Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Fear Periods

I have never been one to worry about fear periods in puppies.  I am amazed, over the years, how many people freak out when their puppy is afraid of something as they are growing up.  Over the past 10 years I have heard people ask "what should I do Fee Fee is sooooo afraid of 'X' and I don't know how to handle it".
I have seen so many people try to "work" their dogs through it.  Why?  If I am afraid of spiders and you force me in a room with spiders I will most likely deck you one.  Duh!!!!
If a dog is afraid of a fire hydrant, don't flood them with it and force them to go up to it.  Just do your walk every day and walk right past it like it isn't even there.  Don't try to be a Pezz dispenser and constantly feed cookies to your dog as you are walking by something that has spooked your dog in the past.
So, over the 18 or so years of raising dogs on my own, I have learned to just let them deal with it.  The more a human worries over it the more the dog becomes phobic over it.
So, my response to my dogs is to let them grow out of it.  I do not try to desensitize them of anything that they are "afraid" of at the time.  I just carry on with life.  If they show fear of something I do not recognize it and just carry on our marry way.
My dogs are pretty much fearless in life.  I really can not say that there is any one thing that freaks any of my dogs out.  I know that things that come out of the blue can make them startle, but heck it would me too.

Fusion Beginning Agility.mov

I have finally found the time to stay committed to Fusion's agility training. It was hard in the past because I had Connor at home with me. Now that he is in school I can work dogs more. Happy me and happy dogs. Fusion is everything I wanted from both of her parents. She is my little workaholic who loves to do anything I ask. She is biddable, but is not soft. She is very fast and has tons of drive. She makes working her tons of fun.
Besides being a very nice agility dog, she is also a very nice sheepdog. She has a natural cast to her outruns, with a nice amount of eye.

Here is a video to show some of Fusion's beginning work. More to come when the rain and snow goes away.