# Insecure



## dak11 (Mar 12, 2010)

We've had our puppy since week 9 and she's now about 10.5 month old. 

Over the time we've had her we've taken her a ton of places to help socialize her (dog stores, parks, strip malls, beach, boardwalk, obedience class, agility, doggie day care, etc.) and to have her meet as many people and other dogs as possible. 

Up until about month 8 everything was going great. She was healthy, seemingly happy, and receptive to meeting people and dogs. Shortly afterward, which coincidentally coincided with her getting spayed, she started to have issues with meeting new people and dogs. 

Now, she tends to bark at people and dogs all the time if she doesn't know them. With people she'll bark, stop, slowly go up and smell them, and then continue barking (we're nervous of her nipping people). With dogs she's been barking, raising her hackles up, and it seems like she wants to move in to challenge them. She's always had issue with other dogs staring at her but now it seems to have escalated.

After meeting/seeing these new people/dogs she gets better with dealing with them over time. In classes it seems to be 2-3 weeks before she relaxes and stops the the barking, lunging, and hackle raising. She's been through training and the trainer we've done the classes with thinks that it's an inherited insecurity that's causing her to do this and while we can do training which could help this situation it is who she is and she might always have this type of issues.

Is this true or would discussing these new reactions with a behaviorist be beneficial? We were hoping that this was just a phase that she'd grow out of when she matures but it seems like it's getting a little more pronounced rather then subsiding.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

I tend to agree with your trainer: she's a fearful dog and training will only make things better, not fix her. No reason not to get in touch with a behaviorist for a second opinion.


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

i can definitely relate to your situation, i have a young male 2 years old now, who is exactly the same way, and i have learned ALOT about the do's and don'ts having a dog with these issues..............

one important thing is to never overwhelm them with to much at a time......this is one mistake i made by having him in the wrong classes with the wrong trainers early on, and it made some things worse.......i had better luck finding my own information and taking him into controlled situations and enviroments only.........alot of counter conditioning, one on one people building skills, etc..............i would be Very careful what types of classes, and trainers you take him to...........alot of them believe in the old school way to just throw them in and let them work it out..........that does not work with insecure dogs, they end up adopting their own way to cope, which can come out in nipping, gowling, barking, whatever works for them in a situation......eye contact can be worked on if you have people who you can slowly set him up with, it takes a long time to work on these issues, with age it can get better, and with careful training teniques..........

i was in your situation and my biggest concern was my male with people, he started growling at eye contact at about 7-8 months of age, had nipped a few times, etc.......he has gotten better with people and the training continues forever...........i try to be calm so he does not pick up on any bad vibes from me, and sensitive dogs will be more in tune with your actions/reactions........i don't entirely trust him yet, but he has made great progress from where we were at one time........
i do agree your dog may never be 100% trustworthy, but through alot of Obedience training and slow but constant exposure things can be better..............

debbie


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

i did want to add, that i agree with your trainer...........it can be genetic, and probably is in your case, as it was in mine............the biggest problem i had was learning to train a dog who was insecure, i never had one before.........you do learn alot.........i always had confident dogs, dogs that after all the early classes and classes and socialization up through the first few years were fine with things. and there really aren't alot of general trainers that have a clue how to deal with it....so, be careful..........


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## dak11 (Mar 12, 2010)

Thanks Debbie.

She's really good in class as far as training (arguably the smartest in basic and Intermediate) and the dogs she's had puppy classes with are one's that she doesn't have these issues with and actually looks to play with them. So, it really is a trust thing with her. Once she trusts a dog/person she is pretty good and affectionate to them. An example of this is the guy who takes her most mornings for day care. She wags her tail and looks excited to see him and I watch them go down the hall with her tail wagging and her saying hi to all the other people who work there without issues. 

On the other hand, I'm a little worried that she learned some of these behaviors (barking, challenging, etc.) from the day care. Unfortunately, it's something we needed to do at the time because she was too young to stay home and neither of us work close enough to take her out at lunch.

I think we're leaning towards talking to a behaviorist if only to help put our mind at ease that it's not something we're doing and to see if there's anything that we can do above what we already are to try and help her.


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

very possible she could have gotten these behaviors from day care, i am not a big day care avocate anyway, ok for some dogs, but yes, they learn rough stuff and other unwanted behaviors.....

Good idea to go talk with a behviorist, chances are with more exposure, OB training, and age things will get better..........

best of luck i am sure you will figure it out with some guidence.......


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