Nervy springer puppy

[brownbear201]

Hi all,

I have had my springer puppy now for 6 weeks, she’s 14 weeks old. She’s from working lines and a reputable breeder. She enjoys her walks until she sees or hears another dog. She loves my older dog and is always trying to play with him but she is terrified of all other dogs. She isn’t reactive to them or anything and will just avoid them on walks but as soon as she hears a dog barking on our walks she immediately has her tail between her legs, whining and under my feet and looking around. My older dog on the other hand isn’t the slightest bit bothered. If another dog tries to approach her she becomes really frightened and begins yelping even if the other dog isn’t touching her.

She is a little nervy in general with other things but is far more confident with other things such as people. I socialised her as best as I could before she was vaccinated including taking her out in my arms but admittedly she’s not met many dogs apart from my older dog. However, I don’t know anyone with a suitable dog and as I don’t drive I couldn’t get to puppy patties and play sessions. However, I had no issues with my older dog when he was this age and he happily socialised.

I would appreciate any advice. I’m really worried that I’m going to end up with a dog that will only enjoy remote walks where we don’t come across anyone else which I can’t really do as I can’t drive. As soon as she hears another dog barking that’s her walk ruined and she struggles to relax.

Look into ‘confidence and resilience’ courses near you, to do with your puppy.
Check the trainers are force free.
In the meantime, don’t force or encourage your pup to do anything they’re not comfortable with.
Google ‘free work’ for dogs and see if you can do this at home or in the garden. Allow the dog to explore/discover at their own pace.

Tbh it could be a few things and no one can really help without seeing your dog around other dogs.

You say she plays with your older dog. But that could actually be appeasement behaviour (if you don't know what to look for, they can look very similar). So I'd keep an eye on that, and not leave them alone together (assuming you wouldn't and haven't already).

I would also not react when she gets nervous but instead focus your energies on your older dog who is calm. It's easy to want to fuss a nervous dog, but that reinforces their behaviour.

The other thing I would do, is get her eyes checked asap. I've known dogs react like this when they actually have serious eye issues (Glaucoma, PRA etc).

Speak a vet re. the eyes, watch your puppy and adult dog closely and (if you are 100% sure) it's neither of them, speak to a behaviourist who can advise. The worst thing to do with a nervous dog where it's a personality issue (as opposed to trauma) is try and sort it yourself when you have no experience. Please don't panic and do your best not to react when your puppy does stress - it then reinforces their nerves.

My cocker was like this when we got him at 13 weeks,
Now he's the most confident, most happy little arsehole dog you'll ever meet and you'd never think he was ever like that.
He'd cower away from unknown people and dogs,
He was from a working farm and never lived indoors,
We just went on frequent but short walks, never forced interactions as such but made sure we got him out as much as possible and made him feel comfortable as possible and kept our own body language confident and comfortable.
If you don't keep carrying on with your pup and unfamiliar situations she will become a nervous wreck, to learn it has to be done.
My cocker is now 16 months old.

Oh no, the poor love. I have a young cocker who is the light of my life, so full of joy, and a sad spaniel is a very sad thing indeed.

It’s hard to advise from afar without seeing what thought process she’s having, but remember that she is extremely tiny. 14 weeks is still very young – indeed, is she not still in the socialisation period? We got our girl at 12 weeks and I definitely didn’t consider her socialisation period ‘over’ for at least two months after we got her as there was no way she could have met everything and every kind of person in such a short period of time.

As others have said, don’t pander to her concerns. Just walk on. She sees another dog, gets scared, don’t pick her up or fuss her, breeze on, nice and brisk – nothing to be scared of, all good. You want to build a positive association with things so she only has good encounters, so you spirit her away with a ball/treat reward/whatever works for her. Reward when she gets it ‘right’.

You need not to show your concerns too. You need to express precisely zero negative emotions to her about the things she is encountering and instead be confident – show her that it’s ok, that she is a big girl and she can do it. They know if we’re worried, especially if our voices give it away. If you tense up and she’s onlead, she’ll feel it down the line – and if you tense up every time you see a dog approaching and she’s on the lead, she’s going to associate a dog approaching with ‘oh no mum is worried’ and then she’ll be extra worried. You want to be happy, cheery, breezy instead even if it’s the opposite of how you feel.

Do these scary encounters happen when she’s on or offlead or both? Onlead encounters can be scary for already spooked pups as they can’t get away and that’s when some can become reactive, though you say she isn’t, which is good. There are various pattern games that you could look up that might work for this – they’re really good for getting a dog to focus on you when they need to.

If you live in Lincs you’re more than welcome to borrow my extremely polite, confident cocker to give her some positive associations with friendly but respectful dogs of her own breed.

Thank you very much for the responses so far! My older dog is a terrier so completely different breed and as we all know, terriers are afraid of nothing! 😆So it's definitely a learning curve for me.

@brushingboots that is true that she is still in her socialisation stage. It's off lead but she will attempt to get away whether she is on or off lead. I also really appreciate the offer! I'm in Cumbria but thank you.

Hi @brownbear201 I'm in Cumbria too. I'm a dog walker and know a lot of excellent trainers and people who offer socialisation and puppy courses if you needed some recommendations at all?

Apologies that it’s taken me forever to update this thread. Thank you @biscuitsandbooks that would be great, I’m in Carlisle area. We had success today. I’ve been walking her in the same place to try and increase her confidence a bit. When dogs have approached us I have been showing attention to the incoming dog and greeting it to try and show it it’s fine. Today she had a lovely play with a lovely staffie who played so nicely with her.

Spaniels can go through a stage at this point where they revert to a younger, more fearful state. It passes - be consistent and reassuring and she'll come through it, and don't avoid situations because of it. As she is working bred I would very much recommend you start thinking about gundog classes - you don't have to take her shooting to do the training.

It is worth remembering too that a spaniels first choice will be people - working bred ones especially. Obviously they should be happy to
Socialise with other dogs and it's very important, but it is bred into them that you are their world and working etc is just a bit more interesting for some. Do some training somewhere there are other dogs around, she should be happy to do what you are doing and get on with it while being aware of the others. Our Gundog only socialise with other dogs when told they can and it's okay, it's not tolerated that they bounce up to every dog they meet to say hello.

I have one who was somewhat similar as a pup. She's now an adolescent and still has no real desire to interact with other dogs at all. It's not really an issue though, she can walk alongside other dogs, walk past dogs, work/train around other dogs she just doesn't want to play.

I've got a one year old spaniel who was very sensitive at that age. A wise spaniel whisperer advised me to spend a lot of time with our puppy out in public but allowing her to just calmly observe people and dogs without being expected or encouraged to interact with them. I used to sit with her in the park or on the beach and let her watch the world go past. And I would actively stand between her and approaching people and dogs so that she wasn't forced to interact if she didn't want to. She gained confidence gradually from me doing this and is now a very confident happy dog with other dogs and people. You will get there. Patience and time.