Timid Puppy Advice

sadie06

Hello all,

So, as I said at the end of my Previously Sick Puppy thread (in which I received great advice) I hoped to have puppy news soon, and I do!

We went to visit our little 9 week old Miniature Schnauzer on Monday, and he is absolutely the cutest little dog ever. He will be coming home with us in 2 and a half weeks, when we return from holidays.

The visit was extremely positive. The breeder (who is also a groomer) was lovely and her whole life is dedicated to the dogs. We met the entire litter, and both parents, and they were all such happy, healthy dogs. We stayed for about 45mins to play and cuddle (with all of them) and she showed us the puppy pack we will get etc.

Our only slight concern was how timid our little guy was. He happily cuddled and almost fell asleep in our children's arms, but when down on the floor with his litter mates, they literally ran rings around him and he seemed kind of perplexed by their antics, trying to head back to their cushion through the chaos, with his tail between his legs.

A few of the pups are female, and they seemed to rule the roost to be fair! :-)

Should we be concerned about this, and gearing up to deal with a timid puppy, or once away from the litter, should he come into his own?


By the way, even if we hadn't picked him in advance, we still would have picked him on the day! We love him!


P.S Edited to add, in case it's not clear from the above post, we DID NOT go for the sick puppy. This is a different breeder entirely.

tk123

A timid puppy will grow up to be a fearful dog - It is NOT easy to deal with and they won't simply grow out of it. If your heart is set on the puppy you'll need to get it into puppy classes run by professionals asap who'll be able to give you help on building the pup's confidence. My dog was timid as a puppy and I've spent the last 4 years working on it(!)

sadie06

Thanks for your honesty. Yes, we really have our hearts set on him, and we'll do whatever we can to help him gain confidence if it's an issue.

DBB

I'd agree with tk here, your pup is learning coping skills now that will be with him for life, and this timidity around his siblings could very well translate into aggression towards other dogs as an adult.
To be honest, the breeder could do with taking steps to prevent what's happening, stepping in when the pup is starting to look a little overwhelmed. She might allow him spend more time with his quieter siblings, for example.
I'll square with you, I wouldn't be happy to leave my fast-developing pup in this environment for another 2.5 weeks unless the breeder takes some pretty fundamental steps to build confidence in this pup.
You've got until he's 12 weeks old to lay down the foundations of his social skills.... By the time you get him, that time will be gone, never to be recovered. As tk says, nervousness is a flippin nightmare to deal with later in life. If I was hell bent on getting this pup, if he's as timid as you say he is, I'd be taking him put of there right now, so I could socialise him myself. But as you simply can't take him now, you're potentially heading for trouble in the years to come.
A family dog needs to hit a happy medium between being confident, but not over-confident. A bit of wariness is no harm, but only when presented with a novel situation, and only if the pup eventually gathers the confidence to deal with the situation.

sadie06

I really didn't realise that after 12 weeks old there is no chance to influence his personality type. That's a bit of a shock.

When we asked the breeder about his timidity, she said he had just started to fall asleep when we got there and was probably a little overwhelmed.

Edited to add, we really can't take him any sooner. With the original breeder we were to take the puppy at 8 weeks in late August, and so we booked a holiday. Unfortunately that ended with the bitch getting into difficulty and having still-born pups. We then briefly considered another breed before finding this little guy, but we cannot get out of our holiday, nor can we bring him.

Wibbs

sadie06 wrote: »

I really didn't realise that after 12 weeks old there is no chance to influence his personality type. That's a bit of a shock.

I dunno how written in stone that is TBH. I had a German Shepherd many years ago who was afraid of his own shadow as a puppy(and was like that at 6 months plus), but I really fell for the poor bugger. Fast forward to adulthood and shy and nervous were the last two words you would use to describe him.

DBB

Ah in fairness now Wibbs, you know there are always exceptions! It's not the timidity in itself I'd be so worried about here, it's the behavioural and emotional pattern being laid down in the pup's brain at this critical developmental period.
The op can't say they haven't been warned, and who knows? Maybe they'll get away with it! But the chances are reduced a lot because of the present circumstances.

boomerang

I adopted my nervous pup when she was about twelve weeks. Everything fazed her!

Fast forward eleven years and we have had a wonderful life together, but her life has been so circumscribed by her nervousness, which she coped with throughout her life by barking and lunging. We could never go to a dog park, a busy beach, a popular walking-spot, anything like that. I've made it work but it has brought a huge deal of anxiety to my life, in minding her, and if I were to adopt a puppy again, I'm with tk123, I'd be looking for a bomb-proof one.

tk123

OP could you maybe visit again at a different time of the day when you know the puppies will be alert - so you can get a better idea of how his is? Also I'd advise you to book a spot in puppy class asap because they fill up weeks/months in advance!

sadie06

tk123 wrote: »

OP could you maybe visit again at a different time of the day when you know the puppies will be alert - so you can get a better idea of how his is? Also I'd advise you to book a spot in puppy class asap because they fill up weeks/months in advance!

The puppy is over four hours away from us, so we weren't planning that journey again until it's time to collect him. I'll definitely look into puppy classes and I will ask the breeder to whatsapp a video of him when he is alert and interacting with the litter.

Thanks for the suggestions.

aonb

op I feel so sorry for you when you have set your heart on this particular little puppy, then to read all the advise given here and now not know what the heck to do.
GOOD idea to get the breeder to send you video of him interacting with his litter. It might have been just one day when he was off-form??? Was his behaviour very obviously different to all his siblings?
I have a young dog that never showed any signs with his litter of being timid (we've had our dogs from a breeder/friend down the road so visited our puppies every day til they were ready to leave their mother). Our youngest dog has grown into a really timid adult - only with other dogs - we have socialised him from day 1, but he is just aggressive/territorial/anxious with every dog he meets and x100 when other dogs come to our house. So even tho he was fine/showing zero signs of being timid with his litter, he ended up being an anxious/timid personality.

We wouldnt swap him for anything - he is gorgeous and we love him to bits, and he is 100% fine with people. But do take on board all the advise given here - especially if you are a first time dog owner.

ShaShaBear

I can't really advise on the puppy situation, but I would just like to give you a good ould well-done for taking the advise on board and not taking the sick puppy, and showing genuine concern for the puppy you are now thinking about, and the fact that he is showing characteristics that you are unsure of. It shows that you are going into this with your head screwed on, which will only mean an excellent future for any puppy you might end up taking home

Maybe ask the breeder if the puppy likes toys in particular, and organise one more visit when they are alert. Take some squeakies or something and try and get him active and rialled up to play. If he won't come out of his shell at all around his siblings, it does suggest that he will have problems with other dogs in the future. Do express your full concern to the breeder about this - they might take steps now to assist you.

inocybe

It's a lot of work owning a nervous dog. Mine was timid but ok while still young, did all the classes, socialisation and they helped. But he still has problems, and they got a lot worse when he reached adulthood and fear aggression kicked in.
The breeder should be stepping in and not allowing the pup to be bullied by siblings. If you can't get back for another visit, what about talking to the breeder on the phone and asking him to do what DBB suggested. Action taken now could save you trouble later.

sadie06

Thank you all so much for the great advice. I'm delighted to say that our fears have been allayed!

The breeder sent a few short videos (Whatsapp is great) which showed him interacting and playing well with the whole litter in their puppy pen, and also getting into a tug of war with another puppy over a toy.

He was behaving just like the rest of them to be honest. We must have overwhelmed him the other day!

I promise not to be this dramatic when we finally have him!

tk123

Ah that's great news . Our puppy is coming home tomorrow

sadie06

tk123 wrote: »

Ah that's great news . Our puppy is coming home tomorrow

Oooh...exciting! Fun times ahead!