wary of strangers

Question
I have a 1 1/2 yr old shepherd and she is very wary of strangers.. once the person gets in my house she is ok but she gives them a real hard time initially, barking a lot, pulling towards them with all her might (and she's hard to hold back).. she's very intimidating but is a sweetheart once you get to know her.  How do I get my GSD to accept visitors w/out scaring them off?

Answer
The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm

If she wasn't exposed to many people before she was 12 weeks old, this may be difficult to correct.  If she sees you as the leader, enthusiastically greeting visitors, distracting yourself from feeling stress will help.  She will interpret stress over her behavior as stress over the visitor.  Giving strangers treats to give her may not work as well with her as with more food motivated dogs.  You need to work on this.  It will only get worse as she reaches maturity at 3 years old.  Try walking her in public places where she can encounter strangers that aren't invading her den.