I was just reading about weak nerved dogs- was wondering if someone could tell me how a dog with weak nerves acts and how to find out if you have a dog like this. I am going to call my breeder now a find out if my dog is from DDR lines. My pup is 7 months old and someone had told me that she is too young yet to determine if she has weak nerves. Are dogs with weak nerves bad dogs?

You can tell if a pup has week nerves when he is 8 weeks old. When I get a pup, I like to see how he acts in a lot of different environments, from age 8 weeks on up.

There are a lot of things that can show up in a weak nerved pup. Pups or Dogs that have weak nerves can:
1) freeze up on slippery or shiny floors
2) be afraid to walk up or down stairs
3) really get the hair up on his back when he gets around strangers
4) be afraid to walk down a skinny hallway

It's impossible to name every scenario, or all the signs that a weak nerve dog could display. These are just some examples. My friend has a dog that freezes up when he took him on a kids play ground.........the dog will not go over the bridge.

Are dogs with weak nerves bad dogs? It depends on what you want. If you want a PSD, then you want a good nerved dog that will not be afraid to go anywhere and can do bitework in buildings and will not be afraid to go into different environments. If you want a home protector, then it might not be a bad idea to have a dog that was a little nervy, so the dog will be quick to bark at strangers.

Hi Colleen,

I am certainly no expert but I do have an adult GS with weak nerves. I adopted him when he was 2 years old and right away it was obvious that he is a weak-nerved dog -- noises, slick floors, and almost anything new would visibly frighten him (ears back, tail down, slow to recover, etc...). He is 3 and 1/2 years old now and has gained some measure of confidence but is always unsure of himself in any unfamiliar situation.

To try to answer your question -- I guess it depends on what you mean by a "bad dog". I think my dog makes a good pet but he can also be unpredictable so I would not trust him in unfamiliar situations.

There are puppy tests that can be done at a very young age that are designed to determine things like whether or not the dog has weak nerves.

Colleen. John gave you a good list of signs. The "ultimate" weak nerved dog would be one who shy's away from strangers and strange dogs, not to mention strange situations. I had a weak-nerved GSD from American Show lines, Chelsey. It took her a LONG time to warm up to new people. When someone would come in my house, she would bark ferociously, but from a distance and would run if the person came toward her.

Really weak-nerved dogs can turn into fear biters as adults. You can prevent this from happening by socializing the hell out of the dog (with other people and animals). However, the socialization process for a weak-nerved dog is one that has to continue throughout their lifetime, not just the first 6 months or year of their lives. I did this with Chelsey and she never turned into a fear biter, but the possibility was always on my mind. The good news is that John's right. No one ever got near my house without me knowing about it!

And dogs can be weak-nerved about environmental factors but not about people. My GSD had trouble with the wood floors in our new house at first, and wants to take stairs at a run, but is largely unconcerned with strangers no matter where he encounters them. Not at all a PPD candidate, and I'm not sure I'll go on in Schutzhund (he works fine in prey but is having difficulty with the transition to defense), but a great companion. And at least his OB is rock-solid--I'd say that's an absolute necessity with a weak-nerved dog for safety's sake.

My new GSD pup freaked at first when meeting my buddies great daine the daine was very nice but it took the pup three or four minutes to be comfortable with him is this a sign? Because he's solid everywhere else.

Thats a sign of CRAP THATS A BIG DOG!

 Quote:

Originally posted by David Allen Gomme:
Thats a sign of CRAP THATS A BIG DOG!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Just making sure!!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Sometimes what we see as weak nerves is just learned behavior. When he was about 4 mos. my pup wiped out on a slick floor where someone had spilled something in the kitchen at work. It happened so quickly and he was back on his feet so fast that had I not been looking right at him I never would have known why all of a sudden he didn't want to walk on slick floors away from home. For a while he didn't even want to go in the door at work at all. I now feed him his dinner about once a week on the same floor where he wiped out and that seems to have fixed the problem. Of course with food on the steering wheel and a ball hood ornament I'm pretty sure he'll learn to drive.