Puppy scared of other dogs!

[cybie]

We had a bad experience when Cybe was around 11 weeks. When Cybe approached a snoutcher and forward his paw to play (the cat style way) the other dog attacked him. Since then Cybe is scared of any dog barks and will be very suspicious of any dog that approaches, he seems as he wants to play, but on the other hand when the other dog comes close he’ll go back really scared… I try to take him out and let him meet many dogs and never force him to relate with them… I hope with time he’ll get over it, though I’m always scared of a second attack and then what!
I wonder what effects this will have to his future dog relationships… also there is the fact that he didn’t socialize with his brothers and sisters as I was forced to pick him up when he was 5 weeks old… I want a friendly dog and I’ll put Cybe in positive training soon… What should I do? What will happen? Anyone knows? Also Cybe is difficult in going out, still prefers cozy home, he also gets tired easily and the most I can take him out is for 20 minutes before he starts asking to go home… He’s over 14 weeks old now.

[Tulsa-Dan]

The puppy will get over the bad experience in time, with a few good play experiences under his belt. I would advise enrolling him in a puppy kindergarten class for socialization purposes. These pups will be more his size and he'll be able to have some good experiences to erase the bad. Obedience class will also be of great help in that he'll be in with dogs of all ages, sizes, and will learn more social skills and become more confident around other dogs.

Good luck.

[cybie]

Cybe is getting better now... though I put him in the procedure to socialise my dog trainers’ nice dogs... In the beginning he was scared but wanted to play... after two or three days he got really better... Also he overdid it once and been corrected slightly... He's now more confident when we walk outside, the only thing that happened once and really scared me, was when he ran away in the streets really fast, just by hearing some dogs bark! I WAS TERRIFIED! Actually I clicker train Cybe and I see a major difference now... when he hears dogs in the street and he's getting stressed I try to cool him down and give him treats so he will relate the dogs with a good feeling. It works. Also I did the mistake in the past to push him into tolerating his fear (I kept standing in a place where a dog was barking from a yard) That was a mistake, I never now force him to do anything and he's getting to be a really nice dog. What I really want to avoid is the possibility Cybe will get aggressive with other dogs… (Opposite reaction)