i have a 6 month old female Labrador who I have had since 10 weeks old . I have socialised her since I had her taken her in traffic ,towns different situations . She goes to gun dog training classes. From being a laid back puppy she has just recently become fearful of traffic , any noise she hears in the garden. Has anyone experienced this and what can I do to help her overcome this
Hi Frankie, A very warm welcome to the Forum.The behaviour you describe is very common at this age.I remember reading ( although I can't remember exactly where ) that in the wild this is the age that a young dog would be starting to join in hunting with their pack and becoming more wary of their surroundings would have been beneficial to survival.In our domesticated dogs it can manifest itself in the way you've described ,they can become nervous of something they were previously ok with ...The answer is to just keep up your socialisation work .Start very gradually again,in quiet areas and with plenty of distance and lots of tasty food treats.This way you can reward her positively for remaining calm around traffic. When did she start and how is she getting on at her gun dog classes? Are you attending reward based training class? Best Wishes Angela
Hi and welcome. As Angela says, pups go through several fear stages in their first year and this is one of them. Keep positive and reward lots when she looks at you rather than paying attention to traffic. I sed to sit at the end of my cul-de-sac and stayed about 30ft away from the main road and rewarded her for not reacting. We slowly got closer to the road over a period of a week and she was fine with that.
Be matter of fact about it and let her observe from a distance, don't make her approach anything she's afraid of, but do gradually expose her to it. Treat her when she relaxes.
Hi thank you for your reply. I started gun dog training when she was 5 months though she was very obedient at first in fact very quiet she is now intereacting with the two other puppies and though is still focused on treat rewards she is not paying as much attention to me but would like to go off and play with the others her retrieving is not as good as the other puppies and most of the time she shows no interest in finding the dummy
