Matilda is a one year old female German Shepherd. She is very fearful of most people besides her family and demonstrates this by attempting to be aggressive. Her owners worked with several trainers, but they all gave up on her.
Matilda did become nearly hysterical for the first few minutes on our first meeting but she calmed down very quickly. Her owners were taught by previous trainers that they should verbally and physically reprimand Matilda when she barked at people. In her mind strangers whom she was already afraid of caused her to be punished and corrected by the people she trusted. Poor Girl :( With the usage of her favorite liver treats, we brought her into a room with myself and her owners present. Matilda was kept on a leash, as we talked we let her bark. She was repeatedly rewarded her with treats and a ball whenever she stopped barking at me for even a moment. Her owners also rewarded her whenever she displayed relaxed behavior in my presence as well. Within about twenty minutes Matilda was taking treats from me and began allowing me to pat and touch her. She was even soliciting attention fom me!
I realise that Matilda has been rehearsing this behavior for any months. Matilda's owners have seen the positive results by completely changing their approach. From now on whenever she is in the presence of strangers great things will be happening! Our next goal will be to work on her making more eye contact with her owners more frequently. That way she can look to her owners for direction when she needs support. Her owners will also be keeping her on lead and by their side until her stimulation level goes down. She is going to be just fine.