My german shepard gets upset when she is on leash and people come up to her
and move ther hands a lot. When she is not on leash it dosn't bother her. As
a mater of fact she only gets guarded when she is on leash. Any suggestions?

"Mrbill" wrote in message news:PSDce.63$fI.44@fed1read05...
My german shepard gets upset when she is on leash and people come up to
her and move ther hands a lot. When she is not on leash it dosn't bother
her. As a mater of fact she only gets guarded when she is on leash. Any
suggestions?

Tell them to keep their hands still, and not to come so close that they
invade her "personal space". She can't run away when she's on a leash, and
she clearly doesn't feel comfortable about being near strange people.

You may also start training her to enjoy being around people, by handing
treats to people and telling them to give them to her. If she won't take the
treats, it's possibly because she's uncomfortable with having strangers
hover over her. In that case, tell the person to put the treats on the
ground and move back a step or two. Repeat this with several strangers,
until she learns that an approching stranger brings the possibility of
getting treats.

But do *not* let strangers lean over her or pat her on the head/neck/back,
as that is a threatening behavior in the dog world. In fact, don't allow
petting at all when she's leashed, unless she practically rubs herself
against people and invites petting. She should be allowed to decide whether
she wants to "talk" to them or not.

Think about how you yourself would feel about strangers coming up to you, if
you were, for instance, standing in a corner at a party with no way of
slipping away from them. So there you stand, cornered, and some silly git
comes up to you, so close that you feel your personal space invaded, and
starts gesticulating and talking to you about something that's not the least
bit interesting to you. Annoying, right? Right.

Rox

Sorry, I sent my message as an e-mail by inadvertently clicking on the wrong
button.
Didn't mean to invade your personal space.