RE:  I did have a question.  I've been reading some of the articles on your site and doing a bit of research on the importance of socialization.  What steps do you take to socialize the pups and when do you think it is best to start that process?

I have a question about german shepherd puppies and I was hoping you could help.  I adopted a german shepherd / black lab mix last week and she is very timid, basically scared of her shadow (people, sounds, etc).  she is still very young, just 9 weeks old.  I know she is a mix of 2 breeds, but when looking at her she looks like a shepherd with ears that flop down so we've been told that the shepherd would most likely be the dominate personality.  We've also been told that shepherd pups are very timid until everything "clicks" and they become the dog that everyone associates with a german shepherd.  would you consider that to be true?  are your pups somewhat more timid around other people and places that other breeds of dogs?

     No, its not a shepherd trait to be timid.  Or any breed, for that matter.  I have three pups here that walked all over total strangers at 5 weeks of age.  Its the breeding, (genetics) and then the early upbringing. 

    It's likely if there was no supervision, that the more dominant or confident of the pups, were hard on their siblings.  Which is normal in nature, but in 'our world', a good breeder steps in and separates the 'softer' ones out for their personality building.  However, they are not good breeding prospects as they pass on the soft temperaments.  Neither are the alpha's but that's an entirely different subject.
   
    She was not socialized is my guess, and probably left alone with her Dam and her over bearing siblings. 
     NOW, you can and must, to succeed, socialize the heck out of her, BUT CAREFULLY ONLY. 
    She can only be around 100% reliable dogs and people until she is 16 weeks. 
This 8-16 week time frame is the "imprinting phase".
 So, you have 5 weeks to help her try to get over this fear. 

NO DOG PARKS, NO PET STORES. NOT OFF LEASH UNLESS SHE IS HOME AND SAFE.

    You will need to get her in a play pen with a TV in that room pretty loud (eventually) to desensitize her for noise and movement. 
The TV is best set on her eye level.  Start with low level noise and up it daily.  

Walk her on a HARNESS ONLY, no collar.  She'll think you are 'strangling' her.   Eventually you can switch that over, but not now.

    HAND FEED her.  Your entire family needs to do this so she'll learn that people are 'good' and will feed her. Who knows what happened there during feeding time? The softer ones are normally smaller than their siblings because they don't have the guts to fight for their food.  
IF you are taking her somewhere reliable, bring her food with you instead of feeding her at home, and have friends, strangers to her, feed her by hand too.  If she is not hungry, it will be harder for her to take it from anyone. 

    Don't dote over her too much as that is 'negative re-enforcement' teaching her behavior is ok, which its not.   Praise when she shows confidence - when she comes to you, when she carries a toy,  Make it a huge PRAISE.
IF she does something wrong, DON'T SAY A THING, only take it away, and give her the toy instead of the shoe.  NO OUT LOUD "no no no'S" in other words.
If she pees in the house, same thing, say nothing, pick her up and take her outside.  Her poop, pick it up and put it outside in the yard where you want her to go. 

    Now after the 16 week period, you still need to be careful, but the experts say that the real imprinting for negative experiences are about past

Thank you for all the valuable information that you have posted on your web site. I have been looking for my next best friend on the web and found the information on your site extremely helpful. I am now much more reluctant to buy over the net. I see that at this time you do not have any male pups. I have located what looks to be a reputable dealer in GA. I am not really concerned about losing any money in the transaction I am more afraid of loving a dog that may have a short life span due to unknown issues. I also have found an importer from the same state that has pups from Germany. If you can ,what are your thoughts on imported pups. If you cannot comment I do understand. But once again thank you for the most informative web site that we have seen. It has made this search much more positive for my wife and I.    Thank you. 

  I personally would not recommend purchasing an import pup unless you really know who or what you're dealing with and WHY.   When I import a dog or pup, its for very specific reasons.   However, this is truly an 'easy way out' for a breeder to make some money, as all they have to do it go to the airport, pick m up, and sell m as quick as can be.   Those 'breeders' are not breeders, and are strictly in it for the $.    They'll buy up pups from Europe which have not sold, so they get them 'cheap' and there isn't much concern for the pedigree, as long as it has the 'Pink Papers' from the German SV Registration (sort of the akc here except it's for German Shepherds only) 

    If something is very wrong with the pup, you might have no recourse.   The importer will likely refer you to the importer and vice versa. 
Is that breeder/importer willing to give you a purchase contract for the pup? 
What is the guarantee in the contract? 
What is the price? 
The lineage?
References?
    

From the United Arab Emirates:

Do you provide overseas exporting services?

     Any pup which has to travel to the UAE needs to be older than 2 months. The trip
is very long and too stressful for a pup of that age.  I usually don't even ship  
 even ship a pup in the USA unless they have 12 lbs of weight on them and the
character to 'hold up' under such stress. 
    Then, Exporting a pup/dog into the UAE is something I'm unfamiliar
with. The UAE may have pet health restrictions on importing a foreign dog. Such as
Australia and New Zealand. A very lengthy process.