My male puppy is almost 13 weeks old, my husband and I have had him since he was 9 weeks old. He came from a litter of many puppies and was very active and playful with all of his brothers and sisters.
I work from home so he is constantly with me. He is a little timid and gets frightened by new objects and loud sounds easily but is usually fine. We take walks daily around the neighborhood and he loves to meet people and is always friendly but is sometimes scared of big dogs.
We started puppy obedience class this week and there were about 20 puppies all socializing and he was one of the only ones who was too scared to walk around. He hid behind my legs or laid on my feet almost the entire class. When the puppies were let loose to socialize and they ran over to meet him at first he acted scarrd and when they kept coming he started to become angry and began to growl and bark. He stood in front of me with his paw on my fee and his lips even peeled back as he snarled. I was in shock. The instructor told me not to comfort him and just stand back and let him become comfortable.
My husband thinks I baby him too much and reinforce his timidness or anxiety by comforting him in situations where he is nervous. And that because I am with him 24/7 because I work from home he has become too dependent on my reassurance. I'm really not sure how to proceed and wonder if he has attached himself to me in an unhealthy way and is too worried of experiencing things without me right beside him.
I really don't want him to act aggressive towards other dogs. Usually when its just one dog at a time he is scared at first but warms up. In this situation I think he was just overhwhelmed by s of the puppies. What do you guys think? What should I do? He has 7 more obedience classes coming up and I want to be prepared. I have heard that border collies are very protective breeds so maybe he was trying to protect me. The instructor said within a few weeks he should feel more comfortable but is there anything I can do in the meantime to stop the fear aggression?
Attached is a picture of our pup. He is usually such a playful friendly dog but was so scared today in class.
