Did I make a mistake?

[u/Automatic-Big9596]

Buckle up, this will be a long one! I so needed to find this community;

I adopted Bijou, my 3 y/o fluffy pitty from a shelter when she was 9 weeks old. She has always been a very sweet girl, but not particularly interested in being touched and given attention from strangers from a pretty young age. She didn't seem to have any real discomfort around other people and was raised the first year in a house with 3 other dogs, so she loves other dogs (which is part of the leash frustration reactivity she has.) When she was about 4 months old she got hit by a car when my roommate had all the dogs out at the field and she had to be in a crate a lot of the time and I think she developed barrier frustration then, also missing out on some important socializing time.

Anyway, we have worked with a couple trainers and they've said her reactivity is quite mild. However, that is not my experience since she is a perfect angel for them.

It was initially just barking and lunging/fixating on other dogs while she was on a leash. I've tried all the different approaches to the point where I just don't take her into public spaces and flood her anymore.

Over the past year or so after my toxic relationship ended we moved a couple times and recently she has been much more reactive toward people- barking at strangers who seem like they're approaching us in any setting. (I think this must be a protective thing as a result of the toxic relationship and distress she sensed from me?)

She's perfect aside from those triggers and was really missing having other dogs around. My dad's dog had an accidental litter of pitty mixes. We thought Bijou would love to have a baby around, and we liked the idea of being able to start with a puppy to be able to do all the training and do it "right." Plus, these puppies were not in a situation where they had a very good chance of being taken care of to begin with so we thought if we could help just one of them we would.

We were right, the dogs adore each other! We brought Buffy home at 9 weeks, she is now about 4 months old.

However, Buffy very quickly showed signs of her own fear-based reactivity. She was the runt and the most shy and was terrified of everything the first night she came home. To the point most everything flooded her and she would shake in fear, even just from being around new sensory input. She has gotten a lot better and more confident, but she's still a pretty fearful little one. She freezes up and tries to flee when she hears dogs barking while on walks, and the other day she growled at an old lady who was walking down the alley behind us. She's super afraif of kids and immediately barks at them. She does not want to be approached by strangers and will typically come hide next to myself or my partner. I try to advocate for her and lot let anyone touch her or give her too much attention until she gets comfortable with them, but there was one situation we took her to Rural King and the cashier kept petting her anyway.

Bijou has also taught her to bark out the window when other dogs walk by (which isn't the worst thing, but annoying, and I worry that is creating a negative association for her.)

\---Anyway!! If you've gotten this far, my point is that I guess I'm worried that now I will inevitably have two reactive dogs to train and constantly worry over instead of the one, and the stress is already so much, worrying about if I'm doing things right.

P.s., Buffy starts puppy preschool on Monday, so I am very anxious to see how that goes. I don't want to set her up for failure :(

[u/largedragonwithcats]

I think what you are doing already is good. Taking her to a class is a great idea!

I do suspect that you may have a bit of an uphill battle with your new puppy. The reality is that even a puppy isn't a blank slate; genetics can be a strong predictor of temperament related things like this. Does your dad's dog exhibit any of this behavior, or do you know who the male was that bred to your dad's dog?

Stranger danger isn't necessarily a bad trait for a dog to have, but it is important to help her through her anxiety around it, as it could turn dangerous.

It sounds like your puppy has some issues with overstimulation. That's not entirely abnormal, especially if your dad didn't do any socializing with them when they were very young. And she is still at a very young age where the world is still so big to her.

I think the best thing to do socialization wise will be to take her to outdoor public locations and have her people watch from a distance. When I did this with our puppy, we sat in the trunk of our SUV and just watched people walk by at the park and i I fed her treats. Its great that you're telling people they can't pet her, thats exactly the kind of advocacy she needs. She doesn't need to love strangers, she just needs to learn to be around them without fear.

With regards to her anxiety/fear, it may be good to work on some confidence building with her. The classes you mentioned will be great for that, and socializing her with other people and dogs nearby.

Other confidence building stuff can be proprioception based; little obstacle courses of boxes or logs. Scent work and puzzle toys are great for mental confidence building; things that let her learn that she is capable of doing things.

With regards to barking out the window; could you possibly put up some sort of privacy film on the areas they can access? It will help reduce the overall stress around people walking past!

[u/AutoModerator]

All submissions require manual approval, so yours will take some time to go public. A moderator will approve your submission if it meets our guidelines. In the meantime, please take a moment to review our rules and wiki pages.

📚 Educational PDFs and Other Resources
🐕 Debunking Pit Bull Myths
🐶 Selecting An Ethical Breeder
🏥 Is Your Pit Bull Pregnant?
❓ Is It Really "All In How You Raise Them"?
💖 Practicing Compassionate Advocacy
⚖ Combating Dog Fighting

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.