Hi,
I have a 7 month old male rottweiler puppy that had a fear of men, that recently came up about 2 months ago. I got him from a reputable breeder at the age of 8 weeks. His dam was imported from Serbia while she was pregnant and whelped the puppies in the states. His pedigree is all conformation and IPO I’s.

I was told by the breeder that he was the most confident puppy out of the litter. He never showed any fears what so ever until about 5 months old. I feel like I socialized him properly, I took him to Petsmart/Petco, friends house, etc. and he is currently in a obedience class and doing great.

This is how his fear plays out: A man would walk up to Riddick and try to pet him, he will duck back or to the side of the approaching hand (he will always reapproach the man after ducking away especially if they have a treat and tries to smell them, its almost like he wants to smell them first before he will allowing touching), no growling or barking. He will take a treat out of the man's hand and then try to smell the person's hand, but if they continue to try to pet him he will just duck out of the way and walk away if not on a leash.

He is not at all skittish around people in general, he is currently in an obedience class and we go to parks all the time (not dog parks) where there are lots of people and activities going on and he is not the least bit stressed, when people walk by him he even tries to get whiffs of them when they pass.

We have been working on this and I felt like we were making progress since my brother in law came over a few days ago with a male friend and he did great, I was ecstatic until he did the fear scenario with a female co-worker yesterday, that threw me for a loop since he has never done this with a women.

I have spoken to his obedience instructor about a month ago when this all first started and she said just keep socializing him with men. I have spoken to his breeder just days ago and let her know what is going on and she claims that she had nothing but positive feedback on the other pups in this litter. She currently has his dam and she is super sweet (I have met her) and she says she has Riddick’s half sister (same sire, different dam) and she has a great temperament.

I do plan on showing him in conformation and I just found out that there is a german style show next month in my area and I would LOVE to take Riddick, but I can't take him in front of a judge with this fear. Now MY fear is that this is his temperament. What is your opinion, is this just another fear period or could it be his temperament? And what else can I do to help him get over this fear?

Thanks so much
Beth


Edited by Connie Sutherland (03/28/2009 11:47 AM)
Edit reason: made paragraphs

My guess would be that this is the puppy's temperament. You can still work on this however, I would try to be the most exciting thing in her world with food or her favorite toy when strangers are around. If this doesn't work I would cut my loses and except that she may serve as a nice companion.

Do a search of this site and you will find a wealth of information about this subjectl

Best of luck with your puppy
Debbie

at 5-7 months right around teething some puppies go through a "fear stage" where suddenly, puppies that were previously confident suddenly develop fears about things they weren't afraid of before. By your description he does not sound all that fearful, more like aloof and is expressing that he does not wish for some stranger to paw at him. He is expressing this wish politely by stepping away, and not by growling or lunging. He sounds like a nice dog, but you definitely need to pay attention to what he is saying.

What I would NOT do is force the dog to accept something he is not comfortable with. That will only make him more uncomfortable and he will learn that you wll not protect him or help him. You do NOT want to make this a lasting fear!

I recommend getting him out and around people, men, women, children, people in hats, men with beards, different ethnicities etc. DO NOT let anyone scare your dog or his fears will be reinforced. Make sure the experiences are positive; if that means strangers cannot pet him for now then so be it. The rule should be "no touch, no talk, no eye contact". Strangers (to the dog) can talk to YOU while the dog sits calmly at your side and if he likes he can sniff them and they can have a treat in their hand but they should NOT be approaching him, hovering over him, forcing themselves on him. If he is calm, YOU mark and reward him with fantastic treats and praise. He will soon learn that strangers are not going to harm him and that you will not let him be put in a situation where he is uncomfortable.

hope this helps!

"A man would walk up to Riddick and try to pet him..."
Don't allow this to happen.

 Quote: angela burrell

By your description he does not sound all that fearful, more like aloof and is expressing that he does not wish for some stranger to paw at him.

Ditto! It's not fair to this young pup to have to deal with full grown people trying to fondle him before he gets a chance to figure out who they are via their scents. Keep in mind that men especially can (unintentionally) come across as a little intense to young dogs (referring to their approach), and i've encountered plenty of intense women as well!

I handle socialization with my young dogs in a manner very similar to what Angela described. I instill confidence in my dogs again and again by proving to them that I will always protect them from "unruly/hard-of-hearing" individuals by handling the situation appropriately (sometimes this means that i physically block individuals from accessing my dog). This allows my dogs to grow up feeling comfortable and safe around strangers, and lets them check the world out at their own pace!

I agree, that doesnt sound at all like any kind of fear, just a puppy that knows his own preferences some dogs just dont like touched by strangers but arent fearful or aggressive. notice he does want to smell them first- thats just the natural order of things.

I followed everyones suggestions and I took Riddick to a friends house to meet her dad. My friends dad could actually follow my instructions of no touch, no talk, no eye contact (so many people can't follow my directions when I tell them that) and everything went well, Riddick walked right up to him and smelled him, his body posture was a little unsure, but he did well. Since he was doing so well we had her dad squat down and Riddick went right up to him trying to lick his face, I was so happy. I'm still going to keep up the socializtion in that way for awhile.
Thanks to everyone for helping me. Maybe we will be able to make that german style show next month =)

Beth

I moved this post into the thread with the first post.