Went To Puppy Pre-school Last Night...

[StaceyB]

I was absolutley shocked at Gypsy's reaction to the others puppies. At home she is confident and friendly and plays (very rough) all the time, but last night she just sat under my chair or behind the trainer for most of the night and would shy away if any of the other puppies came near her. It took her a good 45 mins to start interacting with the other dogs and only if they came to her. Oh, there was only one other puppy there bigger than her so i don't think it was a size thing.

She has been around a few older dogs and was OK with them.

Does anyone have any suggestions on getting her to interact with the other puppies a little better next week?

Thanks

Stacey

[pie]

Hi Stacey,

My pup was like this the first one or two weeks of puppy preschool, but gradually came out of his shell (a little too much )

Just keep taking her, and don't get stressed out because she will be able to sense it.

The trainer enticed my pup out of hiding with some liver treats, just tiny pieces, this seemed to make him realise it really was ok, but be careful with food around that many dogs.

[Gogee]

Yep, I wouldn't be concerned either at this stage. Our boy was fine at home with us but the first week that we took him to puppy school, he was absolutely petrified! And I mean PETRIFIED! He spent the whole hour either running away from the others in fear, or was in a shivering mess in the corner desperately trying to pretend he was somewhere else!

Week 2 he came out of his shell a little more, and would at least sniff the others (even if he was still a little apprehensive). But when week 3 came, he was a supercharged maniac and we couldn't stop him bowling the others over with his puppy energy

So just give Gypsy a little more time and she'll be just fine

[Teebs]

I wish i knew how you felt, both my dogs were put in time out at puppy pre school.. They were both bullies Atlas tried to hump anything that came near him and wanted to play ROUGH, Kaos wanted to eat everything, she did become friends with one other dog, but even then she was playing to rough and was put in time out.

I want a nice quite dog next....

[pie]

LOL TB!

In my first week there was a BT who was 12 weeks and he was just as you described Atlas, he wanted to play so rough, he was quite a funny little guy.

[Teebs]

At would have been 10 weeks, and kaos was a bit older, 16 weeks. Bullies, both of them!!

[Sarah L]

Hi staceyb, get your trainer at puppy school to let one or two of the puppy's loose with yours to see how she goes. All of them at the one time is too overwhelming for your pup. It would be better for her to be taken gradually in playing with the other pups than put in amongst all of them at the one time and hoping she gets used to it. Also if she does go under the chairs to hide encourage her out with some treats as mentioned before. When all the pups are running loose let her sit and watch for a while so she can see they are having fun. Your trainer has to do this right or lasting damage can be done by just keeping putting her in with all the puppy's at the one time and hoping she gets used to it.

It may have just been week 1 nerves and not being used to the number of pups there, but take week 2 slowly with her and build her up with 1 or 2 pups at a time and you will then find week 3 and 4 a lot easier

[StaceyB]

We had week 2 of Puppy classes last night and Gypsy was much better - Played for about 45 mins and then was pooped by the end of the night!

There were a few times when she was getting a bit over-whelmed, I just gave her a cuddle and a bit of re-assurance and put her back down and she was fine again.

There was a new puppy there last night too - if he wasn't a few weeks older than her I would swear they could be from the same litter! Except that he was a boy and a little bigger they were identical!! Same cross breed, same colour, same white toes and they even had the same rough patch on their tails!!