Let me just start off with a disclaimer. I love my dog, he's family to me and I would never to anything to his detriment/rehome him, etc.
This is more of a whinge. Went for a coffee with DH yesterday and was talking about the possibility of going camping. We would want to take dog with us. He's awkward - he's nervy of people, high anxiety and occasionally reactive towards other dogs. Therefore - we choose not to take him camping.
He misses out on so much. I'm currently pregnant and would love to take him with us to country parks, on picnics, camping, etc when we have kids.
He's fine with a self catering cottage as we can manage his environment but all we seem to be doing is managing him. He's so well trained but his lead work isn't great (mostly due to hunting behaviours) and we hate to risk him getting upset by other dogs/off lead dogs getting into his space. He doesn't attack but will lunge and growl - which as he's a german shepherd isn't nice for others. I also can't guarantee that he won't take off after a jogger or cyclist (he likes to nip bums)
I wanted a dog who I could take to places and just generally enjoy when out and about. Instead, we pick quiet places to walk him and spend our time at home with him. We don't bother with pub gardens or anything.
It's frustrating because he's so well trained and so clever. It's just this little thing holding him back. He's not even that bad, just unpredictable.
He's 4 1/2 now and I've had him since he was a puppy. I love him to bits and apart from his quirks, he's perfect but he just isn't what I wanted for a dog.
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
Not the dog I wanted
DoubleCarrick · 24/07/2016 11:41
Like our children really 
.
My dogs have fantastic traits, plus awful traits, I think it's unrealistic to expect the perfect dog you have in your minds eye when you are choosing a cute little puppy unfortunately.
Thankyou all for your comments. I've had a behaviourist in and it worked wonders when he was awful. I feel like I'm doing my boy a disservice as he's not awful, just a pain sometimes.
He's good with family and friends and does warm up to people. E.g. he wasn't too bad with the plasterer this week.
I guess it's just the feeling of having to be wary 24/7 the is annoying.
He used to have a yellow lead with "nervous" on it but no longer use it.
I think gradual build up is the key. His awful stuff was a lot of work in the early days - I worked bloody hard on his training and socialisation and he's at a point where he's so much better which is almost the frustrating thing because he's almost as good as he's going to get. I'm proud as the behaviourist said if he were with any other owner he would potentially have gotten a lot worse but that I've worked wonders with him.
I shouldn't be so ungrateful 
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