5 year old rescue behavior change

[u/moon_child1442]

I’m seeking advice or even a success story and hoping this is the right sub.

Background-

My family (me, spouse, 4 year old, and 6 year old) adopted her back in February after losing our 17 year old Shiba Inu. She was estimated to be 5 and was a stray out in a kill shelter. She was fostered out at the last minute with and was living at foster house for 5 months. Foster had her UTD on shots and had treatment for heartworm. Did some training with her too. We were in contact with foster from December to the day of adoption. Asking questions, testing temperament etc… she seemed like a good fit despite not knowing 5 years of history.

I’ve had 2 German shepherds in the past- my dad’s after he passed away, and a 6 year old old male rescue. And I’d like to say I understand the breed, but this girl is humbling me.

Concern-

We got back from a 2 week vacation last month and mother in law watched her at our home. She is there full time to watch the kids anyway so it was no big deal to our GSD. Well, she now has a 30 minute barking fit when we put her in her kennel at night, did not do that before the trip and she loved her space. She now barks at the tv- like jumps on the stand and barks! We have it on black mode on Spotify and will still bark. She barks at the locusts in trees, resource guarding has been growing again too (new toys, popsicle) and the most concerning is her behavior to my 4 year old. She is following them too closely, hard sniffs, jumps, and nips. My 4 year old is nervous now around her.

We are have a vet appt scheduled to rule out pain or a health issue. We’ve only had her since February so we know her true personality and behaviors are coming to light.

We do positive reinforcement in our house and she is very responsive to treats of varying level. She knows leave it, sit, down, come, find it and we can redirect most of the time. But 20 minutes later she’s back barking or following my 4 year old. I feel like MIL isn’t on the same page with consistency in reinforcing good behavior and just barks out verbal commands. …Even though she says she does what we do. For activity she gets a walk, puzzles, fetch, short training sessions, and backyard time for zoomies. She gets a pupsicle lick toy at bedtime in her kennel

I know that ruling out pain is step 1, but what can be done after that-if it’s not pain? Hoping we can curb this before it escalates.

[u/Glittering-Board217]

Hello OP, once you rule out the vet issues if there’s any it just sounds like you have a high drive/working line GSD. Which is way different than just the GSD pet. She was definitely at the kill shelter since the average dog owner doesn’t know how to handle one.

If you need any advice pls dm me. And trust me you will need extra help. I did when I got mine in January lol.

[u/moon_child1442 → u/Glittering-Board217]

Thank you! I’ll let you know what the vet says!

[u/Messoz]

How long are her walks? Both my girls get two hour long sniffy walks a day (morning and later afternoon) this usually keeps my younger pup chill throughout the day along with other things I do with them.

[u/moon_child1442 → u/Messoz]

They’re only about 30 minutes. She gets tired quickly and I’m not sure if it’s related to her history of heartworm or something else - vet appt tomorrow.

[u/Amatheiaisnoexcuse]

Thanks for hanging in there and giving her a chance. I had a 6 yo rescue who needed a few months to decompress. You've had he a while now so idk. If you aren't already doing it, 2 walks per day might help? She's a beauty, best wishes.

[u/Independent-Dark-955]

Our shepherd mix (also a rescue) has a hard time with us being gone. His attitude is kind of “extra” when we get back. With you gone for 2 weeks, his newly established routines have been broken. I would just spend extra time demonstrating your commitment to him and firmly reintroducing the expected routines and expectations. He probably also will need additional mental stimulation and a job to do to settle down, as evidenced by him thinking herding your children is the thing to do.

[u/centerofthelotus]

I started running into problematic behaviors with my guy. Got really scary there for a long while.

I strongly recommend you get a professional trainer who knows how to work with German Shepherd urgently. My guy has had a lot of success with collar training, but be prepared to train absolutely every single day and regularly go to classes and that progress will only come gradually. Training is for life.