Hi guys,

My 9 months pup has suddenly started to show signs of fear. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
He doesn’t run away but his initial emotion is fear. I can’t work him out a lot due to his recuperating leg but as I have ppd training in mind for him, I walk him thru woods. Killing two birds in the same time- walk and little bit of training.

Like some advise on these issues-
Training
1. How can I make him less fearful?
2. Lately, I have been careless about people touching him.So when someone approaches to pet him, 50% of the time I allow it. Is this the cause of being fearful, acting like a baby….? I do want few people to pet him how do I distinguish?

Health-
1. I went to the vet and he told him that it could be allergies…His left back lips lately bleeds little bit and looks very dry. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Can I apply human Vaseline on it?

Thanks,

Rashmi

I really can't help you on the vet part but i may have an idea for the training. It is pretty normal for dogs to start to "take a second look at things" as they get older. think of this, as an baby he will trust anything the parent says but as they get older they start to think for themselves and look at things different. YOU HAVE to make him face things he is scared of. if every time he gets scared of something you let it go, he will figure out that if he acts scared he don't have to do it. i had a dog that i had to get rid of <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. this boy ended up working for the PD in texas but when i had him he was scared of darn near everything. he wouldn't even walk over a brick road. what my wife and i did was took him to the river walk in San Antonio. there were all kinds of things to over come there. by the end of the day he was walking around like yeah i'm the man. you could tell he had a whole new found confidence. just make him face things. the more you expose him to now the more he will find to be the norm. let him see that things aren't going to hurt him. once he sees that he will get confidence and then as he gets it put more stress on him. he should start to think wait im the man you aren't going to beat me. try to expose him as much as possible. hope this helps. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

It is normal for younger dogs to go through this fear stage. The main thing that you need to remember is not to "praise" him for acting fearful. Saying it is ok is saying it is ok to behave fearful. I encouraged my pup to walk up to things that scared him, walk over things that are shakey, since I am training him to do search and rescue I encourage people to pet him. If your dog shows fear what up to whatever it is that is scaring him or her and make it seem like it is no big deal so that your dog follows and checks it out too. Then when the dog does go up to the scary object or walking into the scary situation and starts to relax you can say good dog...My boy likes everyone, he is gentle with smaller children and will be completely still if a small child shows fear sometimes even lays down to make the child feel more comfortable. With bigger people he just kind of walks by and if they request him to come see them he looks up at me first to see if it is ok. If people seems afraid of him (like sometimes when we shop at petsmart) he will sometimes walk by someone and give them a quick lick...lol I am fairly short (5'1) so that makes him seem extra big (78lbs)I guess so for some people he is pretty scary and big looking until he gives them his super size goofy GSD smile...Don't worry be happy your dog will get over it just keep working and don't encourage the fear. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />