Daisy took 6 months of steps BACKWARDS!!! Are doodles naturally scared??

[Judi and Daisy May]

Today the Scotts lawn guy came to spray my trees for bugs. Daisy and I were out back well when he started spraying the trees it scared her so she rushed to get in the door...NOW she won't go outside to go potty....no matter what...so now I am back to carrying her out and rewarding her with treats...Are most doodles this scared of new things?? I have worked so hard at showing her nothing will hurt her...Will she ever grow out of this? She is 10 months old now.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

I think that no matter how old a dog is, it can get scared by something that it has never experienced before and some dogs just bounce back from that quicker than others.  Every day, several times a day, Cubbie goes out to the same potty area to take care of business.  One day a bird that was nesting nearby swooped down and scared him (he was 1.5 years old) and he was terrified to go out to potty for over a week.   I literally had to carry him out there and he would run around me and back into the house unless he really really had to go.  I sat outside reading a book waiting for him to come back out figuring that he might relax if he saw me sitting there calmly.  It didn't seem to make any difference to him, he was still scared.  Then one day he was suddenly fine again and everything was back to normal. 

Keep taking Daisy back outside and offer her praise if she even takes a small step out there on her own.  Don't try to comfort her by telling her that it is "ok" because that will reinforce her fears.  Act like nothing is wrong.  I just noticed that this happened today, maybe she still smells some of the chemicals that the Scott's guy sprayed and they might be unpleasant to her.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

The smell could very possibly make her not want to go out there. Bella takes off in another direction whenever she smells windex. I don't think she's afraid of it, just doesn't like the smell.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

My Daisy discovered the Goodyear Blimp 2 weeks ago, she was terrified, refused to go outside for a couple of hours. When we did finally go out she was constantly looking in the sky. She did get over it and then the stupid thing went over again the next day.

In her little mind there was no way that big gray thing was going to stay in the sky.

I am happy to report the next day she went out and looked up again and again and since see it she did not see it she is back to normal.

Oh, Daisy is almost 2.5 years old. We call her Chicken Doodle a lot, but she is better than she was as a young pup. I think she will always be a bit skittish.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

My dogs love that blimp.  My foster Sweetie, is fascinated by airplanes too.  It they would squeak when they go by, well that would be all the better.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I was thinking just last night about you spud and tater tot - how is she doing?

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Daisy loves all things that fly, she stops and watches them, which is why I was so shocked about the blimp...ya gotta admit, this thing does not look like it belongs up, it looks like it belongs in a body of water floating. That being said, I think she is genius because of it. LOL

[Annie Oak]

OMG!  Jax also sees the blimp and keeps looking up as we take our walk.  Eventually the blimp gets past us and he can then be more natural in his stroll with out looking up to see it.  It is quite funny!

[Christine & Camus]

I don't know about most doodles being scared of new things, but IMO 10 months is still a puppy and puppies need to experience new things and more importantly time to adjust to the new.  I was once told not to coddle when it came to a fear, act normal, and use a reassuring voice, but not to treat them like a "baby."  With older doodles (like Camus who was a year old when I adopted him), there is some work, time, and patience needed to try an undo the fears they came with.  I still treat Camus the same way when he is scared by "things that go bump in the night," no coddling, just a calm voice re-directing his attention.  I don't know if he will ever not be afraid of noises when I take him for a walk in the dark, but he handles them better than he did in the beginning. 

[Pat and Traveler]

A dog being scared of a strange sight or sound is probably a smart thing.  As a wild animal, if the dog wasn't spooked by the sound of a rattlesnake or the shape of a predator, that dog probably wouldn't last long.  Loud noises in the wild usually did mean something dangerous--falling rocks, stampede, whatever.  I'd guess this is an instinctive reaction, not always appropriate for modern dogs, but coming from the same place as the circling before lying down or kicking up the grass after peeing. 

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I did lots and lots of work with Riley from a very young age.  Yesterday as we were walking through the golf course a tractor with sand came out of nowhere and very very near.  I could tell Riley was worried but I relaxed my grip on the lead and ignored him, I saw him looking up at me but I totally ignored him again. I just walked on and I was happy that he didn't even flinch. Judi, I think they are all a work in progress, my sisters Doodle Koby gets easily worried and is still learning, he is eight years old!  There's a picture of him on my page with his worried look, his dad was in a Kayak and he was running along the shore with me.  I think it's a sign of huge intelligence...those chemicals may well be dangerous to Daisy and she was saying no way!  Of all the things you need as a dog owner I would say patience must come very high on the list LOL

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

My two doodles don't like the vacuum but as Amy said don't play into their fears because you can create a monster.  My girlfriend has a mini weinne dog and Rosebud is afraid of everything.  Of course my GF played into Rosebuds every fear and now any time she has to do something out of the ordinary Rosie freaks... she is also a screamer and then both dog and ower get all upset - its a mess.  When I vacuum I just act normal and do my normal thing if I am getting close to the livingroom and Sasha is on the couch with her ears down, I just say to her "that's OK Sasha nothing is going to hurt you" but still continue to vacuum.  Of course she will run past the vacuum then hide in the kitchen but I do not play into the fear.

 

Sasha is very skidish anyway, if something frightens her on our walks, I just keep on walking at our normal pace and just say in a normal voice "it OK Sasha" but don't fuss over it.

 

I would continue to try and coax her out so she would come out on her own and know that nothing bad is out there.  She will eventually come out. 

[Judi and Daisy May]

Thanks for the replies everyone.....Daisy did finally walk out on her own last night slightly cautious but on her own :) we always use the reassuring happy voice when we know she is scared of something...this is how we got her as far as we have....the breeder had told us she wasn't fearful and lots of other bull....I did get a great dog but unfortunately would never buy from that "breeder" again who unfortunately is on DK breeders list...but that's a WHOLE different topic....Thanks again everyone....we love DK and all the info we receive!!!