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01-25-2006, 05:55 PM | #1 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ny
Posts: 11
| Suggestions welcome...my yorkie's scared of all the dogs at puppy school! Hi guys, I'm looking for suggestions to help my 17 week old yorkie become less fearful of other dogs. Each interaction he has had with other dogs (at friend's houses and at puppy class) have resulted in him running with fear and then trying to climb on my head!! I don't want to be an over protective mom, but I also want to make sure that I reassure him if he needs it. All of the other puppies at puppy class are 4x his size....he doesn't participate in any of the play. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! |
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01-25-2006, 06:14 PM | #2 |
Princess Poop A Lot Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Colorado
Posts: 6,728
| Ask the trainer if she would have a class with just small dogs. I would be scared to death if all the dogs were so much bigger which your little one is feeling. Do all of your friends have big dogs or is there someone with just one small dog?
__________________ Cindy & The Rescued Gang Puppies Are Not Products! |
01-25-2006, 06:18 PM | #3 |
and Bernie's mom too!" Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 8,283
| Give him time, and lots of experience around other dogs. If you can find some other small dogs to play with, make a point of it. I've found other people with small dogs are usually pretty receptive. Ginger acted the same way at first, but we stuck with training and go to a playgroup (with all sizes of dogs) once a week. I also met a neighbor who has a young dog who stops by to play in our fenced yard after work most days, and I've put together a playgroup for about 8 small dogs (different breeds, biggest is 12 lbs) that gets together once each month. It took awhile, but she's gained a lot of confidence around other dogs. In the beginning, my trainer gave me some techniques to make her feel safe without coddling her. Your trainer should have some ideas. If not, pm me and I'll try to explain what we did. Good Luck! |
01-25-2006, 06:28 PM | #4 |
Yorkie Talker Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: ny
Posts: 11
| Otis had one playtime with a Cairn terrier who was about 12 pounds (he's 5). Unfortunatly she was VERY hyper and I think that started the fear of other breeds. Unfortunately in my area there isn't a class for small dogs.....I may call around to some PetSmart stores and see if they offer anything. The class he is going to now is a private class. |
01-25-2006, 06:39 PM | #5 |
Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 26
| Yes I agree give him time and plenty of reassurance. I had the same problem when I first took Scruffy to the Dog Park. The way I resolved it was that I would carry her towards the other dogs...and let her sniff them from my hand. I would coax her along the way telling her what a good girl she was and I would even pet the other dog with her in my arm. She just needed a little reinforcement before I let her down. The first few tries she would even growl at the other dogs but again I would tell her "it's ok they just want to play" and then say "good girl" when she would stop growling and start sniffing. Eventually she got over it and now she loves to go to the park and play. Lot's of patience and reinforcement when he does show interest and he will get the hang of it. Hope this helps. Yaremis |
01-25-2006, 06:51 PM | #6 |
No Longer a Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: South Florida
Posts: 8,577
| puppy The last OB class I took some years ago, my 6 month old Yorkie and another persons Jack RUssell puppy were banished to the back of the class for scaring the Matiff and Dobie pups. Nothing funnier then a tiny Yorkie making a huge Mastiff hide under a table..no wonder these little terriers get attacked. |
01-25-2006, 07:00 PM | #7 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: US
Posts: 955
| I had the same kind of problem in my puppy kindergarten class. All the dogs were so big and of course not trained well yet, they all came running after Trixie and chasing her. Trixie isn't afraid of big dogs, but four of them were running after her... After that happened, I took her out of play time and just had her take part in the obedience part. Even there I had one German Shepard pup who went after her in the 'meet and greet on leash'. I complained with the dog center's management about not having a small breed puppy kindergarten class. Especially when all the pups are young and are not used to dealing with other dogs yet, the big puppies could hurt the small ones... We go to dog parks once in a while and Trixie is fine!
__________________ Trixie |
01-26-2006, 03:38 PM | #8 |
Donating Yorkie Yakker Join Date: May 2005 Location: Fayetteville/Sanford, NC
Posts: 429
| Romeo was the only SMALL dog in his class. The next smallest was a Jack Russell Terrier. The owner got a table to put him on during the lessons and slowly we brought him down, then away from all the other dogs...kinda toward the back...then a little closer each time...his confidence was much better by the end...and we got Denero right after he graduated so that's helped wonders!
__________________ Tonia, Romeo & Denero |
01-27-2006, 09:20 AM | #9 | |
YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: American in London
Posts: 1,739
| Quote:
Krittodd, you might want to speak privately to your trainer about the problem. He/she should be able to help your puppy through this. Until she's more comfortable, off-leash play time probably isn't a good idea.
__________________ FirstYorkie We Love Clicker-Training! | |
01-27-2006, 10:00 AM | #10 |
Donating YT 10K Club Member | Trace isn't afraid of anything or anyone....which may be a good thing or a bad thing....any way, I suggest socialize, socialize, socialize. That's what we did with ours. Btw, their was a German Shepard in puppy kindergarden who was terrified of the other pups He hid behind his mother the whole time, so it's not just a size thing....LOL. He was bigger than most of the dogs there. His mom enrolled him to specifically get him over being so timid around other dogs
__________________ Deb, Reese, Reggie, Frazier, Libby, Sidney, & Bodie Trace & Ramsey who watch over us www.biewersbythebay.com |
01-27-2006, 10:08 AM | #11 |
Gizmo and Gidget's Pet Donating Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Arkansas
Posts: 1,326
| I have the same problem with Gizmo, except the fear is not of other dogs, it's a fear of other people. He gets so worked up, his little heart just races. I am trying to get him used to it. I want to sign up for a puppy class, but I don't want him to be scared to death the entire time.
__________________ Heather & Max - In honor of my sweet Ayden! |
01-27-2006, 10:17 AM | #12 |
Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Posts: 44
| Little Guys Buddy was the smallest in his Puppy class and would always hide behind my legs. The teacher kept telling me not to baby him and keep walking away from him during play time. That was very hard. Buddy would vey cautiously venture out and if the big guys came around he would hide behind anybody's legs who was closest. If he ever strayed far and got cornered by a big dog, he would play dead which was quite comical. He usually came home full of slober from the big dogs. Eventually Buddy came out of his shell and would play with everyone. It was hard with the big guys though. A couple of smaller dogs joined later and Buddy was the one to bring them into the group. I continued on with basic obedience and again it was all big dogs except a Schnauzer who Buddy had lots of fun with. The little dogs bounce and "dance" while the big dogs are rough and tumble. On walks now Buddy isn't afraid of any of the dogs and I always let him go up and say hello. With a couple of recent stories on this board of big dogs attacking small ones, I think I need to be more cautious. |
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