl. so the neighber stood next to me, chatting, but did not touch my dog at all. My dog was sitting down at the beginning, then stood up, sniffed him, and later licked his hand, he petted him after that, and my dog seems happy with it. What is the best action I should take when he stares at tall men unfriendly, or even start growling at them?

[terambulan]

Am glad ur trying the 'feed' approach.......alsations/shepherds are very protective of their owners/feeders, they're more intelligent than most other dogs. So don't let ur dog get too friendly with everyone!

Don't u be put down by 'clever-clog twerps' about spelling. Everyone has their own speciality and am sure you have yours.

[4petAbank.]

Thanks you all! I won't be bothered :-) I know I come here ask for help for the goodness of my dog and myself, so anything that's not related, I will not care too much :-)