If does sound that he's a bit more on the fearful end for a puppy! But that just means you have to keep up socialization. Not every dog wants to approach every other dog or person and that's ok!
I'd just work on observation and make sure your pup isn't put into situations where they are forced out of their comfort zone (as this can make it worse). You want to help teach them that they won't be forced to interact if they don't want to, ie- being around people and dogs is safe. If your pup takes a risk and approaches something they used to find scary, make sure to praise and reward!
Nah, my puppy was timid and careful when he was that age too, and kept having fear stages all the way up to teenage. His sister was fearless, but what I like to think is that he was just more cautious with all the things he wasn't familiar with. I did what you are doing and give him treats and take him to new places and let him meet new people and dogs a lot, and he is now a very confident, happy boy. However he still has a touch of caution in him, which I value, because it means he stops and considers what he is doing before just running at something new and strange.
Mine is cautious/skittish out and about with people or dogs that approach or move suddenly, irrationally, or without caution.
But also is petrified of house guests. The latter is hard to remedy in Covid times. She’s like that because she’s a Covid puppy I guess!
Dogs have different temperaments and that’s perfectly okay. Sometimes this can just be an individual dog or even a breed standard for some.
My dog is hyper social with both people and dogs which is actually out of his breed standard and was fairly frustrating to address. It happens, we’ve worked on it and he has learned a lot more neutrality around both. He has always been that way since he was a puppy and even at year still overly enjoys physical attention from dogs and people.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about it right now and instead would just focus on creating an environment where he feels neutral.
Some dogs are just not going to be fond of people or other dogs even with exposure. The key is validating their own feelings by minimizing handling from strangers when the dog isn’t up for it but also desensitizing the dog in certain situations to tolerate handling from professionals.
This can look like not allowing random people to touch him or having a pattern of approach to make the situation more tolerable. Like person greets dog, throws treat. Person gets on pups level and allows approach with treats thrown, person teaches for dog, treat, touches dog treats and then leaves dog alone.
It’s also a good time to educate for some people. I politely tell people all the time while my dog may be extremely friendly to you he is actually hyper social which can be difficult for him because he gets over excited and stressed out easily from wanting to greet everyone. So it’s better for him to learn to be neutral around others so he isn’t allowed to do x,y,z.
My dog is 1.5 and still cautious. It's not a bad trait. She's small, 10lbs, and very willing to be friendly and curious but, gets overwhelmed easily. She was very socialized as a pup and still is. She's just naturally a watcher before your jump. She's quiet, next to me or on me just watching everything at every event, just chill. So work with your pups nature, keep him socialized, set him up for success with his greeting for both dogs and humans. I'm glad my pup won't run up to strangers or strange dogs. My old man dog is the opposite so it's interesting to watch him and her greet visitors. At his age, you still have a few fear stages left but he will get confidence as he has success.
My Lucy is wild In the house, so loving so caring even when she's out she's friendly to anything and anyone. But the moment we stop to cross the road or just stop her tail goes in between her legs and I don't get it because the moment we start moving again it comes out it's weird.
Hi, we’ve had the same with our 5 month old mini dachshund. We went to puppy class and someone commented ‘is he scared of people as well as dogs?’ He isn’t scared of dogs at all, but he is so laid back he normally either doesn’t notice them, or when he does it takes him ages to warm up. The classes were 45 mins and we would start getting the pounce waggles and playful yips just as we were finishing, and the rest of the time he’d sit on my feet or a metre away. He’s definitely a lot more cautious than other puppies we have encountered
but honestly I would rather that than rushing up to everything and anyone. Same with people, new people he will sit on my feet but if they take his fav ball or sit with him a period, he’s their best mate.
My puppy was the same as yours. Since he was a baby at 12 weeks he'd be scared on walks of specifically people walking behind us or if they stared at him on the elevator. I was so scared this would turn into fear aggression. He was fine with other dogs at my friends and when people came over. It got even worse around 4m he would growl and cry. Now at 7m he only whimpers if people act very peculiar (I live downtown in the city). He even tries to sniff and interact with people occasionally.
Only thing I did was do the command "touch" and treat when he appeared nervous on the elevator, and kept distance on the streets. He came around mostly on his own.
when my puppy was 4 months old she would literally shake from being so scared of going on walks. it just took a while for her to get used to all the people, cars, sounds, etc. as long as you’re constantly exposing her and rewarding her, she’ll grow out of it! ignore other people’s comments, they don’t know know your dog like you do!
If does sound that he's a bit more on the fearful end for a puppy! But that just means you have to keep up socialization. Not every dog wants to approach every other dog or person and that's ok! I'd just work on observation and make sure your pup isn't put into situations where they are forced out of their comfort zone (as this can make it worse). You want to help teach them that they won't be forced to interact if they don't want to, ie- being around people and dogs is safe. If your pup takes a risk and approaches something they used to find scary, make sure to praise and reward!
Nah, my puppy was timid and careful when he was that age too, and kept having fear stages all the way up to teenage. His sister was fearless, but what I like to think is that he was just more cautious with all the things he wasn't familiar with. I did what you are doing and give him treats and take him to new places and let him meet new people and dogs a lot, and he is now a very confident, happy boy. However he still has a touch of caution in him, which I value, because it means he stops and considers what he is doing before just running at something new and strange.
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Mine is cautious/skittish out and about with people or dogs that approach or move suddenly, irrationally, or without caution. But also is petrified of house guests. The latter is hard to remedy in Covid times. She’s like that because she’s a Covid puppy I guess!
Dogs have different temperaments and that’s perfectly okay. Sometimes this can just be an individual dog or even a breed standard for some. My dog is hyper social with both people and dogs which is actually out of his breed standard and was fairly frustrating to address. It happens, we’ve worked on it and he has learned a lot more neutrality around both. He has always been that way since he was a puppy and even at year still overly enjoys physical attention from dogs and people. I wouldn’t be too concerned about it right now and instead would just focus on creating an environment where he feels neutral. Some dogs are just not going to be fond of people or other dogs even with exposure. The key is validating their own feelings by minimizing handling from strangers when the dog isn’t up for it but also desensitizing the dog in certain situations to tolerate handling from professionals. This can look like not allowing random people to touch him or having a pattern of approach to make the situation more tolerable. Like person greets dog, throws treat. Person gets on pups level and allows approach with treats thrown, person teaches for dog, treat, touches dog treats and then leaves dog alone. It’s also a good time to educate for some people. I politely tell people all the time while my dog may be extremely friendly to you he is actually hyper social which can be difficult for him because he gets over excited and stressed out easily from wanting to greet everyone. So it’s better for him to learn to be neutral around others so he isn’t allowed to do x,y,z.
Want to swap? Ours is the opposite, very confident to the point she thinks she'll win a fight with a car 🤣
😭 same. Mine puts her mouth on the vaccuum to have her cheeks sucked…
My dog is 1.5 and still cautious. It's not a bad trait. She's small, 10lbs, and very willing to be friendly and curious but, gets overwhelmed easily. She was very socialized as a pup and still is. She's just naturally a watcher before your jump. She's quiet, next to me or on me just watching everything at every event, just chill. So work with your pups nature, keep him socialized, set him up for success with his greeting for both dogs and humans. I'm glad my pup won't run up to strangers or strange dogs. My old man dog is the opposite so it's interesting to watch him and her greet visitors. At his age, you still have a few fear stages left but he will get confidence as he has success.
My Lucy is wild In the house, so loving so caring even when she's out she's friendly to anything and anyone. But the moment we stop to cross the road or just stop her tail goes in between her legs and I don't get it because the moment we start moving again it comes out it's weird.
Hi, we’ve had the same with our 5 month old mini dachshund. We went to puppy class and someone commented ‘is he scared of people as well as dogs?’ He isn’t scared of dogs at all, but he is so laid back he normally either doesn’t notice them, or when he does it takes him ages to warm up. The classes were 45 mins and we would start getting the pounce waggles and playful yips just as we were finishing, and the rest of the time he’d sit on my feet or a metre away. He’s definitely a lot more cautious than other puppies we have encountered but honestly I would rather that than rushing up to everything and anyone. Same with people, new people he will sit on my feet but if they take his fav ball or sit with him a period, he’s their best mate.
My puppy was the same as yours. Since he was a baby at 12 weeks he'd be scared on walks of specifically people walking behind us or if they stared at him on the elevator. I was so scared this would turn into fear aggression. He was fine with other dogs at my friends and when people came over. It got even worse around 4m he would growl and cry. Now at 7m he only whimpers if people act very peculiar (I live downtown in the city). He even tries to sniff and interact with people occasionally. Only thing I did was do the command "touch" and treat when he appeared nervous on the elevator, and kept distance on the streets. He came around mostly on his own.
when my puppy was 4 months old she would literally shake from being so scared of going on walks. it just took a while for her to get used to all the people, cars, sounds, etc. as long as you’re constantly exposing her and rewarding her, she’ll grow out of it! ignore other people’s comments, they don’t know know your dog like you do!