tamapup Posted May 1, 2019 Report Share Posted May 1, 2019 Hi everyone! Tama is now 6.5 months and very recently, he's developed a sudden and intense fear of things. We live in a busy city, and when I first got him here he was (understandably) cautious of all of the new sounds he was hearing. I introduced him to these sounds slowly and steadily, and by 5 months old he was doing incredibly well - as in, walking down the busiest streets and not even batting an eye at trucks backfiring, construction, etc. He wouldn't be 100% comfortable in those settings, and he'd notice the activity for sure, and maybe walk a little faster, but that was it. No fear. Very suddenly, he's become fearful again. It started with him barking at any strange sights. He is now constantly barking at home, out of fear it seems and not boredom. He barks at paper bags, strange sounds from outside, and then rushes to me for snuggles afterwards. If I put him in his crate and he hears something strange he continues to bark. When we're outside, if he sees something like balloons or a rolling cart, he becomes terrified and starts barking like mad - a deep, continuous kind of barking that sounds really scary and like it couldn't possibly come from the mouth a 6mo puppy. Just a few days ago, he saw an unfamiliar woman on the phone in the lobby of our building and charged at her with this kind of barking, completely petrified. The woman started screaming in fear. It wasn't a nice start to our day. And lastly - literally overnight - he has woken up to an extreme fear of traffic once again. I just took him out for our morning walk, and we went by the busy road. He freaked out on the leash when a truck went by. He continued to freak out even afterwards, tail between his legs, ears pinned back, low to the ground. I comforted him a bit and then we went back. It was like he'd never been outside before. Why is this happening all of a sudden? Should I be doing something specific to get him through it, or should I be patient with him and wait it out? Any help would be really appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted May 1, 2019 Report Share Posted May 1, 2019 Look up fear periods. It's been covered here and there's lots of info on the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Elle Posted May 1, 2019 Report Share Posted May 1, 2019 As GL has stated above, there is a lot of info on this. This is a normal "fear period" that many dogs go through, regardless of the breed. You can find a lot of info on this forum and other places on how to handle it. Best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamapup Posted May 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2019 Thank you! I've done some reading and hopefully we'll get through period quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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