Give it to me straight - is he weak nerved?

[Kittilicious]

I think I already know the answer, but if he is, what do I do? What do I expect, how do I handle it, etc? I am pretty sure he is, we call him a wimp. He is far from a confident puppy, that's for sure.

I've posted before about Knuckles' fear of the vacuum. he still avoids it, but he no longer avoids it when it's not running. He's no longer fixated on it for an hour after I'm done. He just goes in the other room when I vacuum. In the first couple weeks he hated the washer, but now doesn't care about it at all (except for when it gets unbalanced LOL).

But this morning I noticed something new. I ran the ceiling fan in our bedroom yesterday while we were gone because he was in the crate. (being it's winter it doesn't get turned on, so this was new to him) I knew we would be gone most of the day so I wanted it cooler in there. This morning I was sorting laundry in my bedroom and when I walked in the room I flipped on the light, which also turned the fan on because I hadn't turned the fan off yet. Knuckles was already in there, in the dark, laying on the dogbed chewing on some toys. I noticed that he freaked out a bit at the fan. He didn't run from it, but he was nervous and whined a bit, but stayed by me just watching it. (I hope he wasn't freaking out about it yesterday while he was there alone - but I don't think he could see it from the crate)

He's shy around strangers, but seems to warm up real fast, but is still unsure/cautious about them even when they are petting him (but he's all up in their face, tail wagging excitement).

He has shown no signs of aggression (but hey, he's only 5 months old) towards anything. He growled once at our Schwans delivery man, but hasn't since that first time. (but that guy makes me a little nervous) I think that is the only time I've heard him growl, other than playing with our other dog.

So from that little bit, what do you think? He never hides in corners or anything, he usually just is alert, interested & watches whatever spooks him, while doing a bit of whining... and hides behind us, if anything.

[JakodaCD OA]

He's young, if I remember correctly didn't you get him when he was very very young as well?

Just keep exposing him to 'things', and make no big deal out of them...It sounds like he's a little unsure about 'stuff', like the fan, the washing machine, the more he knows these things aren't going to eat him up, the more he'll except them..Make no big deal out of 'stuff',

I wouldn't push him on people, but I'd sure be out there in the big wide world every single day, taking him to new places, walk in town, walk around shopping centers, etc..The more exposure the more confidence he will build..

I couldn't say "weak" nerves, some of the things you've listed could be a normal fear for some young dogs, the vac, the machine off balance that type of thing..

[Kittilicious]

Yeah we did get him young - 5 weeks.

When we are out walking, he's not meeting people, but with 2 teenage daughters & a lot of family nearby, we have quite a few people coming to the house. He's meeting at least 2 people new every week just in our house.

On walks he is very interested in things... people, dogs. He usually wants to stop & curiously watch them, so we are working on just ignoring and keep on walking. I'm happy he doesn't want to pull towards them

[JakodaCD OA]

it sounds like your doing just fine with him,,if he's curious, let him check things out.

I obviously don't want my young dogs going up , getting into the face of some strange dog, but it's GOOD that he's curious..

I would stop, and let him 'watch',,by ignoring, he may be getting the idea, that 'wow my human doesn't want me doing this, maybe it's bad?"..make sense??

For instance, I had a friend who's young sheltie was afraid/barky at garbage cans,,the big ones outside,,she took him out in the neighborhood on trash day,,stayed away from the trash cans, but would get a tad closer while he was comfortable,,finally he walked up to one sniffed it out, and guess he decided it was no big deal)

[kitmcd]

I'm certainly no expert, but I agree with just exposing to new things and act like none of it is a big deal. I try to get my 6 month old out every couple days to new places. Of course new things do pop up in the home environment too.

I take mine to the hardware store about once a week. She goes to the car wash with me. She goes on errands with me. Sometimes drops by my office or my husband's. I just constantly look for new things to do with her....yesterday we visited an assisted living facility and a couple days before that we visited a large horse barn.

Of course, the scariest thing to her recently was going in the attic with me to put away xmas decorations and she saw a big plastic jack-o-latern stored there........WOW, she really reacted to that "face"! lol

[Kittilicious]

Originally Posted by JakodaCD OA

it sounds like your doing just fine with him,,if he's curious, let him check things out.

I obviously don't want my young dogs going up , getting into the face of some strange dog, but it's GOOD that he's curious..

I would stop, and let him 'watch',,by ignoring, he may be getting the idea, that 'wow my human doesn't want me doing this, maybe it's bad?"..make sense??

For instance, I had a friend who's young sheltie was afraid/barky at garbage cans,,the big ones outside,,she took him out in the neighborhood on trash day,,stayed away from the trash cans, but would get a tad closer while he was comfortable,,finally he walked up to one sniffed it out, and guess he decided it was no big deal)

I should have explained that better I guess. He doesn't meet other dogs, this is as we are walking by a house with a dog in the yard or someone else walking down the street or if they are in their yard.... he wants to stop and watch them. The only dogs he's met are friend's & family's dogs (and a Husky at the vets office that came out of a room and they were nose to nose & startled each other! LOL But there was no fear there, but it was quick)

[middleofnowhere]

The fan + light deal -- = pulsating light = of course that's weird!

That's all I can add.

[JakodaCD OA]

and that's fine,,if they aren't acting like idiots towards him,,if he's curious,,just stop and let him watch..

[doggiedad]

he's young. the things he's nervous about
introduce him to them slowly. i don't know
much about weather but is it that warm
in Minnesota that you need a ceiling fan on?
if you opened a window a little would that have helped?

[Freestep]

If I recall, you got him from a not-so-great breeder? He probably does have weak nerves, it's a common problem in GSDs, but you love him just the same! Keep socializing, but don't push him too hard, and introduce things to him slowly so that he can investigate at his own pace.