Dog Social Development
Sometimes a lack of early social development is the cause of fearfulness. If you have a young dog and suspect that this may be his problem, it is important to start working on it right away. The earlier you attack at this problem the better and the more success you will have at it. The longer you wait to tackle it, the longer it will take to improve.One suggestion that works very well is to put your dog into an organized group training class. It is very important to talk to the instructor about how you feel your dog is doing and the things you would like to see him improve in, set up goals. If you take your dog to a dog day care it is also good to talk to the personnel about your dogs problem so that they can help your dog as well. There are also special places that deal specifically with dogs with problems along these lines, and the people that work there know how to deal with these things as well as provide a nice environment for your dog and help him over come his fear or fears. It's always better and more recommendable to acquire your dog from someone who has been raising dogs and who knows about dogs, then just by random. Doing this might save you a lot of frustration as focusing on dogs in their early years is determining for the years to come. Often times dogs who have not had the appropriate kind of training grow up to be very apprehensive and fearful dogs.
There are dogs that have these fear related problems due to the fact that they were mistreated or hurt in the past. And there are also dogs who have these problems due to lack of socialization, but whatever the reason may be, just remember that this type of dog needs lots of love, care and understanding to help them to adapt and have confidence in humans. Remember though that babying them or pampering them will not resolve the problem, it could actually make it worse. This applies to dogs with socialization problems as well as to those who have been mistreated. Socialization is usually the best route to go although it may be difficult due to the time it takes but the results are really worth it.
