Gina is a beautiful 4-year-old German Shepherd.
In addition to having guarding in her genes, she was a lockdown puppy so met few people. She had Giardia at 8 weeks old and Pyometra with first season.
She has become increasingly wary of people either coming to the door or walking past their garden. This came to a head recently.
Banging on the window
The police had been called over another matter entirely. Instead of knocking on the door, they banged loudly on the window. It was early November and Gina was already scared and hiding from fireworks.
One can imagine how she will have felt. Two male police officers, people in uniform, banged loudly on the window before being let in. (What’s wrong with knocking on the door? At least a quarter of houses have a dog that is likely to be terrified).
One said that Gina had nipped his ankle.
Reactivity to people near or in the house
We examined all the circumstances where Gina reacted to people. She’s okay out on walks.
They live on a corner plot and people walk past with their dogs. Gina rushes out into the garden and charges at the fence or the gate, barking. The people, naturally, move on. What has Gina learnt? That barking works. it drives them away.
Deliveries come to the front of the house. People knock on the door.
Knocks and bangs
They will now desensitise and acclimatise Gina to bangs at the door. While they are at it, they will desensitise to all bangs she hears because she’s very jumpy. Instead of telling her off, they will begin to pair all bangs with food. They will need to change how she feels about people coming to – and into – her territory
They will bang on the door, on the window, on surfaces. They can drop things. All starting very softly at a level that doesn’t alarm Gina – and paired with food.
They will work on the fence using a long line and maximum distance from the fence – and food. When people pass, the chicken bar opens. When they go, it closes.
They will also be teaching her to go into the kitchen when someone knocks on the door. The visitor, if coming in, will be taught how to act and they will work with Gina on a lead.
There are other things we covered but dealing with her fearfulness is the priority.
One week later: “Things are going great. Gina is now used to going out into the garden on the lead. She seems to be a lot calmer”.
