minimiss Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Last night at our first Puppy Preschool session, my puppy was called shy by the Vet Nurse.. He just sat in front of my feet on the floor and watched the other puppies play with each other and just didn't appear interested to join in. He wasn't cowering or shaking, he was just sitting, observing and wagging his tail occasionally. (The other puppies: A very excited English Stafford and an even more excited 'Poodle x Maltese'). I've already done some training at home with him (Sit, lay down, come etc) and he's a quick little learner so that part of last nights session he did really well in (Other puppies were so excited and bouncy). He just seemed more interested and focussed on me rather than playing. Also, he's come to family get-togethers with me and has happily ran around getting cuddles and pats from people of varied ages (From my primary school aged cousins to my great aunty) and hasn't be overly outgoing, but has been very waggy tailed and excited but polite and gentle. Last night the vet nurse picked him up and he screamed at her and started shaking.. Yet the receptionist at the vet picked him up after straight after and he was fine. I'm a bit confused about the term used - 'shy'.. and I felt the vet nurse was making it sound as if it was a really bad thing that he didn't want to play with the other (bigger) puppies and I was pretty offended when she yanked him up off the ground where he was sitting and watching to 'take him to the other puppes' - which is when he screamed at her. My little boy, is an 11 week old Pomeranian who was a little smaller than the other 2 dogs. He's definitely not a super active little puppy, but he has his zoomies moments at home and loves to play.. To me he just appeared to be observant, not shy.. Is this normal puppy behaviour? Edited January 10, 2012 by minimiss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
german_shep_fan Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I wouldn't worry, it took abt 3 puppu classes for my shep girl to warm up to it. She wanted to disappear into the hedge the first time we went lol She is fine now, happy to join in. I think just like us, when things are new and you don't know anyone they can be a bit scary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Last night at our first Puppy Preschool session, my puppy was called shy by the Vet Nurse.. He just sat in front of my feet on the floor and watched the other puppies play with each other and just didn't appear interested to join in. He wasn't cowering or shaking, he was just sitting, observing and wagging his tail occasionally. (The other puppies: A very excited English Stafford and an even more excited 'Poodle x Maltese'). I've already done some training at home with him (Sit, lay down, come etc) and he's a quick little learner so that part of last nights session he did really well in (Other puppies were so excited and bouncy). He just seemed more interested and focussed on me rather than playing. Also, he's come to family get-togethers with me and has happily ran around getting cuddles and pats from people of varied ages (From my primary school aged cousins to my great aunty) and hasn't be overly outgoing, but has been very waggy tailed and excited but polite and gentle. Last night the vet nurse picked him up and he screamed at her and started shaking.. Yet the receptionist at the vet picked him up after straight after and he was fine. I'm a bit confused about the term used - 'shy'.. and I felt the vet nurse was making it sound as if it was a really bad thing that he didn't want to play with the other (bigger) puppies and I was pretty offended when she yanked him up off the ground where he was sitting and watching to 'take him to the other puppes' - which is when he screamed at her. My little boy, is an 11 week old Pomeranian who was a little smaller than the other 2 dogs. He's definitely not a super active little puppy, but he has his zoomies moments at home and loves to play.. To me he just appeared to be observant, not shy.. Is this normal puppy behaviour? Find another puppy pre-school. This vet nurse is an idiot and YOU should have screamed at her and taken your puppy back. How dare she put your puppy in danger and scare him like that. I hate puppy pre-schools that expect the puppies to all play together. Much better to teach the puppies to focus on the owners in the presence of the other puppies. I would never let a Border Collie baby play with a SBT puppy let alone a tiny Pom because the play style of the SBT is far too rough. It is very dangerous to let really little puppies play with much bigger and more boisterous ones. Your puppy is normal and sensible unlike the vet nurse running the puppy pre-school. Edited January 4, 2012 by dancinbcs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) double post Edited January 4, 2012 by dancinbcs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Fox Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Agree with dancinbcs. I took my oldest dog to puppy pre-school and would never EVER do it again. It ruined him. Pull your pup out and continue on with what you were doing beforehand, which sounds like a much more sensible approach to socialisation. Dogs no not 'need' to play with other dogs. The vet nurse sounds like an idiot. Edited January 4, 2012 by SecretKei Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimiss Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Last night at our first Puppy Preschool session, my puppy was called shy by the Vet Nurse.. He just sat in front of my feet on the floor and watched the other puppies play with each other and just didn't appear interested to join in. He wasn't cowering or shaking, he was just sitting, observing and wagging his tail occasionally. (The other puppies: A very excited English Stafford and an even more excited 'Poodle x Maltese'). I've already done some training at home with him (Sit, lay down, come etc) and he's a quick little learner so that part of last nights session he did really well in (Other puppies were so excited and bouncy). He just seemed more interested and focussed on me rather than playing. Also, he's come to family get-togethers with me and has happily ran around getting cuddles and pats from people of varied ages (From my primary school aged cousins to my great aunty) and hasn't be overly outgoing, but has been very waggy tailed and excited but polite and gentle. Last night the vet nurse picked him up and he screamed at her and started shaking.. Yet the receptionist at the vet picked him up after straight after and he was fine. I'm a bit confused about the term used - 'shy'.. and I felt the vet nurse was making it sound as if it was a really bad thing that he didn't want to play with the other (bigger) puppies and I was pretty offended when she yanked him up off the ground where he was sitting and watching to 'take him to the other puppes' - which is when he screamed at her. My little boy, is an 11 week old Pomeranian who was a little smaller than the other 2 dogs. He's definitely not a super active little puppy, but he has his zoomies moments at home and loves to play.. To me he just appeared to be observant, not shy.. Is this normal puppy behaviour? Find another puppy pre-school. This vet nurse is an idiot and YOU should have screamed at her and taken your puppy back. How dare she put your puppy in danger and scare him like that. I hate puppy pre-schools that expect the puppies to all play together. Much better to teach the puppies to focus on the owners in the presence of the other puppies. I would never let a Border Collie baby play with a SBT puppy let alone a tiny Pom because the play style of the SBT is far too rough. It is very dangerous to let really little puppies play with much bigger and more boisterous ones. Your puppy is normal and sensible unlike the vet nurse running the puppy pre-school. I did remention to her that just 10 minutes before she was saying this age was the most impressionable for puppies and 'did she think it was wise to force him to do something he didn't want to' incase it left a negative impression on him. She kind of just mumbled at me and looked at me like a 'knowitall' owner. Luckily she only does the opening class, and runs the graduation - So I'm hoping the 3 sessions she doesn't run are better. I'll see how next week goes. ETA - SecretKei, thank you for making me feel a bit better - I thought this would be a good experience for him (To play with other puppies) but he didn't seem interested and was happier just to look on. I wasn't sure whether getting some play time with other puppies was important or not. I don't think him being foccused on me when we're out in public is a bad thing, considering last night I was made to feel it was(At home he happily has zero recall and ignores me unless I have food ) Edited January 4, 2012 by minimiss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lando's Mum Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) I have a very timid puppy and when she went to puppy school the trainer was great about it. She pulled me aside afterward and gave me some pointers on things I can do at home with her but would never make her play with the other puppies in the class. What a silly thing to do sounds like your pup was just being sensible more than anything which is the best thing to encourage. Hope he does better next week. I have been told that my dogs timidity and desire to only be around my partner and I is a bad thing too. Edited January 4, 2012 by Hez's BC's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lugeanjaam Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I sometimes wonder what kind of training some of these vet nurses who runny puppy classes have. I have also had a negative experience at puppy preschool. My girl had no interest in playing with the other puppies as she was a quiet, gentle girl by nature. In the class was a very exhubarent SBT, a gorgeous Ridgie, a Bull Arab x,a Clumber Spaniel and a GSD. My puppy at the time was a teeny tiny Maltese! I had to be quite firm with the trainer and not allow her to push my little one in the mix . Never went back again. Socialising your dog does not mean allowing a free for all tumble. I carefully chose who she could play with and always supervised. She grew to be a very well balanced, social dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 There is shy and then there is a puppy that thinks humans have a higher value At our PUppy preschool we have puppy play time which is well supervised, but any puppies that choose not to partake don't have to. We have times when the more outgoing puppies are placed on leads so the - usually smaller but not always - and quieter puppies can wander around if they desire without being worried about being pounced on. That way they can approach anotehr puppy if they wish and stay the distance away they feel comfortable with. Many people think their puppy shoudl want to play and to be socilaised measn they love having close interaction with other dogs. Personally I prefer neutralisation. My oldest Whippet was a get in there and play puppy and when she was older it actually took me a bit of time to then neutralise her to other dogs and was rather painful. My younger one has been pretty much neutralised from the start and is great to work out and about as he knows the other dogs are there but has no value for them and isn't worried by them. Well one worried him and that was a rather enormous and lovely black Great Dane who polietly went to sniff him and Lewis was like WTF??? He was fine after he got a chance to observe him from a small distance. I would make sure that if your puppy is happily sitting there, that they do not have the chance to shove him in with other puppies as he could get quite worried about it. It would be far better to have the more rambuntious puppies on lead and allow him some time to wander if he wishes. If he doesn't wish too, who cares, he is not fearful or shaking he is happily sitting back not caring less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I always explain to my puppy class people that not all dogs are party animals and there's no rule says they have to be! We give shy or worried puppies time to sit back and have a good look - just work them with their people on things like the focus exercises. There is a little one on one greeting time with other pups - but that as much as anythign is education for owners in things like body language, play styles etc. (Mind you - I have had pups that started out quite shy and worried the first week, only to become the life of the party in later weeks :D ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyosha Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Yes to all above. Plus there is shy and there is reserved. There is a vast world of difference. None of my babies would want to play with boisterous strangers, even though they would be bigger than them! I think your boy could easily be considered quite sensible to stand back and watch when he is smaller! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minxy Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Agreed with other comments. I'd probably see if I could find a puppy school that was held by an actual dog training club, rather than at a vets. The vet nurses won't necessarily have proper training on how to teach the classes or understand canine behaviour/body language. I don't think that the dogs necessarily need to play with each other either. At our club the pups didn't particularly have anything to do with each other, but it was still good socialisation and training for them, learning to respond to commands etc in a stimulating environment, with tons of other distractions around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumof4girls Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I'm a little worried now as I just paid in full my puppy class, I wonder if I should have just paid part of it I case I am not happy with them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzy82 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 My JRT x is "shy" too. We went to several puppy classes, and during the off leash play time he would either be sitting in front of me staring up at me, or sniffing something on the ground. He very rarely joined the other puppies. He wasn't scared either, just not interested. And he's fine with other dogs and people, he's friendly and appropriate when he meets new ones, he's just not that interested in meeting them. I often tell people that he's "shy" and I don't mean anything bad by it, but usually people take it the wrong way and they think he's very anti-social, but that's just something one has to live with when one's dog isn't a social butterfly. I think most people think all dogs should love to meet all people all the time, and that's not really going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Panzer Attack! Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Scooter was the same as your little boy, minimiss, and he is a confident, friendly youngster now. He just wanted to take his time and meet dogs on his own terms. He screamed at people that he got a bad vibe from (?) too, and he's normal now! I was super lucky I managed a grooming salon in his critical period so I could pick and choose the nice dogs to socialise him with. The last time we went to Kepala he pretty much stayed away from the other dogs as they were all so much bigger than him and shadowed me. I think one of the dogs there thought he was a prey item and chased him, which didn't help, but he recovered really quickly and is still awesome with other dogs. You run a risk with whatever you choose to do, so just make an educated decision and go from there. If you think he needs to go to puppy school, take him. If you think he'd be better off meeting some other dogs in an alternative safe environment, do that instead. Oh! And in regards to him being picked up, Scoots was scared of it for ages, I think it's the hands coming at them while being leaned towards (which in doggy body language is more like 'keep away' than 'come here, I'm friendly') so you'll need to condition him (I used food LOL) to be happy about it. PS: he is SOOOO cute, haha, I love when they do the head tilt!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancinbcs Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I'm a little worried now as I just paid in full my puppy class, I wonder if I should have just paid part of it I case I am not happy with them... You have two options. Complain to the practice owner that the idiot nurse put your puppy in danger, so you want a refund OR continue with the classes and do not let them do anything with your puppy that you don't want them too. Personally I think I would be leaving and demanding a refund. Pom babies are physically quite fragile and easily broken, apart from any lasting effects that encounter could have on her confidence. To put one at that sort of risk is simply unacceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumof4girls Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Not me dancinbcs the op is minimiss, I was just worried that I had paid in full, I diidn't even think that I may have an issue.. I'll tackle that bridge if i come to it :-) Edit I had a vague moment lol.. I'm a little worried now as I just paid in full my puppy class, I wonder if I should have just paid part of it I case I am not happy with them... You have two options. Complain to the practice owner that the idiot nurse put your puppy in danger, so you want a refund OR continue with the classes and do not let them do anything with your puppy that you don't want them too. Personally I think I would be leaving and demanding a refund. Pom babies are physically quite fragile and easily broken, apart from any lasting effects that encounter could have on her confidence. To put one at that sort of risk is simply unacceptable. Edited January 4, 2012 by mumof4girls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimiss Posted January 4, 2012 Author Share Posted January 4, 2012 Thanks for your responses everyone. It's reassuring knowing it's not just me being overly sensitive about the situation and knowing that as I thought, Benny is a normal little boy! It always takes 1 person to say something to set you off wondering if you've done something wrong or to make you think that there is something wrong with your puppy. It was a little worrying because I thought that perhaps I didn't notice something seriously wrong as I thought he had a great little personality. He's very polite, well behaved and obviously pretty sensible. I've read a lot of books, and DOL has a wealth of knowledge that I have been taking in, but of course I don't know everything. As a first time puppy owner it is very daunting, and you do worry if you're doing the right thing. I think last night reassured me that Benny and I are doing pretty well in terms of training and general obedience but I lack the confidence that an experienced owner would have from past experiences. My main reason for choosing this particular clinic is because it's a really short walk from home and when I went there for Benny's first check up the Vet was fantastic (and wasn't pushy with trying to sell things etc)... Just this nurse has put a dark cloud over the experience now. I don't have my licence so I try to opt for convenience as I don't like expecting my boyfriend to play taxi although he doesn't mind. Fortunately I opted to pay per session, but I may return next week as that nurse wont be running the session. Hopefully it makes the situation a little nicer, if not, I will not be returning. I will continue using the vet for vaccinations, checkups etc but as others have said, perhaps make use of professional training sessions who know their stuff and take their jobs seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Gawd, I wouldn't be going back there. Sounds just like Mosley when he was in his puppy class. He acted exactly the same way and was quite disturbed by all the manic fluffies looning around him He just sat by my feet. Everyone in our class loved him, he was so well mannered and calm. He is 3 now and LOVES other dogs and people, he is not shy at all. The woman running your class sounds like a total cretin, she obviosuly hasn't got a clue about dog behaviour and I'd be finding another class asap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megan_ Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Where abouts are you? There are some good puppy schools run by proper trainers - not vet nurses, who are trained to be vet nurses, not trainers or behaviourists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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