2nd Fear Phase?

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Mom2Melli

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When Shay was a pup, we had three bad experiences in the space of a month when he was about 13 months old (scared by a commuter train that passed us, grabbed by a person by the collar, and attacked by a dog).

Cubby is now showing signs of hitting a fear period. I first saw this when he refused to jump on graduation night but had jumped fine on two previous occasions. I finally got him lured and he did the jumping. Yesterday I took him with me to get my oil changed. My intention was to walk around the dealer lot around the cars in prep. for nosework. He freaked. He would walk if there was a space between cars but not if they were close together. He will be a year in May which makes him 9 months and change. We took it carefully and walked around the front end of the cars where there was grass and between some with a large space.

We went and sat in dealer and he was all panicked for awhile. It occurred to me the tile waiting room and counter to pay looked just like last week's vet visit. He also saw mylar balloons for the first time and found them scary. After awhile he settled down and was interested in things, but in looking at these several incidents I think we are in a fear phase.

He used to be relatively fearless in new places and situations but just not wanting to be petted by strangers (which is fine by me). Should I haul his butt lots of places or let him hide til he is through this? I can engineer a lot, but not everything (like what happened to Shay). He seems fine shopping (Pet store and Home Depot but I don't want to make things worse. Ideas?
 
Sparrow has just been going through her second fear period at 9/10 months old. She is not the bravest of dogs anyway, but she seemed to have really reverted to being scared of people and dogs. Basically I went back to how I did her socialisation, letting her take things at her own pace, letting her know I was always there to back her up or protect her, and rewarding positive behaviour. I never pushed her through a situation, but let her have space to overcome it. So for instance, she was worried by a big dog so I put myself between her and the dog and prevented the dog getting to her. On another occasion she was worried about our new trainer, so I just went and stood by said trainer and talked to her, letting Sparrow lean on my leg, but not making a fuss. After a while she took her cue from me and approached the trainer for a cuddle.

Fortunately this period does past swiftly, just don't let Cubby get pushed beyond his limits:wink2:
 
I know Cubby is a much more confident dog than my Shay. Shay was a feral rescue and had no early positivity. Cubby is clever and will figure out the world much better I think, but yes, I am going to be very careful with him these next couple months to get him back on track. No pushing but rather calm protection and demonstrating all is well. Going to keep reminding him I won't let anything bad happen to him. This time I know what is happening (versus when Shay went through this and I think I let him down) and will be ready to help him through. Time to remind him he is Prince of the Universe! Did/Is anyone elses' pup go/going through one of these 2nd fear phases?
 
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My understanding of the second fear period is to no overwhelm them with what they are fearful of, but to let them just 'watch' it out.

Reflective floors like tiles and vinyl can actually spook many dogs, not just puppies. Deska is actually fearful of reflective floors - but this developed as his arthritis got worse, I think he is scared of slipping. I don't think it's worth pushing Cubby just yet until he's gotten through his fear stage. Then try little steps - one step in the door of a shiny floor place with a treat and then back out again.

When Tully went through her second fear period she developed a fear of drains. I think it was when her ball went down the drain and I couldn't get it back for her. I tried sitting next to drains and treating, over and over again, but to this day she is still scared of drains. Years later when discussing this with other trainers quite a few said I probably shouldn't have tried to get her through a fear during that fear period but rather just ignored the drains and go back to training out the fear in a few weeks.
 
Thanks for the info. We do have tile, wood, carpet, and shiny white pergo flooring as well as bare concrete he encounters at home. He has been fine out and about at many locations but I think the waiting room setting and the counter were a bit concerning. Within 15 minutes he was emerging from under my chair and not so freaked. The car bit was just so odd. He found an odor right in the wheelwell of my Mom's car in the garage. However, in a parking lot, no. However, he did OK walking in front of a row of cars and walking between them if widely apart. That was good enough for the day. I am sure we won't be on cars for quite some time so I will just let it be until then. Let's just hope this goes quickly. I would say we are a month into spooky-land though. On the up side, when the fighter jets take off next to our dog school, he is reacting less than he did before so I think repeated exposure allows him to work through some things with time.
 
Flyer is balking at sewer openings and raised drain ditches at the park. I remain neutral and try not to laugh out loud as he stretches his body as long as his neck will let him as he sniffs to investigate that mysterious structure!
 
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