Fear Stages

We have some pups in the group that are nearing the end of their socialization phase (under 16 weeks) and entering what I like to call the pre-teen phase from 4-6 months.

Somewhere from 4-6 months old, puppies experience a short period often known as a fear stage.  During this time new or novel things are often scary to a pup.  That doesn't mean pups are suddenly less confident. They simply can't handle new or novel things in this stage. During this fear stage, puppies can seem to forget what they've learned as their brain is suddenly very distracted by the world around them. Puppies will also struggle with impulse control, meaning they will find new things to chew on and steal if they believe they can get away with it or start a grand game of chase the puppy.

Throughout adolescence, pups go through multiple brain changes that often cause these moments of being more susceptible to finding novel things scary. What makes this fear stage particularly challenging is that the puppies experience a change in eyesight that expands their environment rapidly. Under 4 months old puppies can generally see 10-15 ft away. With a brain hardwired to stay close to mom for safety and a limited sight distance, puppies under 4 months seem to have great recall and response to their name as well as what seems to be a great loose leash walk or heel.

Then around 4 months, their eye sight distance nearly doubles allowing them to now see around 30 ft away and their brain is being rewired with a mission to explore their environment further away from mom. Suddenly that fire hydrant they've walked past multiple times before was never noticed and suddenly they see it for the first time making it new and now scary.

WOW, where did that come from?

That doesn't mean pups shouldn't explore new things but this is the stage where you want to make sure every experience is a good experience! 

Good experiences help a pup to learn about their world.  But even 1 bad experience during this period can affect a dog well into adulthood.  So do yourself a favor and avoid exposing your dog to new things during this time period that you can't easily control. 

Trips to the dog park with unknown and often uncontrolled dogs is not a good idea.  But playdates with dogs that you know and trust to be safe around puppies is great. 

Taking your puppy to a community event such as a parade that is not important to you, where you can hang back a block or so away from the noise to observe from a distance can be awesome.  But a parade that your loved one is in so you really want to sit there and watch for them is not a good idea with a pup in this stage.  You can't control how long your there, the noise level of the parade, exposure to people and dogs, etc.  Make your choices carefully with your pups best interest in mind or leave them home or with a puppy sitter.

This is often when bad habits start to form.  Barking at strangers is a common issue.  As owners we push our puppies to meet new people, play with new puppies, and start exploring their world because often this is when puppies are finally vaccinated.  This is not the time for pushing!  Allow your pup to greet on their terms doing what you can to keep them safe, calm and happy in everything you do together.

This is also the age where bored puppies find their own entertainment.  So you need to find ways to step up the amount of mental stimulation you provide, especially for working breeds.  Training sessions still need to be short, 5 to 10 minutes long.  But you can do lots of training with simple games such as hide-and-seek, toy play with tugs or balls, and recall ping pong.  This is also a great stage to begin teaching hind end awareness and controlled footing.  I like to do this on an empty or slow playground.  The variety of surfaces, with twists, turns, and unusual steps is a great way to teach dogs to be aware of where the place their feet. 

Make this pre-teen phase fun for you and your pup.  Save the hard training lessons and exposure to more unpredictable or uncontrollable environments for when your pup is a bit older.  This will help your pup grow up to be the calm, confident dog of your dreams.

Check out the link above for how I helped Azul learn to love children by building up the experiences.