Funny thing about territoriality. Overall, it tells you almost *nothing* about temperament, IMO. I get calls all the time from pet owners who think they have great guard dogs or the dogs are vicious b/c the way they carry on behind a fence. Actually, a good observer can pick off the nerve bags but you don't get much insight into temperament via territoriality.
There is a category of dogs that have been referred to as *shy/sharp*. I wonder if that is where the confusion comes from? I don't think it's an ideal description, b/c it makes *sharpness* sound like a bad thing.

IMO solid nerves are expressed by normal reactions to normal situations -- in contrast to weak nerves which are more apt to be expressed by abnormal reactions to normal situations. Sharpness is just the speed at which the reaction occurs.

So, is it possible to judge the difference in
sharpness vs weak nerves or defensive posturing in a 4-5 month old puppy? If so, what does it look like?
Nancy

Hoping for some opinions on my 3 month old pup. I'm a little concerned about his nerves, I tested both his parents and both were really nice dogs, so I'm not sure if what I am seeing with my pup is really a problem or if is my lack of experience in reading puppies.
If someone walks by suddenly, he will immediately move up close to my leg without showing any signs of being interested or willing to be anywhere near the stranger (it looks like he is frightened to me), but if the stranger stops and says so much as "hi puppy" he's running up to them trying to play. Once someone pets him for more than 2 seconds he wants to play tug with their pant legs/shirt sleeve/or shoe laces. If the person then walks away and comes back, my pup is at the end of the leash immediately wanting to play.
Is this initial trepidation an indicator of weak nerves? Is there anything I should be doing besides routine socialization with him. I intend to use him for sport work. Any insight would be appreciated.

Richard:

Perfect definition. And a weaker nerved dog will need less stimulus to elicit a response. A stronger nerved dog will need more. Hence sharpness and strong nerves are on opposite sides of the fence. Yes?

Joy:

Your territorial commentary was right on. Bravo.

“I'm not sure good nerves alone covers it. A dog w/good nerves may perceive the threat correctly and then choose to do nothing. Good nerves does not, by itself, mean the dog will respond defensively when appropriate.”

Out of all the opposing arguments to my thoughts that came the close to convincing me otherwise but after much thought I feel that has to do with defensive/fight drive genes. Not nerves or sharpness.

Ellen:

“IMO solid nerves are expressed by normal reactions to normal situations -- in contrast to weak nerves which are more apt to be expressed by abnormal reactions to normal situations. Sharpness is just the speed at which the reaction occurs.”

Again like Richard I agree 100% with your definition and that is the reason for my stance. Weaker nerves will increase the speed of the reaction hence sharpness. Note weaker not weak.

Nancy:

My pup is 11 weeks old and I can distinguish this already. My prior example was that I was walking Kai along the woods last week. A man appeared from nowhere. Kai barked for a second. Then after seeing what it was that startled him he ran up to him. If he had weak nerves he would have shied away from him and if he was like most of my prior strong nerved pups he would have never reacted to the stranger at all.

Chad:

Socialize him to death. Take him everywhere to meet everyone. Praise all forward movement. Ignore any apprehension. Too early to be concerned. Write back in a month on his progress then I will give you a more educated response.

Originally posted by Ellen:
IMO solid nerves are expressed by normal reactions to normal situations -- in contrast to weak nerves which are more apt to be expressed by abnormal reactions to normal situations. Sharpness is just the speed at which the reaction occurs.

Thank goodness for Ellen! Yes, that was what I was thinking as well, *sharpness* has to do w/the *quickness*. The opposite of *dullness* quite literally. I always think of the young Mastiff bitch who flopped down and fell asleep during a group class while the psycho GSD next to her was lunging, snarling, etc.
Nancy: there is an article on my web site, called *Elements of Temperament: Drives, Nerves, Threshold* that may help explain.
As for *the dog w/weak nerves would have shied away*. Ohhh, if only it were that simple! Weak nerves can manifest in many different ways. Yes, you can spot it in young pups, *if* you factor in that teenage pups (approx 4-5 mos and on), you may see a lot of experimentation that may throw you off. A lot of posturing and vocalizing that adolescents do is a bunch of nonsense and not necessarily a signal of poor nerves.
W/a pup who acts defensively or shies away from a neutral stranger, watch for the *recovery* time. How much time elapses between the initial fearful response and the pup's inquisitive approach? (If you read Elements, you will see that one pup took a full 25 mins).

Vince,

I didn't mention nerves at all in my definition. I am looking at nerves and sharpness as 2 different, interacting, things. In the example you cite I would say that is a sharper dog with good nerves. My puppy is a little less sharp. She doesn't care about a neutral stranger if she sees them appear. She barks and reacts if they sneek up on her. Solid nerves, less sharp. A weaker nerved dog wouldn't recover and go to the friendly/neutral stranger. If the dog isn't as sharp it wouldn't react by barking but would shy away and not recover.

The example of the Mastiff reminded me of a Jorg Silkeneth (sp?) seminar from over a decade ago. He separated a dogs "sharpness" into four groups and gave them human emotion descriptive names (I believe they were something like choleric, melancoly, etc.), but described them in an amusing fashion using a guys at a bar.
Type 1: (least excitable)If a stranger could walk up to this type in a bar he could bump into them, call him a profane name, make degrogatory comments about his mother, and spit at him before a fight would insue.
Type 2: would start the fight after the comments about mom
Type 3: would start the fight after being called a name
Type 4: would have been all over the stranger after being bumped.

I really enjoyed this explanation of sharpness.