11.5 Week Old too Timid?

[New Pup]

My gf and I got female gsd at 7 weeks old, our first puppy. She has been doing real good with training. Was pretty well potty trained in 1 week and hasn't had any accidents since her second week. She learned come her, sit, down, stay pretty well and is good at fetch. We take her to over to a friends house often, to pets mart, walking etc and she does ok. Sometimes she's timid of a big dog but will eventually sniff the dog and relax. On walks she is pretty timid and sometimes barks at people until they pet her and she realizes it's alright. However, yesterday I took her to a dog park and she was all nerves. Walking up there were dogs barking and when we went to go in some lil energetic dogs charged up to her and she wanted to run away. Someone had a friendly gsd/retriever pup that wanted to play with her but it only made her more nervous. After about 5 min of watching her cower in the corner I decided it was too much too fast and left with her. My question is this behavior something I should worry about with an 11 wk old? I don't want a scared dog that I can't trust around other people or dogs so I would like to get her past this fear but don't want to push her so hard that it has a negative effect.

At home she pretty much dominates our ~6 yr old collie/cattle dog stray mix we took in a year ago. She's gentle and submissive and skiddish (probably from being a stray) but playful with the pup, but our puppy will pretty much boss her around. Just wanting opinions about how to keep socializing her without pushing her too hard. Thanks, and sorry for the ramble.

[mego]

Dog park has all sorts of rowdy dogs in the area even if it's just one dog approaching you. She probably just needs a lower dosage of exposure, like you said 'too much too soon'. Maybe your dogs at home are okay now, do you have a friend that has a pretty bouncy or active dog? Introducing her to one to get her used to that dog first, or meeting dogs outside while on walks, and then working up to the full blown dog park later on would probably be good. The barking and charging of other dogs probably scared her too much to attempt to be social.

[doggiedad]

i think 11.5 weeks is to young for a dog park. set up
some play dates . invite plenty of people to visit.

[pariahdogs]

She is in a fear period of her development right now, and it is a very critical stage where her experiences right now are the building blocks for her future. You need to make sure that each and every single interaction and experience she has right now is positive. If she is afraid in a situation, remove her from it. Right now if you are allowing her to be in a situation that makes her nervous and scared, that is going to reflect later in life in her behavior.

Don't take her back to the dog park. Instead, try enrolling her in a puppy class. Not only will she get to interact with dogs around her own age and development level, but she will acquire training in another environment. Most puppy classes are half training and half socialization/play opportunities.

Bring a high-value treat everywhere you go with her, like bacon, bologna, or hot dogs, cheese, etc. Make sure each and every person you meet greets her with a treat, give her positive reinforcement for the greeting and ends with a treat as well. This will help her build confidence when greeting new people and situations. I go by the "100 people by 100 days" method, and I make sure that each experience my puppy has is positive and each person leaves a positive impact on my puppy.

Puppies, especially in the fear period, should not be around unknown adult dogs, especially in an environment as hectic as a dog park. She needs to develop skills with dogs her own age, and feel comfortable with new puppies and dogs before you can build and move onto older, well behaved dogs and then move onto the "unknown element" dogs.

You need to hurry to get the positive experiences into her, though, because the main socialization window is closing.

Socializing Your Dog or Puppy Will Boost His Confidence and Make Him More Reliable - Whole Dog Journal Article
Puppy Development Stages | Wonder Puppy
Developmental Stages
Socializing with People - Dog Obedience