LauraHergott

Thank you so much for your detailed response! I feel like your rotti "wait and see" interpretation totally hits the nail on the head. Your description of "if they recognized them as friends, after a moment of stillness, they would shortly right after go into greeting mode with their rear ends wiggling happily" is exactly what happens when a human or dog looks in her direction in a friendly way (breaks her stillness and is eager to say hello)! I'm going to follow your advice and play the "look at me" game at the window and keep these stimuli positive. Thanks again and thank you for creating such a wonderful resource for dog parents!

Hi Adrienne! I have a 13-week-old puppy (lab/shepherd/dober/rotti) that is very well-mannered and incredibly smart. From day 1, she's been either unphased or simply curious to any stimulus I introduce her to or she encounters (barking dogs outside, sirens, vacuum, food processor, bath, nail clippers etc.). But when it comes to observing cars/dogs/people/cyclists on our street, she is incredibly focused, attentive and I am worried she is over threshold. From our front window, she can observe the the street/sidewalk outside and is normally in what I interpret as her “attention” pose. She’s very focused on whatever she’s looking at, will track it with her eyes, and is generally pretty stiff. If she’s watching a dog or person, there may be a very subtle tail wag. As soon as I saw this reaction, I began to reward it because it is much more desirable than say barking at passing cars. She happily and easily will take treats like this, and she often gets bored or distracted by her toys after a minute or two and goes back to ignoring the window. We often do similar “observation” times on our front lawn on leash. When she’s not distracted by the sticks or ants on the ground, she’s intently watching the cars/cyclists/people/dogs. Often, she’ll put herself into a sit (loose leash) and just watch the thing go by: stiff and very focused. At first, I thought "Oh my gosh, what a polite pup just sitting and calmly observing the world." If it looks like a friendly person or dog, she will get up and try to go meet that person/dog, often with her tail wagging and it looks like she’s just being friendly. During this activity, she is often much more interested in the thing than she is with treats, but will make eye contact with me using her name or the "kiss" ~60% of the time. After reading about threshold levels, however, I am concerned her "polite behaviour" is actually a freeze response. She seems eager to be on the front lawn and observing the world (would rather be on the front lawn than in our fenced-in backyard) but I want to know if her “focused attention” sit pose is appropriate or if she is terrified. Since we live in a busy city, I wanted to introduce her to cars and passing people early so she gets used to it. Did I expose her too soon? Is her behaviour natural puppy curiosity or is she frozen in terror? I'm sorry if this is a silly concern but as a new pup parent, I'm trying really hard to understand her "dog language" and want to set her up for success! Thank you!