Is this normal? I live alone and in a quiet rural situation (lucky me) so I tried very hard a month ago to get Hettie out and about to get her used to a busy town, railway station, bus rides etc etc. At that time, she was brave and took it all in her stride, enjoyed saying hi and walking mostly nicely beside me. But now, she has suddenly become nervous and doesn't respond to my tasty treats and immediately lunges forward each time I return her to my heel. I imagine I should reduce the stimulation but persevere, then gradually increase it once again. Is this right? She even now seems nervous of the dark when I take her out for a pee? Hopefully this is just a phase that she'll come through.
No, I'm afraid it's not the way to do it. Please read my post in the following thread that I just made a moment ago. What you are doing is maintaining the distraction level and expecting the dog to cope. Bear the pain and it will get better is not a method of training a dog that one would select as a first one to go for. You need to instead move away from the distraction. Increase the distance. Let the dog's level of anxiety fall, https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/struggling-with-pulling.26345/
No, I meant reducing the distraction to a level that she can cope with once again and then gradually increase it. What I am puzzled about is the fact that she used to be able to cope, but now suddenly can't. Perhaps I'm just expecting too much from her?
Sorry, I misinterpreted you. Four weeks ago she was still inside the socialisation window. Now you are no longer in that period. You have to now desensitise and counter condition. It is much more work as you are discovering. And you have to take things slowly and gradually.
I dont think that the socialisation window is ends at 14 weeks. I think it just think it gets harder to do so as time passes. We were able to get our pup used too our new lawn mower after she was that age.
It's not a matter of my opinion. I'm quoting canine scientists. And to be clear I did not say it ended at 14 weeks. It ends around the 16th week One can, of course, get dogs used to new things later on. It's just not called socialisation anymore. It is either desensitisation and/or counter conditioning. As you point out it can now be a long-drawn out process. As I wrote in another thread desensitisation involves changing extant preferences of the dog. Socialisation involves forming new preferences. Hettie's Mum wanted to know why her dog's attitude to new things had changed. The most likely candidate is that the dog has moved beyond the socialisation window.
