Hello, my name is Moose and I'm a fearful avoidance German Shepherd.

I'm visiting Pratt's Falls Park in Pompey, NY with my human. It's a great place to hike.

Hello humans! I know you mean well, but as you may have figured, I am a fearful avoidance or flight German Shepherd rescue. I am just over two years old, and I'm also an office dog. My owner only knows a little bit of my history, but he's trying to show me how to engage the world around me with confidence through counter conditioning training and systematic desensitization. Not to mention, providing me with a calm assertive energy and being the Alpha male in my pack.

Unfortunately at times, there's just too much stimuli or a loud noise might frighten me, and I will run for the hills. These noises are very disconcerting to me because I don't know what they mean or why they happen, nor do I possess the healthy inquisitiveness to find out.

When I'm in a state of avoidance: I don't make eye contact. I will hang my head low. I might go to my handler's side and lean into him seeking comfort. I may present myself as low to the ground as possible as I move, slinking around. My ears may be back and down. I may tuck my tail or curl my lip, bark, eliminate, lick, a whole host of signs that I am stressed will present themselves. You may not even be aware what some of this behavior means, but I'm giving you signs which aren't human. You may also misinterpret my behavior for other behavior or completely miss what the behavior means that I am displaying. You need to be able to discern my behavior from human behavior in order for me to adapt better to your human world. There's a colleague of my human's that isn't an animal lover per se, she doesn't dislike them, just not interested in having any and her energy (calm assertive) and the manner in which she engages me (no talk, no touch, no eye contact) is how everyone needs to engage me upon the first few contacts for me to be the healthiest canine I can become. When I first met her in her space, she came in while our power was out and all the backup power was making alarms go off, she walked right past me and I completely took interest in who this disinterested and non-threatening individual was, which led me to smell her and follow her as she passed by.

As much as my owner tries, he cannot dissuade humans from trying to interact with me upon initial contact. I know it’s difficult because I’m so damn cute, but my fear is real. Unfortunately again, this is not how I should be engaged. If you'd like to meet me, the best manner to do so is to display calm assertive energy, do not talk, touch, or make direct eye contact with me (those are all things that can be intimidating to me, or in my world viewed as challenges within my social hierarchy)--just ignore me and let me come to accept you on my terms for now. Even your playful exuberance: often displayed by reaching out, bending over to try and pet me, or talking to me in a "baby" voice are viewed as excited energy, not the calm assertive energy I need.

You may not know this, but you humans are very intimidating. If I'm not running away from you, I may give out a low deep short bark . . . that is just me vocalizing my discomfort with the situation. I know, you think I'm a German Shepherd, and how can I be afraid? Well that's easy, I experienced some trauma in my past that has followed me to this place in my life, it could have been physical, or a lack of socialization, or too much crating, which all limited my exposure to your world around me. I may have never been provided the proper encouragement or handling. I may have been encouraged/comforted in a state I shouldn't have been in because it reinforced a negative behavior that would inhibit me in overcoming those various obstacles I find most challenging and frightening. In the end, it's pretty simple: your world is scary to me and it's going to take some time for me to adjust and negotiate it.

But, my handler is confident and assures me that in the last three weeks, I've shown great promise and the exposure to your world which I am receiving is helping me overcome these obstacles both real and unseen. I want to thank you for your patience and hope when we meet you will remember I am in training and what I've mentioned is for the good of us both.

There's a wonderful post by that Whisperer guy, Cesar Milan, that might explain things better: What to do about a fearful dog.

The following articles come from Clinician's Brief, but I am not advising the utilization of medication except as a last resort. All other methods should be exhausted before turning to medicating your pet.

Clinician's Brief -- Fear of Strange and Loud Noises

Clinician's Brief -- Fearful Dogs

Clinician's Brief -- Stress in Our Dogs: Strategies for Stress Management

For Puppies -- Sit Means Sit

Some more reasoning of fearful-avoidance