Dog Fear Period 2 Years

[Jerica Shilt]

Bycomparison, the adolescent fear periods in dogs are much less predictable. There may be only one, somewhere between six and eighteen months, or there may be many, coming and going with a frustrating unpredictability until the dog is about two years old, when most dogs reach physical, emotional, and social maturity. While smaller breeds tend to experience adolescent fear periods earlier than larger breeds, this is not a hard and fast rule. While adolescent fear periods tend to last two to three weeks like a puppy fear period, in some dogs they may linger for several months at a time.

Is medication something you would consider for Will to help him through this phase? Have you consulted your chinese medicine guy to see if there are some calming herbs etc to help? Our homeopath recommended aconitum for fearful phases when our old girl when through a strange noise phase so perhaps that could help?

With Sophy, now 21 months, it is already a distant memory. She has excellent discrimination between friendly/not friendly people and dogs, and very good social skills, with the cheerful confidence these bring. She will still bark at anything really unusual, but quickly stops once I have checked it out and told her it is safe. The only thing that makes her really anxious now is being left alone in the car, even for just a few minutes.

I do thank you for your wonderful stories of your dogs as they do help those of us also strugging realize that we are not alone. I hope things to work out for Will, Hope and you and that everyone is happy in the end even if that means Hope finds a new family to love and cherish him.

With Hope, it sounds like he has indeed entered the all to familiar juvenile fear period. The challenge is in getting him through it successfully, without allowing him to continue to have a negative impact on Will during the mean time. If Hope can make it out the other side, maturing to become a calm and confident dog, he may actually end up being a positive influence on Will. But only if the two dogs can also resolve their other issues and eventually settle into a mutually comfortable , tension-free social relationship.

Not sure you remember this, but Sassy went through something similar and we went through EXTENSIVE training for her to overcome it. I took her EVERY where I went. I had strangers give her treats, dogs approach her and eventually, she did come out of it.

I have owned a truly fearful and reactive BC previously, and his behavior was markedly more extreme and persistant than this. This just strikes me like some goofy phase, though I will be happy when it passes!

It sure is hard to reconcile the texts with the pictures. As you said, it is good that you have written some cautionary posts because otherwise, the tension and issues between Will and Hope would not have been apparent.

My girl also feeds off the mind set of the other dogs around her. She seems at ease to defer to my calm and in control male. If he is fine, she knows things are fine. If he is alarmed then she gets very concerned.

Maybe I am reading too much into the picture you posted, but is Willie defering to Hope like my girl defers to my male? The way Willie is leaning into Hope reminds me of the way she leans into my male and my husband and I, the ones she trusts to make the decisions for her.

She was my second attempt to find him a companion. She came aged 2, when Barney was 3 and from the first meeting they were both supremely polite and circumspect with one another. On the first walk and meeting before we brought her home they interacted only a little, although she seemed impressed with his combined paddling and head-butting reeds skills and watched politely. The first day home they spent the evening doing what I can only describe as dancing, there was some wrestling and neck chewing too but a lot of time was spent with one lying down while the other gyrated around, and then Barney (a resource guarder) dug into the fire basket and offered her some pine cones to chew. She clearly found them dull but politely nibbled a few, he continued bringing her more and more looking pleased and proud.

I do wonder, having read this, whether it is a phase that we have to continue to navigate and help her through. People keep telling me it will be okay, and that dogs do often calm down, so I hope that is true.

So I wonder if Hope is a bit of a proactive dude? Proactive individuals are usually bold and sometimes aggressive and/or socially dominant. Koolhaas et al. (1999) wrote a nice review of coping styles in animals that was published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. I find it fascinating.

Both dogs are great at reading & responding to other dogs calming signals so that helps immensely. Despite both being spayed females of similar age, it looks like this pairing will work out for the better of both dogs.

My Doberman went through a very brief fear period when he was about 8 or 9 months old. Actually I can only recall one incident but it was really startling. He growled at a man he knew well and liked because the man was carrying something and it was nearly dark. I think it was the unfamiliar silhouette.

My sense in reading the comments is that the BCs, Whippets, Corgis, etc., are more likely to experience an intense fear/shyness phase than the Labs, Berners, etc. Not that size is a guarantee but it looks like it would have some predictive value.

She has now developed such a strong Pavlovian response that anytime a dog barks at her, a semi-truck rolls by, or a bicyclist surprises her, she immediate looks at me with alot of interest and is salivating. She has never shown any fear aggressive behavior. She has some possessiveness about her tennis balls or stick at the beach, but no fear aggression. Our puppy has been quick to develop this Pavlovian behavior, too. I now have 2 sharp eyes focused on me, waiting for a treat, whenever something surprises them!

Future topic suggestion: How do your pets travel in the car? In the cargo area? In the back seat? Front seat? Wearing a car harness? Loose? Do you use a barrier of some sort? If you use a car harness, how did you get your dog accustomed to wearing it?

We adopted my collie at 8 months of age. He was fearful of some sounds, strange objects, and children, so he could have been in the juvenile fear stage. Not knowing his background, it could have also been lack of socialization. I would say it was mild and lasted until he was over 1&1/2 years old.

But this was also right after I had pneumonia and was on bedrest for a month. She was not getting her accustomed exercise or attention while I was sick, so I thought this diversion would be good for both of us. WRONG.

I am living in a similar situation with two male collies. The younger one has become jumpy (8 months) and the older one seems to regress to old, fearful habits I thought we would not have to face again.

** Some stimulus changes associated with an increase in behavior are difficult to classify as [positive versus negative reinforcement], and the use of either description may be nothing more than an arbitrary and incomplete abbreviation for the

I wish you the best of luck and appreciate that you are sharing this dilemma with us so candidly. I have the utmost respect for you as a leader in the dog community and as a responsible owner. I know that you will make the right decision, no matter what that turns out to be.

Hi there! I was wondering how things planned out for you and your dogs. My 8 month old Aussie is suddenly terrified of people and snaps in fear. I was wondering if yours ever grew out of the fear stage and how you managed it. Thanks!

Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB Emeritus is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.

Bringing home, a puppy is packed with excitement, but when your puppy begins displaying symptoms of fear, you may feel concerned. This behavior is called fear periods, and they are normal in dogs, but what exactly are they? K-9 University in Plano, TX, is here to explain fear periods in dogs and how to effectively overcome them with our best dog training services.

Fear periods in dogs come with a sudden onset of behavioral changes. Not all dogs will experience fear periods, but for the dogs that do, the common times we see the shift in their behavior typically occur in puppies between 8-11 weeks old and 6-14 months old, and they usually last for approximately 2-3 weeks.

Fear periods in dogs are classified by their sudden onset shift in behavior. Therefore, a dog who gradually becomes fearful or anxious and does not come out of this pattern after 2-3 weeks is not experiencing a fear period and, instead, may require professional guidance to alleviate the worsening behaviors.

Serving the surrounding areas of Dallas, Frisco, Allen, Richardson, Garland, & Mesquite. Since 1993, K-9 University has delivered high-class obedience training for dogs from our two serviceable locations in Garland and Plano.

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They had taken William to puppy classes. They carried him around shops before he could be safely put down. He went most places with them so was well habituated to daily life; all his experiences with other dogs had been good ones.

William is also a placid character which is just as well because soon after they got Sam at eight weeks old, all the boisterous play brought his elbow problems to light and he had an operation on each, resulting in restricted exercise for many weeks.

When Sam became too rough he never told him off. In fact, if he became impatient it was he who was scolded. They realise now that they should have instead have been teaching Sam to play nicely and when enough was enough.

Sam, totally different to William, is scared of anything new. This fear of new things applies particularly to new dogs. Because of the circumstances, Sam not been habituated and socialised at an early age in the way William had.

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