My German Shepherd Puppy Barks At Strangers. What Should I do?

In this video, Ed Frawley shares a question from the Ask Cindy database. Today's question is about a German Shepherd puppy that barks at strangers every time it goes out for a walk or it is outside in general. The owner wants to know what things they can do to control the puppy.
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[@laurauzan1084]

It’s been 9 years since I’ve had to train a puppy. This is a great reminder.

[@242sp]

Always great advice! We have a 7 month old female Jack Russell - very smart - reactive - stubborn. I'm always learning what I'm doing wrong listening to you. She's our 4th JRT,( all JRTCA standard bred), all the others were easy compared to this pup. I really appreciate your videos and instruction. Thank you.

[@hoppz_392hemi2]

I have a Cane Corso and he loves his walks. He didn't bark at anything he never really mind them. However, he'd bark out of fear and run back. I make him sit next to me until he relaxes. It takes him about 10/15 minutes to warm up to the person. How or what am I doing wrong? He still shakes when someone comes around. I do keep the person at a distance for safety, I trust my dog not the person.

[@LeerburgDogTraining]

When people have specific training questions we recommend that they go to our website and post those questions in the ASK CINDY on the front page of leerburg.com . Cindy has been training dogs since she was a teenager and has competed in several dog sports at a regional and national level. She was also a vet tech and owned a boarding/training and grooming business for many years as well as breeding working Dobermans and Belgian Malinois under the kennel name Kaiserhaus. Questions posted to ASK CINDY are answered almost every day. They are also recorded in our systems if a dog owner has additional questions Cindy will review the previous Q&As and this helps her give better feedback and assistance. leerburg.com/qa/contact-cindy.php

[@dedhead9322]

@ 02:29 I had to stop watching. Never take your 16 week old puppy around strangers if he barks at them? Only if he is people friendly? I disagree. If you intend on having a socialized dog, you better socialize them and teach them acceptable vs unacceptable social behavior. You want to train this while they are puppies. The earlier they are socialized the better. I can see his point if this is intended to be someone's personal companion / protection dog. If that is the case, the dog should not know there is an outside world beyond the front door and the back yard until the bond is completed and training is progressing well. I do not understand the point he was trying to make.

[@Sarah-mp5vi]

He did not say 'Only if he is people friendly' or words to that effect. From what I have learnt from Leerburg YT and courses, the point he is trying to make is not to take the puppy places where it feels nervous or excited to the extent it reacts on this basis to these stimulus, as opposed to maintaining engagement with the owner. Also to avoid negative situations for the pup while it does not have the ability or confidence to deal with them, instead, helping it form trust in its owner and so it looks for and acts on guidance from its owner in new or challenging situations.This creates a baseline of engagement with the owner by which the pup experiences and is guided through the environment and stimulus in the environment - rather than experiencing the environment and stimuli on their own, reacting to stimuli on the basis of fear, nervousness or excitement, and having to work it out for themselves -high drive breeds don't learn by 'sorting it out for themselves' if they are just left to react they continue to go from 1 -10in a situation of fear of excitement (they act from a basis of fear or excitement not calm and confidence) which can only be temporarily remedied by higher value rewards, training aids and different training tactics. Engagement is the only way to truly be in charge of a high drive breed (or any animal for that matter) when it is an adult and engagement starts in puppy training.

[@prairiespawparazzi7077]

Next time watch the whole thing. You can't just run with one bit you don't like. How will you ever learn?