pipppy Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Well the day finally arrived, all vacs done and waited the apropriate time period and off we went for walk. He was scared witless the whole way of everything. Tale between his legs, hair up on his back. Is this normal for 1st time? At puppy school he was lord of the dogs, no fear at all. I had been practicing heel in the back yard on his leash, he was doing sort of ok with that in the back yard but will give up easily and lose interest and just want the food reward, but out in the big yonder he showed nearly zero interest in any food treat, and i had zero control,i even held a treat right up to his mouth and he wouldnt even eat it, didnt even sniff it just kept looking around, normally he will do ANYHING for treats. So a dog barked, he ran the other direction, i got him to sit, said good boy and then got him to continue on, a car went past and he froze, tail between his legs, again got him to sit with some encouragement and wouldnt take treat so called him to continue on, with much encouragement he continued, antoher dog barked and his hair was up on his back and tail between his legs and shaking, at this stage I just encouraged him as best I could, didnt baby him, gave him a quick pat and kept encourageing him. We only walked for about 10 minues, just around the block. When we met someone i knew along the way he went absolutely crazy jumping all over them and going nuts with excitement, and I had no control at all, then he went back to being petrified once we started out again. Getting him to heal was the last thing on my mind at this stage, and when he was walking he was pulling and sitting and stopping and starting, what a disaster. I thought we had done some good leash work preperation and expected pulling etc but the fear i was not expecting. I tried turning and walking in the other direction everytime he pulled but (becasue he would normally listend to me if i had a treat, but he didnt give a rats) i got tangled up a zillion times and just confused him more. It was quite hillarious to watch and I am sure all the neighbours enjoyed the show LOL. I am afraid that he will be scared all the time now. HELP. What should i do in this situation, continue on tomorrow or try a whole new approach, or carry on as today and it should get better. Maybe others could share if they had similar experiences on their first walks with puppy. I am not sure what to do from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KitKat Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 So...how old is your pup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipppy Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 Oops sorry 3.5 mths Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samoyedman Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Oops sorry 3.5 mths Has he been training on a leash? Has he been socialised before now? Lots of people, car rides, puppy kindergarten etc. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipppy Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 Oops sorry 3.5 mths Has he been training on a leash? Has he been socialised before now? Lots of people, car rides, puppy kindergarten etc. ? Yes puppy presechool Yes car rides Yes lots of people, familly of 5 here and has taken to visitors well after an initially very excited few minutes And yes to backyard leash training (with mixed results using treats to get him to heal and listen), but he doesnt mind having the leash on at all. It seems like everything went out the window. He is a very easily excitable little fellow, his breed is a mixed bag of germshep x cattle dog x who knows. we got him at 9 weeks from RSPCA. I am most concerned about his fear and how to help him overcome this as if we can get past the fear I am fairly confident I can handle the other issues of lead pulling etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pesh Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Don't have to head straight into walking the pup, maybe sit out the frontyard so all the noises can sink in, then move closer to the curb, bit by bit. With our GSD's, we are lucky and have lake at the end of the street with a walkway. I sit down there with treats and blankets that has their smell. I just let the pup sit there and keep reasuring them. It doesn't take long and there wanting to run about and I let them on an extended lead, bit by bit that's all it takes. Same as the training took time, so does introduction to the world. Good luck.......................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen V Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 I agree take your time. Don't push the walk thing too much at this point. I'm working on my shy boy - has done same sorts of things puppy school, drives ,visiting friends etc. He has relaxed a fair bit now - he's about a month older than your baby. I found a good leash free park & sat under a tree with him so all the other the dogs came up to say Hi while I was on the ground with him. He sat on my lap (he's a big boy danex wolfy x bull mastiff x). Walkies are largely a short wander to an outdoor cafe from the car so he can watch people go past, & cars etc. Means he can tie up the chair & not my legs. Have to say that in the last 2 weeks he's come on really well. I'm sure your pup will be fine given time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangerineDream Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 (edited) Take it very slowly, don't over expose your pup......tiny steps Agree with going and sitting in the front yard with him on lead and let him watch the world pass by....if he backs off from anything - encourage him to investigate it by going up to it youself and speaking quietly and confidently - if he shows signs of fear I wouldn't get him to sit and reward him (he may start tio associate being nervous with sitting and being rewarded, which is a connection you don't want him to make) - I wouldn't do any obedience at a time like this at all and I'd leave the treats out too - just concentrate on exploring the big world - and look at it from a puppy perspective, even if you have to get right down next to him and make a game out of it........ I wrote this article a few years ago for the Dobermann breed, but the principles are the same..... Socialisation 101 start with the easy things first, and if you get 1 achieved a day, that is a good thing - as his confidence grows, the number of things you can approach in one day witll increase...start least stressful first... You'll get there - just take it as slowly as you need to...... a snippet from the link...... Socialisation 101 - Socialisation of Puppies and Dogs Well then, let's begin at the beginning. You can't effectively train a dog if he's frightened or wary of his surroundings ... Many people believe that walking their puppy or dog around the neighbourhood, taking him to the vet, and going to obedience occasionally is enough to socialise him. This is a good beginning, but there is a lot more involved in socialisation. Anything he has not "discovered" while he was a puppy may be met with fear or suspicion rather than curiosity as the dog gets older. So the more planned experiences a young dog has, the more relaxed he will be. Edited October 16, 2006 by TangerineDream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipppy Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 ok I will take it back a step or two, sitting in the front yard on leash for a bit might be a better idea, maybe i could do his leash training in the front yard instead of the back yard after he feels a bit more settled. Poor little fella he has looked so sad since his little excursion. Its funny because when we attended puppy school he just showed no fear of anything, even being outside the vets office waiting to go into puppy school with traffic zooming past he was fine....just excited, oh well wish i could read his little mind. Thanks for the comments so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangerineDream Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 (edited) I'd make the lead training a separate exercise to the socialisation - no obedience then, just the freedom to explore...plenty of time to teach obedience when he is confident, because without confidence he won't learn........... any obedience atm I'd do in the backyard where he's confident and relaxed - he'll learn much faster and be happier..... Edited October 16, 2006 by TangerineDream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gottalovealab Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Maybe take you puppy to a place where you know its going to be quiet?? Puppies are naturally going to be nervous the first few times out, they are out of their comfort zone. You need to make sure your first few outings with your puppy are positive ones as these experiences will take them through the rest of their life. Taking your puppy out somewhere where there are no distractions etc and just let him explore the surroundings at his lesuire and reward him when he is happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipppy Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 wow, thankyou all for the suggestions. I feel a bit more confident now. Tangerinedream what you said about not getting him to sit or give him treats makes a lot of sense when put that way, at the time i was just at such a loss what to do and i was trying to show him i was there and in control and all was good, i will avoid doing that again and leave out all the obedience stuff for now. He wouldnt take the treat anyway, which really hammered home how scared he was, so hopefully not too much damage done. We were just so excited about getting him out and about, we will back off a bit. He is such a complicated little thing, wanting to rule the roost one minute, confident and a bit over cocky, and being a littly scaredy cat the next, i really just assumed that he would bound out into the world and say look out here i come, make way everybody. LOL You learn something everyday with a pup around. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 ahh my cavalier pup was like this when we first tried to take her walking. She would just freeze and not move and start crying. We just started walking with her in our hands while walking our other dog, then would put her down every now and again, eventually she was so pre-occupied with keeping pace with our Shihtzu that she forgot to be scared lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilly Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 When we started walking our GSD pup he showed signed of being scared of various things. One biggy was baby prams so I stopped a woman one day and explained that the pup was scared of prams. She stopped the pram and we both actively encorouged the pup to sniff the pram (even the bub with mum's blessing). The mum also gave him a treat and made a big fuss of him. Soon he was looking forward to prams and got over his fear in about 2 days. Another thing I found was sometimes he would get scared of nothing (eg something in a garden or on the ground) - so we would turn around and walk past in again while I would make a games of it .... "all excited" ... what in here with me looking around... he would join in the game and also look. Noises were something he wasn't particularly worried about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve K9Pro Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 K9: Your puppy is proobably going through a "fear period". To understand more see my website page on development... In fear periods, it is my recommendation the puppy doesnt leave the yard, practice crate training or toilet training in which little can go wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipppy Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 Hey everyone just a quick update, 1st off K9 I only saw your post today so it was too late for me to consider your recommendation....but not to worry hopefully no damage done. Well i just basicly sat in the front yard with him on leash for a few days and let him dictate how far he wanted to go, and he is a fair bit improved, cars going past he is interested but no longer shaking and freezing, other dogs barking, well again he is a bit cautious but no shaking and freezing. People in the street, all the neighbours came out to say hello at some stage, now he is sooooo excited to see them, jumps about crazy and happy, so no fear there now. Another dog walking on leash past, well he wanted to go and say hi, crazy with excitement again but i kept him away as the owner said her dog was not too friendly with little tykes. Yesterday we got to the end of the street, and a dog was barking crazy, he coped ok and today when we got there and the dog wasnt barking he went up to the fence with his tail wagging and ears up looking for the dog, it was nowhere to be seen but geez he must have a good memory. So we will continue to take it slow and i suspect my next question will be how do I stop him being so excited and uncontrollable when out walking??????LOL> Ps I am thinking of getting a halti to walk him in as he pulls like crazy , forward, back sideways, and i am worried about hurting his neck/throat. I think I will ask the question in the training section? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p_stampy Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 my puppy who is 5.5 months old now, was terrified at first, but she grew more and more confident, especially after doggy school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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