Why is my German Shepherd not Protective? (Too Friendly)

If your German Shepherd doesn’t seem to be protective you might be wondering why. This post will show you a number of reasons why it might be the case.

So, why is my German Shepherd not protective? Possible reasons are that it hasn’t been trained to be, it doesn’t feel like you are being threatened, illness, a poor diet, it has gotten used to you being around other people or possibly that you haven’t been treating it right.

There are a number of things that you can consider when trying to figure out why your German Shepherd is not protective. There are also a number of reasons why it might not actually be such a bad thing.

Why your German Shepherd is not protective

Each of the different reasons why your German Shepherd is too friendly will likely come with some clues.

Below, I will mention a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might not be protective and what would make them more likely.

It hasn’t been trained to be

While it is true that German Shepherds are commonly used as guard dogs and by the police, it is also the case that they get given a lot of training for their roles. If your German Shepherd is not trained to be protective then it is not guaranteed that it will behave in a protective way.

With that being said, they do tend to be naturally protective in certain situations such as when someone it has not met before is in its home. If yours is not protective in those situations then it might be the case that one of the reasons below are also at play.

It doesn’t feel the need to be

The reason why it isn’t protective might be that it doesn’t feel like it needs to be. This would be more likely if you tend to meet other people with it on walks and it is not protective. This would be a good thing since you do not want it being protective when it does not need to be.

Illness

The reason why it has not been being protective might be that it has gotten an illness and it is causing it to feel fatigued. This would be more likely if it has been behaving unusually in other ways and if it was a lot more protective in the past.

If it does seem like it might be ill then the best option for you would be to take it to a vet.

Diet

Another thing that might be causing your German Shepherd to be less protective could be that there is something wrong with its diet that is causing it to become fatigued. This would be more likely if it has been acting unusually in other ways, it used to be more protective and it suddenly stopped when you changed its diet.

You can look here to see what foods you should and should not be feeding it. You can also speak with your vet to see what diet would be best for your German Shepherd.

If you are unsure of what food to get for your German Shepherd, consider getting dog food designed specifically for German Shepherds. You can get a GSD specific dog food on Amazon here and one for GSD puppies on Chewy here. 

It got to socialize a lot as a puppy

If your German Shepherd was around a lot of people and other dogs as a puppy and it is still regularly around other people and dogs then it might have learned that they are not a threat. This is a good thing since it means that it will be better behaved when around other people that are not a threat to you.

You have not been treating it well enough

It could be that you have not been walking it enough, feeding it right, giving it enough attention, mistreating it or not training it. If that is the case then it might not feel like you have been treating it well enough or it might even be frightened of you. This would normally be unlikely but it would be more likely if it tends to try and avoid you.

Things to consider

There are a number of things that you can consider when trying to figure out why your German Shepherd is not protective that I will mention below.

When it is not protective

It would help to consider when your German Shepherd is not protective.

You don’t want it to be overly protective when talking to people but it would be normal if it does it when someone is at the door or in your home.

If it is not protective when most German Shepherds normally would be then it would make it more likely to be due to other people being around it often which has desensitized it to them. It could also be illness, fatigue or mistreatment.

How old it is

It would also help to consider its age. If it is still a puppy then it might not have learned who to trust and who not to trust yet. If it is a puppy then it would be likely that it would become more protective in certain situations as it gets older.

However, it will still be important to let it socialize with other friendly people and dogs so as to avoid aggression problems when it gets older.

If it is an adult it would help to consider the situations in which it is not protective and if it has not always been protective.

Not being protective is not necessarily a bad thing

It might be nice to feel like your German Shepherd would protect you if you were being threatened and it might still be the case that it would do that.

However, having a German Shepherd that is not overly protective is actually a good thing. It means that your German Shepherd will be better behaved around other people, Less aggressive and often easier to control.

Being too friendly is a good thing

If your German Shepherd seems to be too friendly then this would also not be such a bad thing unless it’s specific task is to work in a protective role such as law enforcement.

If your German Shepherd is very friendly then it will mean that you will be able to have other people around without it getting aggressive and it will be easier to control around other people.