Hello again!
I have more questions about Badger and would appreciate any advice. Unfortunately, I have to go into a bit of a ramble to give the full background so my apologies
As some of you know, I got Badger when he was nine weeks old. When I picked him up the breeder she told me that he should not be innoculated until 12 weeks. I thought that sounded fine but I had been referred to a very good vet and thought, after a week, that I'd call and find out if Badger should have a checkup anyway. One of the nurses at his clinic said it was fine to bring Badger in for his innoculations so I took him along the following week when he was 10 weeks
I took Badger to his rooms in his carrier and when it was our appointment, the vet took it from me, put it on the floor and left the door open for Badger to come out while he chatted to me. After a while, Badger still hadn't come out and Dr Fogle (the vet) said "oh that's interesting. It's not good that he's not come out by now" and he lent down and got him out. Badger was a little timid with him but after a few minutes he started sniffing about and seemed fine. Dr Fogle gave Badger his first shot and he told me that Badger would need to go to socialisation classes and meet lots of dogs and people. I was a bit concerned about this whole thing because up until that point I just assumed he was just a young puppy and this 'timidness' was just normal. When I was leaving Dr Fogle gave Badger to his receptionist/nurse and mentioned to her that "we have one that was the youngest in the litter" and they kind of looked at each other
. She then spent some time telling me (she was holding Badger at this point which kind of irritated me because she hadn't asked me if she could and she also seemed a bit bossy) how I should not, under any circumstances, mollycoddle him or if he cried and whimpered (which he used to do a fair bit. Not too much and hardly ever now), I should just put him down and ignore him. She recommended some Petsense classes which are close by and she also said that he needed to be exposed to as much noise, traffic, people and situations as possible and that this window of 'opportunity' would close at 16 weeks and after that it would be very difficult to socialise him properly. I of course was a bit shell-shocked that my gorgeous puppy that I had set so much store in being my faithful companion was now some kind of 'problem' dog so I listened attentively to everything she said and duly called Petsense to book a place for him at classes starting the next day
What a disaster! He just stood there shaking and he puddled on the floor 3 times. All the other dogs there were under 14 weeks but you'd never know it. They were all medium to large dogs and some seemed full grown to me with what looked like aggression problems. Badger was just terrified. He didn't do any of the 'lessons' even though he's a right little play addict at home. They didn't really offer any one on one advice which I didn't expect to be honest but they could see he was struggling. The woman who runs the class came over at one point and asked me how many dogs he was meeting a day. I told her none so far because he'd only just had his shots. She then gave me this really stern lecture about how he had to meet between five and 15 dogs a day (?!). I told her that there was no way I could meet that many dogs. Where would I meet them? He'd only been out for two days and hated walking and the other thing I was concerned with was other dogs attacking him. He was just over a pound at this point. She said he had to meet them, that dogs had a language of their own and that you could judge the dog by the owner. I asked her how I would do it and she said "just put him on the ground, stroke the other dog and let them do the rest". By this time I was feeling more and more deflated. I almost got the impression that they wipe off Yorkies as being neurotic and uncontrollable. They didn't say it but the general impression I got was that's what they thought. Anyway. I'm not bothered what they think to be honest
So me and Badger go home and I started trying to take him out for little walks and on the subway and onto both busy and quiet roads. Most of the time, he'd walk right on my heels. It's a bit nerve-wracking walking a dog of that size because it's so easy to stand on him but I persevered. He just wasn't acting like a normal dog though. Wasn't interested in sniffing anything. Occasionally he would stop and start whimpering but I remembered what they'd all said and I didn't pick him up although I did reassure him in a comforting voice. I'd also go to our local coffee shop but as soon as I'd pick him up, he'd be shivering and shaking. I was also worried he was cold but the vet also told me expressly not to put him in jumpers or coats because he was a 'timid' dog and this would add to his feelings of 'insecurity'
So anyway, after a week, I started to feel really down. Every time I took him out, he cried as we went out the door. I tried to introduce him to some dogs but that was just a nightmare. I point-blank refuse to introduce him to any bull terrier breeds. I wouldn't want to be introduced to them so I'm pretty sure a one pound Yorkie wouldn't want to be either. The dogs I did see that looked okay, I would always ask the owner "is your dog okay with puppies?" and they would say they were so I'd put Badger down and within two seconds, the dogs that were supposed to be 'okay' would start lunging and barking at him. My poor Badger. He'd just stand right behind my knees (I crouch down when meeting dogs) and shiver and shake. On one occasion we met a man with a Yorkie which I was over-joyed about, asked him if his dog was okay, he assured me his dog "loves puppies" and the next thing this Yorkie just started snarling and snapping at Badger!! I can't even begin to tell you how sad it is to see a little animal like that just cowering with it's head down. I picked him up and this man's dog just went ballistic and was almost trying to savage me. I was so angry!
Anyway. At my wits ends, I called a really lovely breeder called Mrs Webster who I had previously had some nice chats with before and one thing led to another and I told her I was very worried about the puppy I had and so on. She was just lovely. She said that no way did she take her puppies out until they were about sixteen or twenty weeks and that a lot of vets may know about dogs medically but that doesn't necessarily mean they're breed behaviour specific. I had mentioned to the vet that Badger wouldn't go into the bathroom for instance and was scared about going into other rooms in the house and he said "well that's typical of a timid dog and that's why we need to get him socialised". Mrs Webster disagreed. She said in her experience, Yorkies don't like certain floor surfaces especially tiles because they're slippery and so on and she said Badger not coming out his carrier at the vet's was typical puppy behaviour. She suggested not walking him anymore but just letting him build up his confidence slowly. So instead of walking him, I just put him in our small back garden (which he loved) and I took him out with me down the road but I carried him instead. I did this for a week and then one Friday night, my husband came home and we had to go out to the grocery store and we thought we'd take Badger with. So I started carrying him out the door and then he started struggling. So I put him down and the next thing he bolted off, sniffing the ground, wagging his tail and just being like a proper dog!! I was stunned! Mrs Webster had been totally right. The last week has been brilliant. He loves going out now. I literally can't keep up with him. He loves meeting other people to the point that it's almost embarassing the way he goes up to everyone as if he's saying "Hey! Have you met me?!". People adore him too because he's such a great looking little dog and he has such a fabulous walk. He's also a lot more confident round the house, goes into all the rooms and the bathroom (I started playing with him in the bathroom to make it all fun for him. He doesn't shake any more outside either and he generally seems quite confident and happy. The only problem now is he's still terrified of other dogs. With his new found confidence, I've tried to introduce him to other dogs but he goes straight back into that cowering thing and now I'm wondering if I overwhelmed him and he may now be scared forever
I hope someone's managed to read all of this. I'm so sorry for all the detail but basically I just want to know what you all think: have I messed up Badger's chances for good socialisation? In your experience, did I do the right thing and is he really a 'timid' dog or is he developing at the correct rate? Should I take him back to those puppy classes? The next one is on Wednesday and I have paid £100 pounds for them and only attended one out of eight (the cut off age for puppy attendance is 14 weeks). Should I make a concerted effort to introduce him to more dogs or just leave him to meet the dogs he wants to? Does it really matter for him to meet other dogs? What advantages are there to him meeting other dogs other than just playing? Could it protect him in certain situations? I want him to be a happy dog. He's absolutely great with people. Very friendly and loves attention but when it comes to dogs...
Sorry again for such a long post and thankyou very much in advance for any advice. Annie x