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What oh what is a "fear period"?

2K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  Mandemetz 
#1 ·
I keep hearing about a so-called fear period. Lots of posts regarding this! What is the cause of it, when does it happen and why????
 
#2 ·
There are usually a couple of fear periods in a puppy's life. It's developmental, in the same way that infants or toddlers go through a "stranger danger" period. During fear periods, if a pup has a seriously negative experience, you have to work hard to undo that experience. You also need to be patient with a puppy who has seemed to regress; the regression may simply be that they have new fears that they didn't have previously.
 
#3 ·
There are a few periods in a young puppies life where things that normally didn't bother him will suddenly cause a negative reaction. Fear of night, of shopping bags, of new furniture in the house, garbage can lids, a simple broom laid against the house where it wasn't before...and many others can suddenly scare the pup. You must treat each occurance as a normal thing, make no deal of it at all and allow the pup to go to the object and see/smell it then dimiss it to the pup. Act normal, no babying. Fear stages seem to pop up in the early months then again around 5-8 mo. Crazy, but just another stage you need to work through. If you don't get them past this, then some fears can continue through out the life of the dog.

There are many threads here with owners who face this and ask for advice. Look for them and read. They are worked through and some pups go through this more than others. This is just what human children go through, and we work through them the same.
 
#4 ·
Some dogs do experience it worse than others...Tess had a distinct fear of the steam blowing holes in New York, and she didn't like the water valves coming out of the wall. The valves were easy to solve, the steam took a while. Liza didn't like the garbage cans in the morning, the shadows made them very large. That too was an easy fix. As far as I know, those were the only things my dogs picked up.
 
#7 ·
Ours would be afraid of a big rock sticking out of the water. When she realized what it was, she actually looked embarassed.

The latest is: We had some repairs being done on the house. She was very friendly and wanting to play with the people. However, one gentleman she really barked at. I calmed her down and that was that. It was odd. She never reacted that way before. Then we were in the store and an employee was talking to her from a distance. She again started to really bark. Come to realize both men had beards. This gentleman came over and she was scared at first but he was great with her. She was fine after that.

It is funny to watch what they are aware of and not.
 
#8 ·
Our last dog was afraid of cardboard boxes. When he was about 12 weeks old we got a new entertainment center and the empty box was leaning against a wall. My husband threw him a tennis ball and it accidentally hit the box and the box fell over and scared the crap out of him. He was scared of cardboard boxes forever! We could've literally fenced in our yard with cardboard boxes and he would've stayed put!! I knew nothing about fear period at that time but have been a little more cautious with our current dog!
 
#11 ·
I noticed this in Rocket about 1.5 months ago, at 6.5 or 7 months old. He was completely fearless up until then. Nothing and no one bothered him.

Then he started shying away from loud noises, or showing hesitation with things like stairs and playground equipment, that previously were no big deal. There haven't been any specific triggers that he has continued to be afraid of, like the cardboard boxes a previous poster mentioned.

I just let him check out whatever strange object startled him. Or if it was something making a noise, we approach and walk by like it's no big deal. He's gotten over everything except the baby gate.

My kids have a habit of trying to climb over the babygate, no matter how many times I chastise them for it. And the thing is forever falling over and banging on the hardwood floor. I always make sure it is securely fastened, but our babysitter and my husband are not as diligent and somethimes leave it just leaning against the door frame. So now Rocket is very nervous around it. Which, quite honestly isn't a terrible thing in my mind, because he NEVER tries to jump it, and keeps his distance when we are coming through the doorway now instead of rushing the gate.

But I am still hammering it home to the kids that they are scaring Rocket when they knock it over and they need to go around to another door.

Now, at 8 months, he isn't seeming as nervous as he was a month ago (except for the gate).
 
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