Hi, I wonder if anyone has any advice please? Everything has been going well with our new puppy, she is 11 weeks and we have been steadily socializing her with short trips (carried) into town and meeting lots of different types of people. However I made a mistake in taking her to visit a friend with a 'friendly' vaccinated older dog. My friend picked up my puppy and then put her down on the ground..her older dog lunged at the puppy, barking aggressively and pinned her to the floor...cue my pup yelping and crying, absolutely terrified. I feel so disappointed and that I have let her down by allowing such a negative experience at such a young age. She has been noticeably more cautious since....What is the best way forward for us now as I fear that she will now be very fearful around other dogs? Thanks.
Aw big hugs Laura, she is your baby and as you know if they are upset you are upset I would try not to beat yourself up over it it could have went the other way and they could have played well together. The older dog may have just been putting this new youngster in her place, i don't know. What i would say is try not to let it put you off meeting new dogs with her. What about meet and greets a lot of Vets do them where pups can go alone and meet other pups, let her get her confidence up. Hopefully some of the more experienced members will come on and give you some good advice, Did i say we like photos P.S. Welcome to the forum
Hello, and a very warm welcome to the forum. Try not to worry too much - what is done, is done. It's impossible to say, really, what the impact on your pup might be - it depends on how resilient she is. Luckily, most Labrador puppies are resilient. Just carry on as normal, letting her meet appropriate adult dogs (try to assess how appropriate they might be - ie have they a history of being good with puppies etc) as this is important and see how you do. Hopefully, she'll just shrug it off and be completely fine. As an aside - and I don't say this to be judgmental, I learned the hard way too - never give over the responsibility of making sure things are safe for your pup to anyone else. No-one takes my dog's lead unless I have good reason to trust them completely (and that extends to trainers). And no-one tells me something will be ok for my dog and I go with that unless I'm 100% satisfied myself.
Welcome to the forum Laura. I agree with Julie, just carry on like normal and let her meet appropriate adult dogs. Do you take her to puppy class? This will help her experience other dogs in a good controlled way. I am sure she will be OK, try not to worry.
How upsetting. I'm sorry you and your pup had this bad experience. But don't worry, this one bad day will be outweighed by all the good ones. She will be fine. It was a good idea to try to meet an older dog, and it is not your fault that the owner turned out to have had bad judgement, or to not have known their dog very well after all. That is problem behaviour from the older dog, and is in no way your fault or your pup's fault. I hope you got an apology. Carry on trying to find positive interactions for your pup, with dogs of different ages. Most dogs are very tolerant of puppies.
Thanks for the reassurances, we have puppy classes starting next week so hopefully we will be getting lots of positive experiences instead!
Hi Laura and welcome to the forum! I am sure your pup will be fine...and all will be forgotten when she starts puppy classes! Although it is important to socialise our pups, with the next one I am going to to be a bit more careful in this aspect of training and not so gungho.. There was so much emphasis on socialising I think I went a little overboard, and now regret this somewhat. IMO young labadors are in the main more than happy to meet everyone and their dog, and this can lead to problems down the line as they start to mature They think that EVERYONE and EVERYTHING is fair game! . It has taken a lot of training hours to try and change this behaviour in our young chocolate!
Hi Laura, just wanted to say hello and welcome to you. I don't have a lot of experience as Lilly is my first dog, but I think labs are pretty resilient in general. Hope all goes well at puppy class jac
Tatze had this happen when she was 12 weeks old. It didn't affect her at all, I think they get used to being put in their place by their Mums. Hopefully your pup will be just fine. Also, it's actually good for them to be a little cautious round dogs they don't know. Twiglet has been far too bouncy and playful without checking out the dog's body language - probably because she's used to an older dog who puts up with anything! But last week she was growled at and nipped by a little grumpy old man. It did her good - she now checks out the dog before approaching. Just this morning she gave another grumpy old man a very wide birth, a lesson well learned!
Hi and welcome . Puppy classes will be a really good place to meet other puppies and hopefully will help put this incident out of her mind
Hello and welcome. No bout her mum gave her a few "tellings off" before she came to you, but you ever saw them to worry about. It would have been no big deal for your pup, so don't worry about it.
Hi and welcome - Poppy got bitten on the nose as a pup by a neighborhood dog - years later and they are great friends!
When Juno and I first started joining our trainer's weekly walk (at around 14 weeks) she was told off by the entire males, not that she had done anything, which stopped after the first few walks. Juno absolutely adored the big boys and loved running after them. She was never bothered about the telling off which was noise more than anything else but she did learn good doggie manners and is always very polite when meeting a new dog.
I think you will find your pup will not be affected by this at all, except for more respect to her seniors, it is normal dog behaviour. When I brought my puppy home and my present dog went 'boo' to him, he screamed and urinated but is best buddies with him now and it hasn't adversely affected him.
