L is for Laid-back Leonard... How long does this last?
Now we have Leonard, he is three and a half months old, afraid of nothing (loud noises, big dogs, strange people, the vacuum cleaner, thunder, fireworks, cars, you name it he won't react to it). The only thing he has reacted to was a fire hydrant, which he barked at and he will sometimes try to pull on the leash to go meet new dogs if he sees them (which we don't let him do on the advice of our vet and dog trainer). Our vet is encouraging us to socialize him and gave us the OK to start bringing him on a short leash leash to public areas (just not dog 'hot spots' where other dogs are off leash, there is a high volume of dogs or there are grassy areas) and I jumped right on that not wanting another scared and skittish dog. We have taken him to an outdoor movie in the park (carried him just to be safe) with hundreds of people (where he sat on my lap happily through Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), the crowded farmers market, the Tim Hortons drive through, walking along a busy street and he is just the same as he is at home; he even fell asleep at the farmers market when some kids were petting him. He just doesn't react to things, he will happily greet people if they greet him but he is pretty content to go anywhere and just be happy. Is this normal for the breed, is this because he is a puppy? I know the adolescent dog phase is when they become difficult to handle but will he become fearful? Our friends have a German Shepard who was great as a puppy and seemed well socialized but is now afraid of everything and everyone. Is this what typically happens with OES? How can I prevent him from becoming shy, or is this laid back attitude something that will last into his adulthood. How can I nurture this happy go lucky side of him, I am quite familiar with adolescent dog stubbornness so I know that's coming. He is a little scamp at home sometimes and still gets the typical puppy behaviour problems (I am not saying he is perfectly behaved, just seems exceptionally laid back). Any experiences with dogs becoming fearful of things? I have heard they should meet 100 people before they are 4 months old and we have easily trippled that due to his sheepie appearance and people's fascination with him. I would eventually like to train him for volunteer therapy work because he seems to have a natural love of people. Has anybody done this? What should I be doing now to ensure I keep this well balanced sheepie later on? what are your experiences with puppy fear? |
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You sound like you are doing all the right things. When you say he "doesn't react" to any noise, etc, could he have a slight hearing problem or possibly deaf? Or maybe he is just one of those dogs that isn't alarmed by noise. Which is a GREAT thing!  As fr as him falling asleep when being pet, well, he is a young puppy and young pup do tire quickly and sleep alot. He must have felt very secure...and tired! I don't think there is a worry there. There are quite a few members here that do therapy with their dogs. I'm sure they will have lots to say. Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you are well on your way to a well adjusted happy dog!  |
| When I say doesn't react I mean I looks up as if to see where the noise is coming from but that's about it. My other dog will shake and try to bolt for safety or jump if he hears a loud noise. I'm not too worried about his hearing, he can hear the cat walking around upstairs when he is downstairs and can hear the mail carrier and walks to the window to check her our before I see her. I did worry about his hearing when i first got him because of his lack of reaction but our vet checked it out and we watched him closely and he seems to hear quite well. Lifting his he'd quizzically is just not the reaction I am used to (our older dog recently ripped all of the pads off his feet when he was our for a walk and heard thunder in the distance earning him the nickname 'Trauma Puppy'). Maybe I just have to stop thinking all dogs are like Ru, although I didn't think that until I heard a few stories from people who didn't have abused dogs but ended up with fearful dogs nonetheless. |
| Congratulations - it sounds like you have a lovely OES puppy. Not all OES puppies are that laid back, but Dawn's Chewie was in many ways and he turned out just wonderful. Puppies do go through some kind of secondary fear period, but the vast majority do not have a permanent personality switch (I wonder if it's a throw-back to their wolf forebears, perhaps coinciding with a time where they were expected to exhibit more independence, with a built in wariness surge to keep them from becoming somebody's lunch?) I barely notice it in most of mine. Maybe just a hint of greater awareness of their surroundings? If I suspect they are experiencing that "fear period" I back off and don't push them training or socialization-wise, but rather let them take their time and experience things at their own pace. I figure they're being bombarded enough internally, they don't need me entering them in their first show or anything like that at that time. I still take them out and I still do classes or whatever we're doing. I just don't panic if a puppy who has always been very bold and outgoing suddenly barks at a garbage can or something   As long as it doesn't persist. And in the vast majority of cases it will not. It's a relatively short period of time, maybe a month or two at most? For some, a couple of weeks is more like it. For some days. For others, basically imperceptible. I can't even pin point when it has tended to happen in mine, it's such a non-event. With a puppy that calm and laid back I'd be really surprised if he suddenly developed permanent shyness or anything like that. He sounds very temperamentally sound. Dogs that are going to develop issues are typically predisposed to "issues" no matter what you do or do not do, though you can usually take the edge off of it a bit. And you can also make it worse by really pushing them at a time when they are vulnerable. However, resilient dogs, which is what this breed is supposed to be, are kind of idiot proof.  And priceless. Kristine |
| As far as laid back and energy levels...he's still in that sweet love bug stage. Be prepared for a surge in independence, and "trying and testing out the world" behaviors as he ages. Some it's at about 8 months, some 10-12 months, some at over a year. Like the fear stages - some it's extreme, some it's barely a blip on the radar. |
| You're so lucky. Eevee barks at everything. I can't set something next to the trash can without her barking at it until I do something about it. I can't even move my furniture without her approval! |
snazzierella wrote: You're so lucky. Eevee barks at everything. I can't set something next to the trash can without her barking at it until I do something about it. I can't even move my furniture without her approval! Bitches are more likely to be opinionated that way Kristine |
got sheep wrote: As far as laid back and energy levels...he's still in that sweet love bug stage. Be prepared for a surge in independence, and "trying and testing out the world" behaviors as he ages. Some it's at about 8 months, some 10-12 months, some at over a year. Like the fear stages - some it's extreme, some it's barely a blip on the radar. Sam is 7mths old now and out of nowhere, like overnight he has turned a corner of behavior. We call it his "teenage push our buttons stage". Is getting into all kinds of trouble. Taking stuff he is not allowed to have and running around the house with. Zoomies all over the place and thinking it is ok to jump up and off the back of the sofas. He grabbed a plant out of a pot right in front of me and ran around the house with it sticking out of his mouth, roots, dirt and all flying around. We know he is trying to have some fun and also testing his limits with us. Be still my heart, I know this will pass with time and tons of patience!  |
padolphan wrote: Sam is 7mths old now and out of nowhere, like overnight he has turned a corner of behavior. We call it his "teenage push our buttons stage". Is getting into all kinds of trouble. Taking stuff he is not allowed to have and running around the house with. Zoomies all over the place and thinking it is ok to jump up and off the back of the sofas. He grabbed a plant out of a pot right in front of me and ran around the house with it sticking out of his mouth, roots, dirt and all flying around. We know he is trying to have some fun and also testing his limits with us. Be still my heart, I know this will pass with time and tons of patience! Bwahaha! That was Luna from the time she was 20 minutes old. She's 10 mos old now. I'm sure it will pass any day now. Yeah. Sure. Whatever Kristine |
| Same with Sprocket tho he does have days now when we think "ok,he has grown out of that stage" only to be "taken by surprise" by his next antic. He has now befriended a racing pidgeion (can't spell that one!) that seems to have "adopted" us.The bird ealks around with Sprox following it!! He can fly fine,just likes to have a walk around the garden-it does look funny.x |
| Oh Leonard gets the zoomies... They are highly entertaining to watch. He will grab anything he can find and take off with it flying around the house. He also likes to bite our older dog's leg, face, ear, tail (he loves going for the tail because Ru can't get his) anything. I love the zoomies! Our dog trainer calls it the witching hour. My husband isn't the biggest fan as they usually happen when we are settled down for the evening. The other day we had the puppy in his kennel around zoomie time because we were staining our floors and didn't want him getting into stain or inhaling fumes. At about 9pm he started squeaking his squeaky snake, pawing at the kennel and play barking at his partner in crime Ru who had been napping just outside his kennel. It was like, "Hey! It's play time!! Let's GOOO!" When he didn't get let out he proceeded to nag around his kennel and make his own fun. (His kennel is giant and he is still tiny so he can semi-zoom). |
| @snazzierella Leonard loves to bark when he is playing but it seems to be part of the game. I was procrastinating while trying to work and found these videos I took a few weeks back of him playing. As you can see he is a regular scallywag of a puppy when it is time to play. This one was taken during supper time BEFORE I figured out that feeding Leonard in his kennel cut down the antics (now both dogs eat, no games no fuss). He used to leave his own food in favor of Ru's food (which upsets his tummy) and he didn't really like to eat his food because he was so distracted with everything else in the house and all of the fun games he could be playing. He wasn't allowed to eat Ru's food so he "guarded" it for Ru while Ru was outside. He made sure the food wasn't running away anywhere and near the end tries to collect a fee for service. His food was just outside the shot and despite showing it to him several times he has noo interest in it. This was a couple weeks ago when he was smaller and he seemed to bark a lot more when he was playing. This one was taken around the same week as the other one and he was helping with laundry (stealing socks, running away, dropping them somewhere in the house and coming back for more). The cat was sleeping in the closet and he tried to hide a sock in there and ended up getting a growly surprise. The cat was still afraid of him as this point (the cat has now claimed his post as King of the Dogs once again and we have no more of this game; instead the dog follows the cat around like the cat is the ultimate boss). |
| I have a laid back Leonard too. He's fairly submissive to other dogs and people. He was socialized, trained, never abused, has a loving home. But I think, after having many types of dogs over the years, there can be personality differences just due to genetics. They are born with certain tendencies - just like when they say to do the puppy test at 6 or 8 weeks old - there will always be dominant leaders in the puppy litter, neutral pups, submissive shy ones - they are all raised up to that point the same way but they still have differences in behaviors. My dog has gotten more brave as he's matured. I just kept socializing him. He was attacked or rather ripped apart at a little over 1 year old by a pack of dogs at a doggy daycare (I was new to daycare, was using it for only a weekend of boarding, he wasn't a regular at this, but passed the behavior test to start going). He lost a lot of blood, wouldn't eat for 5 days, needed transfusions, and a ton of staples. This did not make him more shy however. I believe his docile nature may have contributed to how bad it was - he is not a fighter, but even after almost losing him with over 200 puncture wounds and internal injuries - he sprung back and we go everywhere together for him to meet other dogs I know and he loves people. We even do 5k runs with other dogs and people - lots of high energy with that situation and he's steady as a rock. Just keep working with him. His past may have absolutely nothing to do with his shy/submissive/scared behaviors. That might just be "him" but he's still young enough to be molded. |
| FIRST PUPPY SOCIALIZATION CLASS TODAY.... I didn't realize what other puppies are like... small breed puppies especially. They are sooo full of energy. There were a couple "big dogs" in the class (sheepie being one) and they seemed a lot less wound up. Sheepie did very well, the first section is going through about eight stations of agility equipment, toys, surfaces to walk on etc. He enjoyed all the playing. He was interested in what was happening around him but he stayed pretty focussed on me. He LOVES the agility tunnels and anything that makes a loud noise as he wants to chase it. The second part of the class is "pass the puppy" where the puppies get a chance to interact with all of the people in the class one on one. Sheepie was dressed in costumes up by other people, brushed, cuddled and even did some training practice. He seemed to be his same happy go lucky self at each station. I felt bad for a couple of the other puppies because this was a stressful part of the class for them. The final part of the class is supervised play time. The owners stand back and watch the puppies play with each other. Leonard did ok here, he didn't like the little toy dog who followed him around barking and grabbing at his face but he didn't snap at it. He did want to go visit the people rather than the dogs. Eventually he played high speed chase with one of the little dogs and he was gentle and seemed to have fun. They had an adult dog in the mix to show puppies that not every little dog is a puppy. At the end of the class several people came to ask me what kind of dog Leonard was. I think the best characteristics of the OES breed were brought out in this social format. Luckily I had brushed him out beforehand so he looked extra sheepdog fluffy and cuddly. We are likely going to go to a few more socialization classes to let Leonard continue to grow used to people and other types of dogs (he spends most of his time around other big dogs and is unsure of what to do around little dogs). If anybody is getting or has a puppy under 6 months of age look for a puppy socialization class in your area, it is LOTS of fun and was a very valuable experience. It showed me Leonard's strengths and some things to keep working on. |
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