The "take on the world" up will adjust much faster. The weak nerved pup will need lots more time to adjust. Don't rush this pup! This pup can seem quite "normal" in familiar surroundings, but be a total wreck with new expieriences. Example: My weak nerved JRT is a nutcase. In the hunting field or at home he's fine, but, even at 7 yrs old, I can't trust him in a crowd of strangers. Hell, he'll bite me if I put to much pressure on him, and just goes balistic with heavy corrections. He loves my grandkids, but they know not to pick him up or corner him for petting. On the other hand, my rock solid GSD (7 1/2 months old) has flown in a helicopter, been in canoes, fishing boats, been in a fire house when alarms and sirens were going off. He slept under the truck, 15 ft from where we shot trap with over 300 rounds of 12ga. The grandkids crawl all over him, although they are still to small, and he has a lot of maturing to do for unsupervised play. Nothing fazes him.

Remember, "short nerves" and "weak nerves" are two *completely* different concepts and would require a vastly different approach to any training concept.

Folks need to stop using those two terms as interchangable - they're vastly different in meaning.

Agreed! I'm doing just what your saying NOT to <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> . My comments are aimed at weak nerved. Another interpritation would be a spooky dog. A short nerved (reactive) dog could still be very reliable and even desired in many cases. Example: Fetz. No one would dare call him weak nerved, but short would be another story. Does that make sence?

Old earth dog Bob Scott is cheating, since he was there for Bernard's lecture also <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

But his explanation is accurate <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

 Quote:

Originally posted by Will Rambeau:
Remember, "short nerves" and "weak nerves" are two *completely* different concepts and would require a vastly different approach to any training concept.

Folks need to stop using those two terms as interchangable - they're vastly different in meaning.

That's the information I'm looking for! I should have left weak-nerved out of my question initially -- been there, done that --with my first dog.
I don't know at this point if I have a "short-nerved" dog but I do have a four-month-old puppy that is basically confident, happy and eager to investigate new things. He's been well socialized, including weekly visits to the schutzhund club. BUT ... my only concern is barking, raised hackles and going to the end of his lead at other dogs and some strangers in the distance. He can be distracted with food or a toy and that's what I've been doing so far. Maybe it's something that will change with exposure or maturity but I want to keep my eye on it.

Well, that sounds exactly what my young Mal, Buttercup, was doing as a puppy. He'd see a new person, object, or location, and he'd hackle up for maybe 10-15 seconds, and scan the area to see if it was dangerous.
I think I read dog behavior pretty well, and with the exception of the rasied hackles, he gave no other indication of nerve activation. Even though his hackles were raised, he'd still greet any new people with his idiot-like Mal wiggling.
That behavior disappeared at about age 10 months, and although I've put him in many weird situations or locations, I've never seen him hackle up since then.

He does display typical Mal displacement behaviors, such as spinning while he waits for me to open the dog to go out - certainly a display of "short nerves".
So as a puppy/young dog, I knew he was "short nerved", and the hackling had me considering if he was "weak nerved". Maybe due to socialization or maturing he's overcome that, but I'm big into really testing my dogs when they've matured - so I can't fully answer what his nerves are until he's two or three years old and I deem him ready to start really facing the bad, bad, guy in a suit. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Will, check your PMs.