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my family and i have a golden retriever pup who will be 1yrs old in december. whenever we come back from being away she gets very excited and jumps up on us all.. it takes her ages to clam down. when we bring her for walks she gets scared of the smallest noise or even seeing a cow in a field will scare her. we live rite beside a busy road and thankfully she never goes near it. also she is afraid of men, for example my boyfriend who she knows since we got her in february, when he comes in she runs away from him when he tries to pet her. is it jus that she is still a puppy our could there be something wrong?
How old was she when you got her? It sounds like she wasn't exposed to things before she was 12 weeks old. With some dogs, it is not easy to correct neglect earlier. When she encounters something she shows fear, remain positive a matter of fact. Do not let it stress you. She will sense that and it will add to her fear. don't coddle her, that will reward her for showing fear. Where practical, go up to what she is afraid of, talk to it and pat it. For the boy friend, have him give her treats.
kildarebabe, I don't agree that it is a simple solution that medication will help. Your dog needs training. All the things you describe are pretty normal for a dog that hasn't been trained and worked with properly. At 1 year old, she shouldn't be as afraid of things as you have described. Part of the training process requires that we desensitize dogs to all the new and scary things they encounter. Proper socialization with other dogs and people is also part of the training process. She is still young enough to work through her issues. The first thing you need to do is to discourage her from jumping up on everyone. When dogs are small puppies, we don't think much about it. But, if they are a large breed dog as yours is, when they grow, it becomes a nuisance. Which is why any good trainer will tell you that you need to get the jumping under control at an early age.
There are too many issues that your dog is having for me to ouline a training program for you here. I would suggest you ask around, either your vet, local pet store, friends, neighbors,... and find out if there are any good and successful dog training classes in your area. Start with all the basics again as if your dog is a puppy. Any additional problems or areas that need to be focused on, can be brought up at the class with the instructor.
P.S. I was writing this at the time of labman's posting. Try his suggestions. If you are having trouble applying these ideas, I do think you need an experienced trainer to physically show you what you need to do.
well i dont agree with medication. i mean she is still a pup and she hasnt hurt anyone. thank you for all ur advice. we'll take all of them on board and find some way of helping meg(our dog) over her fears.
I forgot to say anything about jumping. Consistently is very important in correcting jumping and other problems. Quickly correcting her each and every time she jumps on somebody is very important. Something bad has to happen each time. People are successful with a number of different things. I would stick to stepping backwards when she jumps. With her fear issues, I am afraid the harsher corrections would cause problems.
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