Rehabilitating an Abused German Shepherd

by Denise
(Oklahoma)

We have a wonderful german shepherd named Angel that had a rather hard life before she came to us. In the beginning she was very timid and tenative with us all. We also have a miniture snauzer that in the beginning Angel was very frightened of.

If Shautzy was in the front yard Angel would not go out without one person pulled on her leash while someone else shoved her out from behind. When it was time to come in you had to literally carry her.

My fear at the time was that because she was so timid, she might turnout to be either neurotic or dangerous but for the most part she has settled in rather well. That is she has settled in rather well with us.

She and our snauzer are best friends, she loves to be petted on, and she wants desperately to please us. Still there is something of a problem with timidness when things are outside the norm.

My son came home from college and fell in love with her but she was afraid of him. While you could see she wanted to to be with him and be petted by him, He wasn't there long enough for here to build up enough courage to try.

She's very much afriad of the hands of strangers. She'll shy away and hide. The other day we took her for a walk and came across a chihuahua. She was very frightened but at least this time we didn't have to pick her up or try to drag her. Finally, while she now plays with Shautzy she never, ever plays with us.

My question is this; will she ever really out grow these things or will we always have to deal with her fear? If there is hope that we can help her gain confidence, how do we accomplish it? Will she ever learn how to play with any of us?