Hi everyone, I got my lab puppy from an excellent breeder in September. He was definitely not the dominating guy in the littler of 9 but wasn't fearful. We have taken him to puppy social every week and done traning. In social he is confident and unphased by anything! He seemed like a confident happy lab until he hit 5 months and started acting nervous around strangers, noises he can't see (dogs barking at night in neighborhood), and dogs on walks. He doesn't like going out in the backyard anymore at night and started barking. I bought a puppy book and they said 5-7months they go through a "suspicious" phase, is this true? Nothing traumatic had happened and he never was shy around people. Help!!!
Yep, it seems as they start to enter adolescence and they lose their complete dependence on you, they become naturally more wary of things - unsurprisingly, as they're starting to make their own decisions about what constitutes a threat. Just keep socialising, like you do with a young puppy. Be matter of fact about things and let him learn. Praise and treat for calm behaviour.
Not in my experience, although I'm sure it depends on the dog. Both of mine are anxious dogs. My boy was completely unsocialised before 14 weeks when I got him and was scared of his shadow, do he didn't seem much different at this age; if anything, I'd worked hard onhis fears do he was a big better, but my girl went from being a rock solid puppy to one who barked at strange things. I did lots of Look At That! training which helped massively, but it took a long time. She's still a stress bunny, and still scared of unknown things. But I think at least part of this is their genetics and another part is the fact we live somewhere where we don't see a lot of people or dogs day in, day out. Most Labs are fine, with some hand-holding through this period.
Yes, they go through a suspicious phase. Let him stop, listen, move away or whatever makes him more comfortable. Show confidence yourself and don't try to coax him. Once he relaxes (this often happens with a shake) give him a treat for relaxing. Mollie is five months and with her it's sounds in the air - like planes or sirens. She stops and listens a lot. My supervisor says to let her stop and then cheerfully move on when she's ready. She's processing new sounds and will start to ignore them once this phase is over. The more practice they get the better, daily if possible.
Or you will hear and see it called a "fear period." My boy, at that same age, all of a sudden was suspicious of the garbage out for pickup one day a week. I did, literally, a song and dance routine on the street. I sang this song It worked. I think he was distracted, and, would Mum be having fun like that if there really was something to be afraid of? Nope. I think the original is from The KIng and I?
