Is This Anything I Should Be Worried About?

[Michelleva]

We have a 7 month old sheltie whose been to obedience since she was 4 months old. So she's been exposed to all sorts of dogs and in general gets along with most of them. We were at obedience yesterday and she was having a ball playing with about 4 dogs who were all much bigger than her, she wasn't scared and just wanted to play.

Today I took her for a walk and then went and grabbed a coffee. I was sitting outside and a guy started walking towards us with his labrador. The lab showed no aggression and just wante to say hello. Georgia started growling, and then bark at it. It wasn't terribly aggressive, no teeth or anything. Then someone else with a dog walked past and she reacted the same way.... should I be correcting this behaviour?

Do you think she's protecting me? I find it strange that at obedience she's not "on guard" and happy to relax and play, but when I'm just sitting there she feels I need protection, or thats what I suspect...

[Parkeyre]

Could the dog have startled her?

[poodlefan]

She's 7 months old.. second fear period time.

I sincerely doubt she's feeling protective of you.. potentially she's feeling insecure.

Was she playing with other dogs offlead and reacting on lead? On lead, a dog cannot distance itself from threats so warnings to stay away may be a method of self protection.

I would not discipline this behaviour but put yourself between your dog and the perceived "threat".

[Erny]

Could be the outset of her 2nd fear impact period. This is where things, even though they might have been fine with before, start to become scary. My boy went through this as well, and I worked to make sure as much as I possibly could that I simply didn't put him in situations where he felt confronted. I also exercised and practiced strong leadership and control (including me being HIS protector) tactics, as I didn't want him learning 'fear' as a behavioural habit. He seems to have come through the tunnel and out the other side reasonably well. The 2nd fear impact period can relate to things such as noises and other such things as well. If you work with her during this period and avoid trauma, the good work you did during her critical (puppy) period should prove an excellent foundation on which she will draw back to.

'Snap' PF.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Erny

[Michelleva]

She's 7 months old.. second fear period time.

I sincerely doubt she's feeling protective of you.. potentially she's feeling insecure.

Was she playing with other dogs offlead and reacting on lead? On lead, a dog cannot distance itself from threats so warnings to stay away may be a method of self protection.

I would not discipline this behaviour but put yourself between your dog and the perceived "threat".

She was on lead both at obedience and obviously today. Ok, what you're all saying makes sense. I think I better do a bit of reading up on this fear period, so I can help her get through it in a positive way.

Thank you for your input too Erny, it does make a lot of sense to me.

ETA - another thing I've just realised she's done the last few weeks, is be scared to walk over metal grates and stuff that are in the footpath, she was never worried about them before. When she does it, I make an effort to get her to focus on me and walk over it without realising it. And very much lead the way. I've also got her to sit on them for a treat etc. This sounds like what you're talking about with the fear period. I read the puppy development calendar which is on the puppy forum and it sounds spot on, at least I know and can work with her. Any other tips are appreciated.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Michelleva

[Erny]

ETA - another thing I've just realised she's done the last few weeks, is be scared to walk over metal grates and stuff that are in the footpath, she was never worried about them before. When she does it, I make an effort to get her to focus on me and walk over it without realising it. ... This sounds like what you're talking about with the fear period.

Yes - this type of thing is also what the fear impact period can affect. It is a period where it seems the dog's perspective is taking a new and different twist as a result of hormonal development towards adulthood.

I'd not make a big deal about treading over grates at the moment. But if I came upon one where there was no choice but to cross it, then I would do as you do. I'd even potentially not go to dog school, or if I did, I'd work from a distance at which she is not phased by the other dogs. It's a time when your dog doesn't need additional stresses on top of what her hormones are already causing but simultaneously needs you to ID as a competent, calm, assertive, fair and understanding leader.

[corvus]

Don't fear the fear period.

Sometimes I think people get a little overly paranoid about fear periods. I have treated my last two pups as if they were in perpetual fear periods for the first 12 months of their lives. The reason why is because they are seeing new things all the time. You don't know when a fear imprint period might appear or how long it will last or what known objects it might suddenly turn into something to freak out about. So I arm myself with treats at all times so that if I ever do run into a freak out moment regardless of whether it's associated with a fear period or not I can handle it then and there with some emergency counter conditioning. The only avoidance I do is if I'm planning a major, potentially brain-breaking trip to a new and exciting place. I make a judgement call on whether I think they can handle it, have a contingency plan if I decide to risk it and turn out to be wrong, and be prepared to deal with unexpected weirdness. Erik was terrible for about 5 months. If we took him somewhere new he would bark and get wound up and stay up for hours, getting more and more agitated. But each time we took him somewhere new and gave him loads of support, stayed with him, counter-conditioned where opportunities presented themselves, distracted him from hyper-vigilance, and helped him settle, the better he coped with the next new place. It meant that for a few months we took him on holidays, took Kongs and buckets of treats with us everywhere, were prepared to pull out of outings if they became too much for him, and dedicated lots of time to helping him work out how few things in the world he actually had to worry about, but now we have a vigilant little dog that we can take new places and reasonably assume that he won't have a mental breakdown. It will continue to be a work in progress until he's 2 years old, I imagine.

Anyway, my point is, it may or may not be a fear period and who cares? Treat what you see. If your dog is unsettled by something, suggest they do something easy with a good reward history and then reward them if they can do it. If they can't, counter-condition until they can. Be mindful that this kind of thing can happen anywhere, and any time in the first 2 years of life, and in relation to things your dog is actually socialised to already. Be sensible about predicting how planned trips or events might affect your pup and err on the side of caution. My older boy randomly started spooking around traffic at about 12 months old. Weird and totally unpredictable. He'd been walking happily past and through traffic his whole life. I don't need to know whether he's in a fear period or not. I just need to counter-condition so he no longer spooks at cars.

[Michelleva]

Thanks for the input. It looks like I'm on the right track. I'm not worried about the "fear period", just trying to help her cope with it as best I can.

So if I find myself in the position I was in yesterday, where she reacted to a dog walking towards her, what is the best way to handle that. The guy walked away from us when he saw Georgia reacting. I was thinking today, maybe if I went up and said hello to the dog and showed Georgia that he was ok, she would have felt more comfortable. But that could potentionally have the opposite effect. She only barked/growled for a minute or so, then she realised the dog was no threat and relaxed again.

The dogs she was playing with at obedience, was after class in just a social setting. We were standing around chatting while the dogs were interacting, and she was fine with that.