Caro
Moderator
Remy is only 5mths old isn't he?
He hasn't hit adolescence yet - more like 'tween', maybe a 10 year old. However he is at the age for the second fear stage, which happens around 5-6 months. Kismet hit a fear period about 5.5mths. She went from acting like super- dog and leaping off everything to being scared of the arm of the couch. Suddenly she's scared of men, birds, the dark and the dog next door. At 6mths +1wk she came out of it, and is back sitting on the arm of the couch and running up to all the men (I've been getting renovations done). I just had to wait it out and not force her into anything. They will hit more fear periods up until 18mths (usually the next one is about 9mths), although the age they experience them, and how they react, will change. My old girl developed a fear of drains in her adolescent fear period and she still won't walk on them 13yrs later.
In dealing with a fear period you need to be gentle and careful. If you train and he he is reaching his threshhold then don't push it. Step back and leave it to another time. Don't feed him treats when he is reactive - it does nothing to help and you could end up rewarding that heightened stress state. It's also worth remembering that dogs don't understand the concept of 'no' until they are at least 6mths. A negative noise generally just gets their attention, but they don't understand that it means stop the behaviour.
With the car, young dogs, just like human children, can get quite bad car sickness. And like human children it is something that many will grow out of when they finish growing. So that could be why he is reacting.
Remember he is still a baby, even if sometimes he thinks he can be a big boy (you know tween agers). Keep going with the exposure to new things, but while he goes through a fear stage, just a little at a time and always make it positive.
I love these stages. It's fascinating to watch their personality change and grow so quickly. With human children all these stages take years, with dogs it's just a matter of weeks. Mind you, ask me how I feel about adolescents in a few more weeks, Kismet is just starting.
He hasn't hit adolescence yet - more like 'tween', maybe a 10 year old. However he is at the age for the second fear stage, which happens around 5-6 months. Kismet hit a fear period about 5.5mths. She went from acting like super- dog and leaping off everything to being scared of the arm of the couch. Suddenly she's scared of men, birds, the dark and the dog next door. At 6mths +1wk she came out of it, and is back sitting on the arm of the couch and running up to all the men (I've been getting renovations done). I just had to wait it out and not force her into anything. They will hit more fear periods up until 18mths (usually the next one is about 9mths), although the age they experience them, and how they react, will change. My old girl developed a fear of drains in her adolescent fear period and she still won't walk on them 13yrs later.
In dealing with a fear period you need to be gentle and careful. If you train and he he is reaching his threshhold then don't push it. Step back and leave it to another time. Don't feed him treats when he is reactive - it does nothing to help and you could end up rewarding that heightened stress state. It's also worth remembering that dogs don't understand the concept of 'no' until they are at least 6mths. A negative noise generally just gets their attention, but they don't understand that it means stop the behaviour.
With the car, young dogs, just like human children, can get quite bad car sickness. And like human children it is something that many will grow out of when they finish growing. So that could be why he is reacting.
Remember he is still a baby, even if sometimes he thinks he can be a big boy (you know tween agers). Keep going with the exposure to new things, but while he goes through a fear stage, just a little at a time and always make it positive.
I love these stages. It's fascinating to watch their personality change and grow so quickly. With human children all these stages take years, with dogs it's just a matter of weeks. Mind you, ask me how I feel about adolescents in a few more weeks, Kismet is just starting.
