[snarky]

okay, Baylee is a total ball of fear.

lastnight, i took her to my apartment (she's never been there) and as soon as she was outta the car, she was as low to the ground as possible.

she stopped and growled at the first person she saw. once i got her moving again, she was pacing back and forth and listening to every noise imaginable. i tried to get her to pee, but to no avail, i took her inside.

while standing at the mailbox, she sat right behind me on guard. a man walked in, she didn't budge, he on the other hand, got scared ????? and walked around her to the elevator.

walking down the hallway to my door, she was walking side to side but ahead of me, in a defensive mode. inside the apartment, she didn't seem comfortable at all. at one time, i bent over to calm her nerves as she was drinking and she snapped around (no biting snapped around) to see what was going on.

this is not good.

i told my b/f to keep a supervised eye on her when in public. she seems to be okay on her turf.

 

[Pitchic27]

AGE?

 

[snarky]

6 months

 

[Tia]

This is the major fear part of a bullys life. This is the time when alot of work shoul dbe going into your dog. Ob,testing etc.. Nerve is nerve she prolly wont be th eway you want her to be EVER but with training can get comfortable. This is the fear stage of their lives, this will tell whether they get worse... or better

 

[ares]

i have the same problem "fear"
he goes out to potty he comes back i raise my hand to pet him and say good puppy he just gets scared. he lowers his body gets into defensive mode. i dont know and remember how this started i never beat him (one he bit me and i padded on the nose) but that shouldn't be the problem right? We have another puppy in the house and she's not scared of us at all.
i want to make it get "better" but dont know how? any suggestions?

 

[Bustersmommy]

This is the major fear part of a bullys life. This is the time when alot of work shoul dbe going into your dog. Ob,testing etc.. Nerve is nerve she prolly wont be th eway you want her to be EVER but with training can get comfortable. This is the fear stage of their lives, this will tell whether they get worse... or better

Question for you Tia: Do they all go through this "Fear Stage" ?


Buster is 14 weeks and well to be honest has not really shown fear except when we first brought him home(new smells and noise).For example just the other day my husband was going for a ride and started his Harley while I had Buster outside and to my surprise he didn't flinch,the tail didn't go under he just sat there with ears up and just watched.So with this being said will he go through a fear stage? I feel that by having had him out and around noise,people,places and what not at 7-8 weeks of age took care of that problem.Why would it come on at a this later stage?

 

[Fury]

Is there such a thing as good fear?

I've only read the negative aspects of the fear stage - Fury was scared of stairs and she would tuck her tail, and put her body low but with coaxing she overcame it. Or if she met someone new she would hide behind me and slowly inch her way to inspect said new person.

I'm not familiar with this type of breed, so my apologies for the questions because I honestly don't know if there's such a thing as good or bad fear.

Thanks.

 

[snarky]

baylee's fear is blamed on my vet (in my head anyway), she kept saying i couldn't take her out in public until she had all her shots. she finished her shot schedule at 5-6 months old. so no interaction except ppl who came to the house and the AB we have.

the backyard is so secluded the only real noises she hears is the trash trucks. this am when i was taking her to my car, she ducked down low and walked far away from the exhaust (it has a little rumble)..... and on our walk the other day, a fire truck when screaming down the road and she jumped up on me like a scared child. i made her sit and told her everything is fine and good girl, etc.

maybe in time she'll be less spooked. i don't foresee any bad situations but i am cautious.

 

[Lisa]

Question for you Tia: Do they all go through this "Fear Stage" ?

I am not Tia but I will answer anyways. I do not think that EVERY dog goes through a fear stage. I think there are some real good dogs out there who just have that balls to the wall attitude from birth and from day one just reek of confidence (man I need to find myself another one of those dogs!) . That being said, I do think its pretty rare for a dog to NEVER spook off of anything in their life but I do not think that every dog goes through an actual fear stage where they are being spooked frequently in a period of a few months. Despite the poor breeding practices out there today there are still some rock solid dogs out there.

I have heard of dogs who were basically chain dogs for over 2 yrs that were then taken and put in new homes where they were exposed to many things they had never been exposed to and did FINE. I think that is good genetics at work. A good, strong dog doesn't require a ton of socialization and exposure to things in order to handle that. Perhaps a mediocre or weak dogs does but a strong dog does not.

Rosco is almost 5 yrs old and never went through what I would consider a fear stage but he has spooked off of a few things in his life. I could probably count those things on one hand and all of the things he did spook from he recovered from quickly. I think one of the most important ways to determine the severity of nerve problems is by judging the recovery rate. If a dog gets scared of something and runs and hides and won't come out within a few minutes time, I think you have a big problem but if it will spook, run off, but then return quickly, I wouldn't conisder the problem to be as severe. Mind you, the ideal dog wouldn't spook at all but those dogs are the gems and aren't that easy to find.

 

[Tia]

I hear ALOT of good breeders tell me about the "fear stage" now i am not saying these dogs should be hiding and going nuts from anxiety and get better . THEY WILL NOT, I am saying puppies go through stages. Genetics will tell you whether they can go thorugh it or not. A good puppy will recover. I am saying that you ALL should be putting your puppies through testing, and timing how good their recovery rat eis, and if there is one.I have gone to alot of training seminars and if their was a puppy with problems with "crowds" then we did ob,tracking,and protection in a crowd! it gets worse before it gets better for some.
I Just dont get too alarmed at those young ages for fear, they are pups. They will go through that stage. When they are super young (8weeks - 6months) they should be super confident, some after that get a little fear in them ( when they are really young they KNOW their owner will protect them) once they get a bit older and see fellow dog out there and people they r unsure soemtimes. Its like when we r in kidergarden we are all off the walls and happy not scared of anything, but when we go to Junior High we get a little scared, we know it will be ok, but unsure
Thats not to say that MOST american bulldog puppies SHOULD go through life, Confident and Clear in the mind! but like Lisa said those are few and far between

 

[Tara<3Boss]

Question for you Tia: Do they all go through this "Fear Stage" ?

I am not Tia but I will answer anyways. I do not think that EVERY dog goes through a fear stage. I think there are some real good dogs out there who just have that balls to the wall attitude from birth and from day one just reek of confidence (man I need to find myself another one of those dogs!) . That being said, I do think its pretty rare for a dog to NEVER spook off of anything in their life but I do not think that every dog goes through an actual fear stage where they are being spooked frequently in a period of a few months. Despite the poor breeding practices out there today there are still some rock solid dogs out there.

I have heard of dogs who were basically chain dogs for over 2 yrs that were then taken and put in new homes where they were exposed to many things they had never been exposed to and did FINE. I think that is good genetics at work. A good, strong dog doesn't require a ton of socialization and exposure to things in order to handle that. Perhaps a mediocre or weak dogs does but a storng dog does not.

Rosco is almost 5 yrs old and never went through what I would consider a fear stage but he has spooked off of a few things in his life. I could probably count those things on one hand and all of the things he did spook from he recovered from quickly. I think one of the most important ways to determine the severity of nerve problems is by judging the recovery rate. If a dog gets scared of something and runs and hides and won't come out within a few minutes time, I think you have a big problem but if it will spook, run off, but then return quickly, I wouldn't conisder the problem to be as severe. Mind you, the ideal dog wouldn't spook at all but those dogs are the gems and aren't that easy to find.

Agreed. That's how Boss got his name. I tell people his name and they look at me like I've got three heads From the very day my sister brought him home, he was trying to Boss us around. Not an ounce of fear in the little guy. Even when he was very young, when I first got him, walking down busy streets with lots of people and noise didn't bother him at all, he enjoyed every minute of it. However, I have seen him get startled before. Eg, he was sleeping one night, and the cat knocked something over in the tub that made a loud noise and Boss jumped barked a few times and ran to the noise. He never barks, like ever, so I knew he got scared for a minute.