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Old August 22nd, 2019, 11:12 AM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BabyJessy View Post
One thing though- when a pup is fearful, is that a good sign or a bad sign?... Will this be a dog that will become an anxiety biter...? ... I wonder if fear of people at that young age is a sign of things to come....?
It isn't a guarantee one way or the other. If it's just a learned behavior, with gentle, careful socialization and introductions, you should be able to overcome shyness toward people. Our Macie was quite fearful and shy of people, having had a very isolated first year locked in a barn most of the time. After we adopted her, we'd try to teach her commands and her first response when she didn't know what was wanted of her, was to go catatonic, stiff-legged, head hanging. So there was no aggression, even though her anxiety was quite high. She responded well to gentle introductions, confidence-boosting exercises, and lots of loving. She became a happy, content little girl who was an excellent cuddler. Of course, we have no idea what she was like as a puppy...

Our first setter, Gauge, on the other hand, was prone to outbursts of aggression after about age 3. The funny thing is that Gauge did not show any fearfulness as a small pup. He was smart as a whip, curious, social, and didn't mind strangers. So you never can tell... It appeared to be a genetic thing--the breeder recognized it and shut down his breeding program voluntarily once he realized what was happening. But even Gauge's aggression proved to be manageable with a strict NILF protocol. And we were so lucky--shortly after Gauge started acting out, we inherited a very macho springer spaniel named Priscilla. Priscilla had evidently had a lot of brothers in the womb (all that testosterone...she's the only girl dog we've ever had who regularly lifted her leg to pee ) and took no guff from anyone. She read Gauge like a book, and even when his signals were too subtle for us to pick up, she knew he was getting ready to go ballistic and she'd take him down proactively. She kept him on the straight and narrow until he died at age 10 1/2 of something completely unrelated to his aggression. So it's possible to manage, but it wasn't very pleasant at times.

So it's basically a crapshoot. If it were me, though, I'd be looking for a more social, outgoing pup at the get-go. Again, it's no guarantee, but a more confident pup usually ends up as a more confident adult.
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