Brag and question

So we went to Spokane Friday to weight Talon for the apartments records and since we where there we walked around Petsmart for a while. There's really no dog stores here, so he hasn't been around that many people and no dogs in about....a month. Well, probably 3 weeks. lol

Anyways, before we moved he was doing great! He'd walk up to strange people to sniff, showed a lot of interest in greeting (well, at least to get a treat) with little fear. He was still intimidated by some guys, but would at least approach or watch them walk past without issue. Most women he would let snuggle him and enjoyed it.

Well, when we got here it seemed like he reverted horribly with people. There's not a ton of people most of the time and when he saw someone he started "woof"ing a bit and backing away. So I was slightly nervous about our trip to Petsmart.

Well, he did GREAT! ^_^ He walked right up to people, he sniffed them, he let three ladies, one guy, and 2 small kids (one about 7ish the other 3ish) pet him. He seemed to think the kids tasted great because they had just had suckers LOL Everyone else he walked by without any issue, no barking at all. He was slightly intimidated by the barking of a rather large Aussie, but that scared me too lol He met other puppies and dogs and he did pretty good. He's a bit of a pushy puppy but nothing too bad. He seems to think it's very rude for the other puppies to want to immediately jump on him instead of sniffing first lol Then we came home and now he's doing great here as well.

So that's the brag, here's the question.

David seems to think he just was going through another fear period or it was the stress of the move that caused the fear of people again. He just seems to suddenly wake up and be fearful, then, after a while, he is happy to see people again. When are the fear periods again? I know there are a couple, I just wasn't sure the right times exactly. It could also be that we moved from a fairly large city (people everywhere all the time) to a small town (3-4 people in a day that he sees).

We got him back into a pup socialization class. He had the option of puppy obedience (basics, but he already knows most of those) or socialization, and since he has issues with people and sometimes a bit pushy with dogs we chose socialization. That should start wednesday.

Hooray for the great trip to PS! Good boy!

I'm no help with your question, but I'm sure someone who can help will be along

I know the first fear period usually starts around 4 months, which I see happen to most dogs. There are others but honestly I think until a dog reaches 18 months fear periods can come up at any time, sometimes more noticeably if something's exacerbated it (like a move).

It sounds like you're doing everything right, just keep reassuring him and avoid anything too scary!

Border Collies don't follow normal fear period stages. They go through all sorts of weirdness before they finally cut the crap and behave like a civilized dog. My best advice is dont push any interaction on him- let him make the choice- make every interaction positive and don't be afraid to say "no, you can't come pet my puppy". Border Collies are not the most emotionally stable dogs out there, and if they have a bad experience they will remember it and hold onto it for way longer than most other dogs. Be happy and confident yourself, and be his social advocate. Soon enough he'll be grown up and over all this puppy BS .

Yeah I think this is true of so many herding breeds. OwnedByBC's advice is spot on. Don't force anything on him, just keep up with low key exposure on your terms. He'll be fine.

Oh beleive me, I have no fear telling people no. Art has made that a strong trait of mine.

Thanks! That makes me feel much better! ^_^ I'm going to try to take him to the school everyday because there are more people, but enough room for us to move far out of the way as well.

Do you know how long it takes BC's to reach adult weight?

Hard to say, BC males especially do a lot of filling out even after they're 2 years. I would say that after they do the bulk of their growing, around 1 year, you could tell about what they'll weigh.

Cool Thanks!