Shelties and socialization

Judyg951 said:
I was just annoyed with the woman who made the comment.
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I get the same thing with my wife and daughter, who have laughingly referred to Dickens for the past year as a "wimp," because he's reserved and easy-going. Of course once he finally had had enough of Callie's bullying and put her in her place, he became a "brute." We guys can never win!
 
How you handle your puppy at an early age determines to a great extent how shy it will be. The most important window for socialization occurs between 8 weeks and 16 weeks old. Assuming you have your pup before that age, make an effort to expose her to as many people and places as you can. You'd be surprised at how different a confident puppy in your house will be outside of its environment!

My puppy is 12 weeks old now, and for the next four weeks I am taking every opportunity to take her shopping, to visit friends, and other places she's never been that are safe for her but different.

Our puppies move out of the puppy pen for overnights around 7 weeks old to crates where they sleep two to a crate for one week, before going into individual crates at 8 weeks. This way, when they go home to their new owners at 9 weeks they're crate trained. Find out how your breeder has handled the puppies when you pick yours up. Good luck!
 
I think this is true. But I also think there is a bit of nature involved in it also. Clara and Tara are littermates. DH took them EVERYWHERE he could. They were regulars at the bank, the pet store, in our cars, at the mechanic's. We didn't want them to be shy and scared of new situations. Yet, Tara will go up to anyone, and Clara wants to know it is okay before she does. When people aren't involved though- you know, just going to a new place, Clara is all out go for it! And Tara usually has to be coaxed.
 
Ann said:
How you handle your puppy at an early age determines to a great extent how shy it will be. The most important window for socialization occurs between 8 weeks and 16 weeks old. Assuming you have your pup before that age, make an effort to expose her to as many people and places as you can. You'd be surprised at how different a confident puppy in your house will be outside of its environment!
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That's one of the very few drawbacks to adopting adult dogs, we never get them during that crucial time. Some behaviors seem set in stone with rescue dogs, and we've wondered many times what a previous owner was thinking when they 'trained' their dog for us. Oh well, I think I'll always get 'used' Shelties, rescue is so rewarding to me. Also I can't sleep at night when I have a place in my home for a Sheltie & have seen one online that needs to come home :biggrin2:. I'm currently banned by DH from viewing adoptable Shelties online!
 
Ann said:
How you handle your puppy at an early age determines to a great extent how shy it will be. The most important window for socialization occurs between 8 weeks and 16 weeks old. Assuming you have your pup before that age, make an effort to expose her to as many people and places as you can. You'd be surprised at how different a confident puppy in your house will be outside of its environment!

My puppy is 12 weeks old now, and for the next four weeks I am taking every opportunity to take her shopping, to visit friends, and other places she's never been that are safe for her but different.

Our puppies move out of the puppy pen for overnights around 7 weeks old to crates where they sleep two to a crate for one week, before going into individual crates at 8 weeks. This way, when they go home to their new owners at 9 weeks they're crate trained. Find out how your breeder has handled the puppies when you pick yours up. Good luck!
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What she said!!!!!!!
 
Lexi was a very shy/fearful puppy, outside of our home. I took her out and exposed her to everything. I carried lots of cookies and rewarded her when she let a car go by without going bonkers, let a stranger pet her, walked by a dog without running between my legs, etc. She is extremely outgoing now. You've met her.
 
Just a note. There is another fearful stage between 8 and 10 months so just keep taking that baby out and doing controlled exposure to all things.
 
I'm still waiting for a puppy aa dmeyer123 well knows. I'm taking in all your advice so thank you everyone. Lexi is a sweetie and very friendly, so is Pyper and our new puppy may have the same Dam as Pyper too depending on the litter she comes from.

The puppies are due at the end of the month now (I'm waiting for a different litter now as their was only one pup from the first one and the breeder kept her).

My life is going to have some major changes next month too. My daughter and family will be moving in for a while as they save for a down payment on a house. This means we will have 2 babies living here as they have a 18 month old daughter. Life is always interesting.
 
Cookie was a friendly puppy, but he was a bit reserved. He was by no means a big yellow floppy dog that just went nuts every time he saw a person. But, as soon as he had all his shots, I took him everywhere with me. In the car, through drive thrus, to Petsmart, to Lowe's, to Petco, to Home Depot, to crowded parks, to puppy socials, shopping in stores downtown, to restaurants that allow dogs outside, to dog friendly bookstores, I mean I super exposed him. Of course these places were on different days, I gave him plenty of rest and time to relax.

With most women, he would ease right on up to them for petting. Sometimes with men he would hide behind me at first. But he always adored children. I gave strangers that were interested in him some of my treats and let them feed them to him, allowed them to pet him on his sides, stuff like that--he quickly became a people lover, and last weekend he got his therapy dog certification. He's only 1 year and two months old.

Some people think of dogs that don't go wild and shake their whole bodies and all that stuff with their tongues lolling out as scared. But I tend to think of Cookie as calm. And that has really served him well. He loves people, but he just has a lot of self control and is a calm and peaceful little guy, he isn't aggressive with his desires to see people or get pets, doesn't drag me around on the leash, if he wants to see someone he is patient and if they want to see him then he gets his petting and if not, I don't have to pull him away. Shelties can definitely be more shy than other dogs but they can also be big time people lovers as long as they're socialized.
 
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