First Week in the big city, and fear...

[Joely and Peter and Dood]

Hi! Dood is such a lovely boy and we are very thankful to have him. He is great with us, got him at 8 months old, but has a LOT of fear walking through Brooklyn. The noises are all new to him. And in NYC there are a LOT of noises. We adopted him from PA. A straggler from a previous litter, and he has been a farm boy up until now.

We've taken him to the off-leash park, and he had it totally to himself, but he cornered himself in an area where he felt "safe" and did not want to play with me or explore..

We can't avoid taking him out in the city, and are trying to introduce him slowly to his new enviornment.

 

He is very submissive, and often on walks very LOW tail, or when scared between the legs... Poor boy.

 

Other than his fear of Brooklyn, he is such a well adjusted dog already! Wonderful in the home and full of love for us

 

Any tips?

[Joely and Peter and Dood]

Hi Everyone: These suggestions are great! Time is already proving to be a friend. I took the suggestions of sitting with him on the stoop on Court Street and letting him get used to the sounds. After about ten minutes he started moving away from the corner that he had backed himself into, and before you knew he was up and tail wagging! What a good boy! He definitely gets still startled easily but my husband and I are observing that he is snapping out of it much more quickly. He has done SO well with basic obedience training, and we are considering signing him up with an expert trainer in Bk heights to help him with some specifics that will help him grow to become more confident. He is doing SO great and we are PROUD!!! Such a smarty pants!

[Dara and Hendrix]

Hi,
We live in Riverdale in the Bronx, and when Hendrix first came to live with us he was 7 months and had come from the California desert. He was not used to city buses and car horns, and he used to jump in the air and run. I woud have to hold the leash tight to keep him from going into the street. He was also afraid of other dogs when they would bark loudly. He got used to it after about two weeks. Now he is fine with all loud noises. It's the barely audible to us noises that get him jumpy or barky.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I would not worry that he will be fearful forever. His world has been rocked and he is still adjusting to all the change.  I would give him a couple of weeks just hanging out at home, but then I would begin exposing him to new things  - you could even download noises onto your phone and 'play' them. I would begin taking him to a few places and sit; just sit there and not expect anything else from him. Let him look around and get used to the sights and sounds of that particular exposure. I have heard experts say not to baby the dog with reassurance while exposing them to things because it will reinforce the fact that there is something to fear; but act fairly matter of fact.   I would  also begin obedience training  - classes would be a good option because it would be social and instructive for both you and Dood.  We got Clancy at age 2 and while he never had huge 'issues' I am amazed at how different he is now.  When we got him, my son literally had to tackle him and pin him down so that I could put medicine in his ears; 9 months later, my husband held him lightly by the collar while I put medicine in his ears; now  I can put him on a down stay and put medicine in his ears with no assistance. This is due to two things - Clancy now trusts and respects us to take care of him and do what is best and Clancy has had obedience training and knows what a down stay is.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Well our Daisy (we got her at 9 weeks) has always been a bit fearful...new things make her nervous. She has never had anything fall on her, hurt her or anything so it's always been perplexing why. Lots of the doodles are fearful, don't know why but we just keep working with her. Look around here on DK you will find lots of them. I think there may even be a group.

When she was a young pup there was no signs and then she started to be afraid of her reflection in the patio door, then the night, then at work if a box or trash can was out of place she would jump and bark at it. Everyone was always careful to put things back where they normally were (which was great for me, things tended to stay neat - ha ha) because of Daisy.She is leery of the ceiling fans in our house and just started to look up at them like the sky is falling.

Now Daisy is 21 months old, she no longer barks at things that get moved but new items in the house, say a package delivered and then left by the front door, that will make her jump back. We just say it's okay Daisy and touch the box and she will slowly come up and smell it and then it seems better.

Outside on trash night when neighbors put out their big trash bins she steers clear of, no longer jumps and barks but she still doesn't like them. Wind makes her nervous and she crouches down but it's way better than when she was younger.

She has a few friends that she plays with and they have fun but she is not a social dog by any means. At the dog park she stays to herself and plays ball and swims. She co-exists with other dogs, is not aggressive but she will bark away strange dogs. All humans are her friends but she has to be able to investigate them. She does love children though...more her size. She does go to doggy daycare once a week but as she is getting older does not seem to like it as much. She prefers humans to dogs.

We call her our chicken doodle but I can see that as she gets older she is much better.I can't imagine what she would do in the city, probably be much like your Dood.

In short just keep working with him like you are, he will get better but he may not ever be what you thought he would be...but you just learn to enjoy all the other things that he is, smart, cute and lovable - that is what we do.You tend to hear all the great things about our dogs here on DK but when you delve you will see a lot of them have one issue or another...none of them are perfect (ha ha) but we all think ours are.

Good Luck.