Mt Little Girl Is Growing Up!

[tez]

Hi all!

I think my out there, confident, have no fear puppy is growing up and finding the big wide world a little bit more scary than she did a week or so ago! Jane (aka the black menace) is now nearly 14 months old and all of a sudden she seems to be aware of the fact that some things in the big wide world MAY actually be abit scary. It started with me noticing on walks that she would actually stop and look and be wary of unfamiliar objects whereas before hand she would just bowl up to anything and happily investigate it.

At training on Sunday, which we have been going to since she was a young pup, she had her usual play time with the other dogs at the end of the session and she is usually in the thick of things. Always happy to play with the other dogs and pretty relaxed with even the rougher playing dogs. Anyway, this Sunday, we had a few new, bigger dogs and it was a pretty wild and windy day. She was having a run around and at one stage, she was running with about 3 other dogs in tow(all friendly young dogs) when I noticed that she was heading for a large puddle of water (Jane likes to throw herself in any sort of water for a cool off) behind the cars.

At this stage I was walking over to put her back on lead as I realised she was getting abit tired. Next thing, she appears with the other dogs still running behind her but she is clearly distressed...whimpering and crying( Something I have never heard from her before). I was very close so immediately stepped in and put her on the lead thinking she had injured herself. I was quite worried and examined her carefully all over while the other people gathered their dogs. It soon became apparent that she was physically fine but she was frightened (again, at first for Jane)! I took her off for a bit of a walk to further assess her and for both of us to to calm down which she did very quickly.

My thinking is that she got frightened by the dogs running after her and distressed when she felt unable to stop for time out in the puddle without the other dogs running into her.

Anyway... after having a think about this and reading that she is in the age group for this 'fear stage'(9 to 16 month appox.), I believe I will need to closely supervise and alter some activities so she dosen't have any long lasting repercussions. So...no more free play at training for a while and then only with one or two of the more gentle dogs and I will have to closely moniter MY reactions to lessen any distress she may feel in new and unfamilar situations.

Any other ideas would be appreciated! I would also like to find out how other people have handled this stage in their dogs development.

Thanks in advance.

[tlc]

Hi Tez, it sounds like you have got a good handle on young Janes behaviour. I too noticed with my youngest Bronson that around the 12 month stage he noticed things that he never noticed before, just simple little things like a tree stump that had always been there or a paper bag flapping in the wind etc also a bit more wary of people that were a bit "different" even though he had been very well socialized with lots of different people as a younger pup. I always put it down to the fact that he was always so busy with the other dogs that he didn't take time to notice other things. Even though on occasion I would take him out on his own so he had one on one time with me, he still went through that phase. It is interesting to see how they grow and the different stages they go through to adulthood. Although in saying that I don't think Bronson is ever going to be an adult dog still at 2 he is such a puppy in so much that he does, I don't think he will ever grow up but I wouldn't have it any other way.

You might find over the next few months that Jane will calm considerably and go through a few more changes. Take notice of training and I bet she will be more in tune with what you ask of her and more focused on getting it right. I also think it is a bit sad when you realize that they are growing up and the puppy time is gone But sometimes it sneaks up on you and you don't even realize till one day it's like a light bulb goes off and you notice all the little quirky puppy things they did, they just don't do any more!!

[tez]

Thanks for the reply, Tlc!

You are right about puppy hood being over...which is good but there are lots of aspects of it I shall miss. Training will be better now though as I think she will be less focused on the dogs around her. It is nice to see her developing into the dog I knew she would become.

Just wondering how pound dogs cope as many of them are lost or surrended during that critical "fear' period. It must be quite daunting for many of them!