# My puppy is too anxious/alert?



## eaticecream (Jul 27, 2012)

My Koby is 4 months old now, and he has always been timid and alert. He will awake at the slightest sound (door opening, someone walking up stairs) even when he is deeply asleep and has always been on the anxious side. He is wild in the house, but once we get outside he is afraid of everything! When we first tried to walk him, he ran like a rocket into the house (with me running after him, leash in my hand) when he heard a car pass by. When we went to the vet, there was a puppy who appeared harmless to me, and he cowered and peed. In the nights, he will wake up and start barking nonstop when he hears a car door slam in the street. We like that he is alert, but I feel that his quality of sleep is being ruined. What should I do to help him become less afraid of his surroundings, and to help him sleep better?


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Unfortunately there is no shortcut for this. As he grows older it could get better. But you still need to work on it diligently.
Depending on circumstances, I would suggest desensitizing or counter conditioning.

For example, with 'harmless puppies' I would try to praise and reward him or engage him in a game when the puppy is around, but not close enough to get Koby worked up. That way, he will associate the puppy with good things (treats!). 

For the barking I would teach a strong Quiet command. I think being alert and barking is a good thing for a dog to do. But you want them to stop after a few barks. Don't worry about _his_ quality of sleep. He will be fine. If I were in your shoes I would worry about MY sleep 

In terms of being afraid of things like cars passing, a lot of people might disagree with me on this one but I'm a 'suck it up and deal with it' sort of person, *as long as* the dog isn't completely shut down from the stimulus. So if I have a dog that is afraid of cars rushing past. I would honestly just keep a tight leash and just keep walking in a very car congested area. Obviously if the dog flat out refuses to move and is THAT afraid, you don't drag it across the ground. If that's the case I would go somewhere with slow traffic first and build up from there.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

I agree with Canyx, except start out slowly with the cars from the beginning. At about 3 mos, puppies go through a fear cycle in their development - be patient with new experiences, helping him to work through them, persistently, and gently.


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## Salina (Sep 2, 2012)

Canyx said:


> In terms of being afraid of things like cars passing, a lot of people might disagree with me on this one but I'm a 'suck it up and deal with it' sort of person, *as long as* the dog isn't completely shut down from the stimulus. So if I have a dog that is afraid of cars rushing past. I would honestly just keep a tight leash and just keep walking in a very car congested area. Obviously if the dog flat out refuses to move and is THAT afraid, you don't drag it across the ground. If that's the case I would go somewhere with slow traffic first and build up from there.


I agree on this. my puppy (5 month) was exactly like this. she was scared of EVERYTHING. well, i put a harness on and took her for at least two walks a day. I just completly ignored her being scared and just kept walking. yes, i did drag her with me a little bit, but it got better kind of fast. and now, 2 month later, she still looks at things, but she is not titally scared anymore. sometimes she is a little scared, but its really nothing compared to two month ago. 
not sure its good advice, but it worked great for me. i did it like tihs, because, to be honest, i did not feel like giving her treats non-stop on our walks. i never take treats on walks. 
i just feel like, the more you try to "make them not being scared", the more attention they get and the worse the being scared gets.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

I think it's just a matter of knowing your dog. The danger to desensitizing them like this is the risk of making their fears even worse. As an example, some people 'teach' their dogs how to swim by throwing them into the pool. Well that didn't help my dog. (though he didn't become MORE afraid of water either...)

But as a more realistic example, as a puppy Soro was afraid of two things: puddles, and grates (on sidewalks).

For puddles, during one walk he lunged ahead to jump over a puddle that had built up over a curb. I dragged him back over (as in, put pressure on the leash, he jumped back over the puddle to me), kept a tight leash, and we walked right through that measly puddle. Never been a problem since.

For grates, it was clear that if I had used the same method, I would have made him traumatized of grates. Instead, I used high value treats to persuade him to walk near them and went from there. It took longer, and he still doesn't prefer to walk over grates. But he will do it and they are not a big deal.

Different fears, different cures. Know your dog.


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