Need some training help!

[nadia]

So here we are - absolutely I love with our 8mth goldendoodle - He's beautiful, and mischevious, and loving and playful and keeps us on our toes...

We picked Romeo up on the day he turned 8 weeks old, got him up to date with his vaccinations and at 10weeks we enrolled him into obedience classes. We've heard of dogs who aren't socialized turn out to be scared of evrything so to avoid that we took him into every situation, and to meet everybody. However, over the last month we've really had to work on his confidence. From a distance he barks at just about everything, when we go on walks he's great if we're alone but as soon as we see another person he starts and it gets louder if it's a dog. Our trainer has told us it's 'fear aggression' and quite common at this age (esp with Doods) but I wanted to know if anyone else out there went through or is going through the same problem? and if so, how can we help him build his confidence?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Lots and lots of people have gone through this; it's called the second fear period, and 8 months is prime time for it.

Here's a link to a recent discussion, which has links to other discussions on the same thing, lol. 

http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/trainingmindsets/forum/topics/sca...

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It is possible that as Karen says this is just Romeo going through a fear period.  If so, it would be short lived.  I experienced this with my Murphy but it was definitely more than just a fear stage with him.  I still have to control his environment, especially when he is on leash.  We believe that he has "fear reactiveness".  He does not have actual aggression because he has never bitten a person or tried to fight with another dog.  We worked with trainers for literally years because of this problem.  Murph will heel perfectly on leash until he sees a person or a dog that intimidates him.  They he will bark and lunge.  His body language changes completely as the person/dog approaches....he loses it.  We tried lots of different approaches, and I can share what has been most successful for us.  I try to pick places that will not overwhelm him for our walks, so I avoid the typical dog walking paths.  When we do meet other walkers, I watch his body language, and if I see him begin to get nervous we stop and turn away.  I put him in a sit/stay and talk softly to him, and as long as he's remaining   calm I give him small bites of high value treats.....I never walk him without treats.  I continually tell him he's a good boy while he's remaining relaxed (but calmly in a low voice). When the walkers have passed, we resume our walk and I give him a heel command....no sniffing or looking back.  If he tries that I do verbally correct.  It is key that I do not get nervous or react in any way when there is someone approaching...he senses that.  I really think that it's also really important that a fearful dog sees you as a leader...someone they can trust and who always has their back.  So even within the house we have some rules that we always follow.  He is not allowed to look out the windows or doors, because if he sees dogs being walked by he will react.  Reactions I believe breed more reactions....the behavior becomes a habit.  Good luck and here's hoping it's nothing more than just a fear stage.  I think it's great that you're working with a trainer. 

[nadia]

Thanks for the replies - Romeos' definitely going through "fear reactiveness" but our trainer calls it aggression. Jane: I'm doing the exact same things but haven't seen much of a change. Our trainer told us to stop taking him on walks and to build his confidence so everyday we attempt things that get his heart racing like meeting the rocking chair, or touching the skateboard, or ringing of the bell. THAT we've seen progress so we're hoping we can do walks soon. The one thing we noticed is around 730/8 every evening he tends to get out of control, he doesn't bite but he definitely uses his mouth to get our attention. We're not sure where that is coming from so for the last two days we've crated him for about 30mins (which calms him down) and then we have take him for a mini-pre-bed-time-walk and he's in bed again by 9.

We were working on having a baby but we figured we'd get him to be a more confident pup and then throw him into that situation - being a big brother has a lot of responsibilities! (lol)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

He's a beautiful boy.  It sounds like you're doing all the right things.  Obedience training gives them lots of confidence.  When he starts getting out of control in the evening you could try putting a leash on him and working some commands...sit/stays, down/stays, heeling around the house.  Make it more and more challenging...put him in a sit/stay....walk away....turn and face him and wait a few minutes...then recall.  I would definitely reward with high value treats so he views all this as work, but still fun.  I found that does so much to build confidence.  I would not allow him to put his mouth on you at this point....crating him immediately or starting some "obedience work" are both good ways to distract him and let him calm down.  I would not totally give up on your walks.  You likely just need to give him more space.  Is there a place where you can walk where you can keep a good distance from other dogs?  I had scouted out lots of places when Murph was really having a hard time with this.  We could see other dogs in the distance and I would move toward them, but stop and turn around if he showed that he was getting nervous.  Good luck and please keep us posted.  You may want to join the Training Group and share progress since I think this is something that is not all that infrequent.

[nadia]

How do I join the Training Group Jane?

Thanks for all your advice, we researched 'Doods' for 3years before getting one so we knew what we were getting into...that being said - I think these behavioral issues aren't always brought to light so I'm also trying my best to get others talking about them (within Romeos' littermates) to see if we can all help each other. Most of them have another dog at home as well so that seems to help.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You can join the Training Group here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/trainingmindsets

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I see Karen directed you to the Training Group.  As for another dog at home, I'm not sure that always helps.  They do have a tendency to feed off of one another.  If Murphy begins to react on a walk, Guinness often picks up that energy and then it's difficult to manage.  When Murph was at his most reactive stage I usually walked him separately.  I did find that the right Daycare helps to drain energy and help with confidence.  It's important to find one that pre-screens the dogs they allow.

[nadia]

Thanks, I'm in the Raleigh,NC area and it's hard to find a Daycare that we've clicked with so far - but we're still hunting...

[Amy and Annabelle]

When Annabelle was about 4 months old, after she had all of her shots, I started to taking her to Petsmart. I took her on week days at first when there weren't as many people in there. Then she graduated to the busy weekends. So by the time spring rolled around she was ready for the path with other dogs and people. There were still other dogs she didn't like and it didn't prepare her for roller bladers or bicyclists, but it did get her used to people and other dogs. I did this because it is easier to leave Petsmart than to walk a mile back home with a scared puppy.

[nadia]

That's a great idea, so far I've been doing our 'focus' games at the foot of the driveway and so each time someone comes by as soon as he barks we take a few steps back, if he's good we stay put and I shower him with treats.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

This may not be helpful or apply to your situation.  We really didn't have a problem with Ned being fearful, but one of the places we took him was to our local park.  We just sat in different areas to expose him to different things - bikes, skateboards, little kid playground area, guys playing basketball, soccer and softball games etc. - it is a great park for socialization.  IF Ned had been fearful, I would have approached each area slowly, watched his body language and stopped just short of a reaction. I chose a bench near the area I wanted to expose him to and we would just watch.  I didn't push him. Even though he was not a fearful or reactive dog, he still needed exposure to feel comfortable with all the activity.  When we trained, we practiced for days in front of our house for understanding, then took the same skill to the park with its distractions.