Fear Period? Response and Rebound?

[Carolk9s]

There is some interesting reading to be found regarding the so called 'Fear Period' in a pups life at http://www.nwk9.com/fear_imprint.htm

[ellieangel]

Carol that is an excellent article,thank you so much for posting.

It made me think about my poor lad,he couldn't cope and was exactly as the article described. :(

[courtnek]

thanks for that. there is good scientific evidence that in these situations, people compound the fear and make it worse. You can hug, hold and solace a frightened child and he will understand that. The worst thing you can do is "solace" a frightened dog. Your telling him "it's ok, dont worry" actually makes him think his reaction to the stimuli is correct..after all, you just "praised" him, by consoling him. This is one of the ways we inadvertently teach bad things to our dogs...they dont understand English, only tone of voice, and a pleasant tone of voice to them makes them think they just did a "good thing!"