As a guard and for critter predation I have never had a better dog than our English Shepherd. They do chase cars, so watch for that.

You will have to watch the interactions with your children, training the pup not to bite, being certain that the children don't tease the dog or get into trouble with the dog's toys or bones. As long as you are not thinking that you have bought a golden retriever, you should be fine.

I have been pleased with my English Shepherd. He has been exactly as advertised, though perhaps a more serious dog than I anticipated.

here's my take . . .

sure , give it another week , but to me the main thing is : do you love the dog right now as she is ?

if not , send it back to the breeder so that some one who does will get a chance to develop a relationship with her .

sounds like a good reputable breeder who has her pups' best interest at heart .

when i say love , i don't mean " she is such a cute puppy " love , but the kind of connection love that will make all the time and effort you are going to put into her seem like pure joy .

unlike our children , which we don't get to pick , we do get to pick the canine companions we spend our lives with .

as an aside , i wouldn't be so concerned that the dog learned "sit" in two sessions , but i'd be more interested in how inclined the dog seems to be to engage with you . if you can get that , then great things could happen .

i'm a BC guy myself , and i gotta say , i'd way way rather have gotten the pup at 7 or 8 weeks . not saying that good won't come out of this situation , but the initial tone of the OP makes me think another pup might be a better choice .

I won't offer an opinion on whether or not you should return the dog. I've seen some very timid, nervous babies turn into wonderful companion dogs. Collie breeds can be quite nervous and soft. However, IMHO, timid dogs don't always turn into the solid, hard workers that you might be looking for when you select a working breed for a particular task. Your baby may well be worth the effort, but I would like to comment on two aspects of this commitment.

1. Where an impressionable creature is concerned, "projects" may not always be the one you want to learn on. "Project dogs" typically fare better with experienced handlers.

2. While you may be up to the task and committed to the project, it is not fair to tempt fate by placing your children in the line of fire. Experimenting with a fearful dog can get touchy, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to see anyone get hurt.

Hopefully your puppy is just going through a rough adjustment period and everything smooths out. If you stay committed, be also mindful.

2.5 & 6 year olds make noise, sudden movements, how does the pup handle this , Janiz?
I take note of how a pup reacts to various noise, I don t comfort them for nervous reaction.
Kids don't always handle pups accordingly, a little too rough, a little harder squeeze, it happens. I have many kids in/out of my house, I want a forgiving pup. Do you think this pup is forgiving?

I have a fearful German Shepherd...I got him when he was 12 weeks old and it was fairly apparent that he had not been properly socialized. I figured "no big deal, we will work on it". His lack of socialization turned out to be genetically based fear.

We've been "working on it" for almost 5 years now. It is a labor of love and I wouldn't trade him for a million dollars. He is not a normal dog. Luckily for me, he is not aggressive (not to say he wouldn't become so if pushed). He is primarily all about getting the hell out of dodge if something scares him.

He has required extremely extensive training, more so than any dog I have ever had. This training continues. The list of things he cannot do is pretty darn long still and we slowly have improvements.

Love him dearly, wouldn't do it again. My most recent pup hasn't had truly fearful moment in her entire life. She is so easy compared to him.

"Love him dearly, wouldn't do it again"..

My fearful Pinker, who led me to this Forum, where I have learned so much, and found Internet friends.....
He's turned out so great thanks to the Forum, I was daydreaming about having him cloned!