Sorcia with her favorite ball.
A German Shepherd can be an intimidating dog. My Sorcia has frightened away many door-to-door salesmen (yay!), and the UPS guy is so scared of her, he only comes halfway up the walkway and gently tosses packages at our porch before sprinting back to his truck. He’s afraid we might open the door and she’ll get out. She does have a ferocious bark and a tendency to lunge at the door when someone rings the bell or knocks.
Front feet planted against the window.
Slathering jaws snarling in the face of whoever dares to approach our threshold.
Most people are surprised to know that our very fierce Sorcia is afraid of butterflies. Or being in the yard alone. If we put her in our fenced-in backyard by herself, she just stays by the door, whining piteously and nosing the door handle.
“Please come out. I can’t play without you.”
Don’t get me wrong – she loves being outside! If she had her way, she’d play outside all day, chasing the shadows of butterflies, growling at her favorite blue ball, and cooling off on the top step of the pool.
The top step is as deep as she will go.
But only if there’s somebody with her.
For back up.
What if a butterfly attacked?
Watching for bumblebees. They are tasty and just a little spicy!
She’s wary of being tricked. Like, if someone escorts her out and then goes back into the house. So she keeps a close eye on her people. If I’m in the pool or sitting by the goldfish pond – if I’ve got a book or laptop with me – she’ll run around and play. She knows I’m going to be there for awhile. She’s very smart in that respect. She actually watches to see if I open the laptop before going off to play!
“You left me!”
But if I stand up, even for a second, she stops and scurries over to make sure I’m not going inside.
It’s pitiful, really.
Can anybody shed some light on this strange German Shepherd behavior? Does anybody else have a pet with crazy insecurities?
Nope. But I do have a crazy poodle mix. Her behavior mimics Sorcia’s pretty closely. LOL BTW – I’ve grown to love Sorcia. Awesome dog!
It sounds to me like she might have a touch of separation anxiety. If it gets worse, or begins affecting her quality of life there are specific training techniques and even drugs that can help alleviate the symptoms.
She just loves her peeps and wants to be with them! Although the fear of butterflies is rather funny.
That’s how GSD’s are – very loyal to their people, unlike my goofy lab who will happily go off and get into trouble without me! Love Sorcia in the pool 🙂
I have a chiweenie named Chuck, he likes to run you over if you start to go inside. He is very scared of being left alone. On the other hand, our other dog Flash will stay outside for hours.
Sounds like a very smart dog to me. And I’m totally jealous of your pool. This is the perfect weather for it.
Sorry, my puppy is my first dog. I’m finding out what personality a dog can have and it sounds like yours does too.
Butterflies? Lol! Maybe she knows something we don’t…hmm. 😉 My dog’s in the doghouse after digging through the kidlet’s diaper bag looking for leftover snacks. She’s so sneaky! And do you think Sorcia would share that top step of the pool? Looks heavenly!
Hi Dianne .. no idea – but they can have minds of their own … get another dog?! At least she seems to be happy … and enjoys your company …
Pool and fish pond and cycle routes and hikes – all sound ideal .. with crazy dog in tow .. enjoy her .. cheers Hilary
Aw, poor baby. How cute though. Hey, butterflies can be scary.
Love the pics 🙂 She sounds wonderful – braver than my boxer. He’s scared of everything. Lol! I actually was silly enough to think he could help me with herding the cattle, but they chased him down the field. I’d tip on the anxiety fear thing too. My boxer had it the first several months after we got him out of the pound. It’s gotten better, though, and he seems to realize that we’re not going to abandon him. Although we’re still having trouble keeping him somewhere when we leave the house for more than 3-4 hours. He always finds an escape, no matter where we put him, and we find him waiting for us on the front porch. We’ve given him the nickname ‘Dogdini’.
I’ve had dogs like Sorcia (very much people dogs) and then there is the dog I have now. She really is content hanging out in the back yard all by herself. However, she does have an uncanny ability to KNOW when someone is moving into the kitchen at any given time. She can be at the back of the yard and then, without warning, run inside. Sure enough, someone has walked into the kitchen.