Many of you know that since I've had Kenya (and before that) she has had some various issues with lack of confidence, generalized insecurity around certain types of people, and neurotic behaviors. Many things have improved over the past few years, but she also continues to pick up new neurotic behaviors, or she will stop doing one and start with another. I guess if you think of a dogs "nerves" as a combination of how low the threshold is for fight/flight and how quickly the dog recovers, we have made a lot of progress with the threshold (she has a pretty high threshold - no issues with gun fire, fireworks, thunderstorms, random accidental loud noises, crowds of strange people, the chaotic environment of dog shows/trials) but it's the recovery that is always the issue. Once she is upset about something she doesn't recover quickly and might even generalize, like she will cower near that person for a few days, or act spooky in that area of the house.
Anyway, as I've always done, I continue taking her various places. Like my parent's house to watch the Olympics, Schutzhund club to socialize and play obedience, the pet store, etc. Everywhere we go she acts so calm and happy and everyone says they cannot believe she has any problems at all. One time she was at my parents, hopped on the couch, and started kissing my mom. My mom said, "This dog is so nice, I don't believe she is neurotic," and as she was kissing my mom I said, "Yeah, her new obsession is eating her own poop." 
Lately I've been wondering very hard about how many of her neurotic behaviors and obsessions are now environmentally triggered. I've been brainstorming about a good way to test this when something presented itself: we just got back from a week long vacation and it's the one vacation a year we do where the dogs cannot come. Usually they all stay on a friend's farm, but I decided to see if my little sister wanted to watch Kenya at her house. She's in college and lives with a few other girls her age, no men, no other dogs. She needed some money so she agreed to do it. When I dropped Kenya off, she jumped on the couch next to my sister's roommate and put her head on her lap. Last night I went to go pick her up. She was excited to see me, jumping all over me but she was also excited to see my sister home from work. My sister kept hinting that they loved her and she was so good. Then Kenya went on the couch and basically curled up in my sister's lap, as much as a GSD can sit in someone's lap. I pretended to leave and her ears perked up but she didn't run to follow (often she follows me so closely I'm tripping over her).
After seeing this, we agreed that Kenya could stay there until the supplies I originally left ran out. Then I would check again and see how she is doing and go from there. She has always been very, very much a one-person dog but transfers the distinction of "her person" relatively quickly as long as it's clear. For example, when I picked her up from the breeder originally, she was following me around and looking to me for everything within 24 hours. There was also a time where I had to bring her to a pet hotel for a day and wasn't going to be back at their pickup time so my sister agreed to pick her up and take her to my house. When she picked up Kenya, Kenya ran to her and treated her like it was me picking her up. It seems that she needs one person to bond with and it has to be a female but as long as she is treated kindly and without too much pressure (not physical pressure, but like if a person is trying too hard to win her over it is stressful for her), she seems to adapt almost instantaneously.
In just the 12 hours since I picked up Nikon and Coke and came home without Kenya, I've also noticed changes at home. Nikon seems much more controlled in the house. He hasn't been barking at anything and has been entertaining himself (sleeping on the couch, chewing a ball, etc) with less pacing around. It's not all on Kenya; Nikon has been a firecracker since day one and has always needed extra work in the self-control department, but recently I had noticed that the two GSDs were sort of feeding off the nervous energy of each other. If Nikon started barking, Kenya would be sending out calming signals. If Kenya was doing something neurotic, Nikon would be pacing around. Coke is just so incredibly calm and chill all the time, he never factored in. We went to the store last night, came home, and not a peep from the boys. Usually Kenya is barking and spinning wildly in her crate as soon as the car pulls in, which gets Nikon barking and chattering his teeth and by the time I get inside and remind them they aren't coming out until they lie down and be quiet, they are already out of control for no reason. It reminds me of when I've been at people's houses who have rows of kennels. One dog starts and then they are ALL jumping, spinning, barking, and running laps in their kennels.
I miss Kenya already, she's always been my little side-kick, but I'm willing to give this a shot and see how she does in her new environment. When I dropped her off, all I told my sister was to not smother her with attention and never make her feel as if she's backed into a corner (literally or figuratively). I didn't tell them about any of her neurotic behaviors because I was curious to see if my sister would describe any when I got back. The only thing she mentioned is Kenya's tendency to basically FLY in/out of her crate or any door. She has a scab on the side of her face right now b/c at my house she tries to push her way through the sliding door as I open it and apparently ripped her face on the metal door frame, or maybe got scraped on her wire crate doing the same thing. You can ask her to sit and wait while you open a door but as soon as you release her she will bolt through as if her life depended on getting through the door as fast as possible. I've tried leashing her and heeling her back and forth slowly with treats but she gets all nerved up (ears down, head twitching side to side, mouth tight). Some of these behaviors are just impossible to block with treats or trying to change the behavior. It's like it's not a matter of her wanting to slowly follow a treat more than bolt through a door, but she just can't control herself. Other than the door thing, they said she eats good, seems comfortable pottying (she's a performance anxiety pooper!), likes to walk with my sister, sleeps in bed with her, loves the roommate, and does not seem wary when the boyfriend is over. The food I left should last another week and I need to get her flea/tick and heartworm meds so I'll check on her soon. She seemed quite relaxed being the only dog and being pampered by the girls. She likes dogs and is dog friendly but doesn't seem to miss having dogs around.
This is getting long so I'll leave it at that. Just wanted to give an update since many of you have been very helpful with things to try or just sharing experiences with similar dogs. I love this dog and just want the best for her, even if that means a temporary or maybe permanent change of environment.