Puppy Class and Socialization - 4 1/2 Month Old Great Pyrenees

[s_wiss13]

Hi,

 

I wrote in awhile back after just bringing home our Great Pyrenees puppy, Harmonie. She has been doing great, amazingly great. She got used to her crate and sleeps in it willingly. She only had 3 accidents in the house and hasn't had one for over a month. She loves to go outside through the dog door and spends time just sitting on the deck and watching. She reads the 4 other dogs in the house and knows when they want to play and when they don't. I couldn't be happier with the way training is going.

 

I have been taking her to Puppy class for the last 5 weeks. She does great and seems to be a fast learner. At first she was pretty nervous about going, seemed timid and shy but usually not overly scared. Tonight there was a really loud dog in the store with an exceptionally persistent bark. The dog was 50 - 60 feet away waiting to go to the next class. Harmonie was very scared and did not want to come out of the training area. She actually peed on the floor. I tried to act normal and upbeat, trying to coax her out but she was so scared that she didn't want to go. I used a "that silly dog" voice and tried to get her to focus on me per our training but it didn't work that great. She eventually did come out (hugging the wall) but I'm wondering how it is going to be when we go back. She was so scared that I wasn't able to get her attention to sit or show interest in the training treats.

 

Do you have any suggestions on how to better handle this? The barking dog has been there before and Harmonie was scared then too, but not as badly as she was tonight. I'm pretty sure the other dog will be there next week as well.

 

I did read the article on Socializing Your Puppy and tried to introduce her to as many new things as possible but she seems pretty leery about a lot of things. We've introduced her to kids. She is scared at first but seems to adjust after a few minutes. She does okay when people come to our house but she's pretty shy at first. I want to give her the best chance to be well adjusted to things.

 

I appreciate your help.

 

Susan

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello Susan!

I am thrilled to hear your new pup has done so much progress in so little time! You need to pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

 

About what happened during puppy class, this is one of those circumstances we wished the trainer would take note of this and would have taken some steps to ameliorate the situation. It sounds like though this was a transition time so maybe the trainer left to take a break or left for the day to be replaced by another trainer to take care of the next class. Regardless, it would have been nice if the dog trainer would have seen the impact this dog had on your puppy and could have asked the owner of this dog to move away at a distance so that your puppy could relax enough to feel more comfortable to step out.

 

I would suggest next time mentioning the issue to who is running the class and your concerns. This is such a delicate phase of development that we don't want things like this to have an everlasting impact through such intense exposures (flooding). If this direct exposure can be avoided, your pup at least isn't put into the position of “practicing” learning to be fearful. Your trainer can also perhaps help with some gradual desensitization (gradual exposure, through baby steps) and counter-conditioning (creating positive associations) to help with these fears.

[s_wiss13]

Thank you, Adrienne. I will talk to the trainer when I first get there next week to see if we can avoid the situation. If not, maybe I will try to leave a little early to give me the best chance of preventing it.