Hello, First time lab owner here! We picked up our gorgeous pup, Cooper, last week and he’s settled in so well. He’s 9 weeks old and is pretty chilled out taking to his new home, our three children, crate etc all far better than I expected (hope for the best, prepare for the worst and all that!) As advised my husband has been carrying him around near our home to introduce new things such as the road, traffic, horses, traffic light crossing etc but today one of our neighbour’s dogs barked very loudly at him and our poor boy was really scared and shaken. My husband tried to reassure him but brought him home straight away and Cooper went and hid under the sofa and refused to come out. Part of me is really worried that Cooper is traumatised and this event will knock his confidence for meeting dogs when his vaccines are done and will undo all the progress he has made in other areas. He has been my husband’s shadow since the first day but has been looking to me since they came back - I’m assuming because I wasn’t there when this happened? Part of me is trying to remain calm and say that this is part of the exposure process, he will come across other dogs that will bark at him so trying not to overthink it. I managed to get him out by hiding some treats in a toy he’d not seen before and it seemed like it got his brain working and onto other things but afterwards he’s gone back to hiding and sleeping under the sofa - to be fair he has loved being under this sofa since day one...cool in the heat for one thing! Any advice or reassurance would be helpful. Am I overthinking this? Should we take him back out this evening when it’s quieter to a place he’s seen before to leave him with a positive experience before bed?! Our neighbour was incredibly apologetic and is mortified her dog behaved like that towards our pup. I’ve read plenty about the importance of introducing news things in this 2 week period before fear sets in but not much about what to do when the experience goes a bit pear shaped?! Thanks in advance for your help Lina
How close was the other dog when he barked? The noise of the bark and the presence of the other dog are two separate things. Many puppies are scared of the sound of dogs barking, especially if their own homes were quiet with the breeder. They can be scared even when the other dog is a long way off and they can't even see it... this is potentially a kind of sound sensitivity issue. Or are we talking about another dog being reactive towards a puppy, in close proximity? The two things are quite different...
