# 4 Month old Confidence



## KSVizsla (Jul 22, 2012)

This morning when I let Lockett out to potty he seemed spooked and wanted to go back inside immediately. I live in the suburbs near cattle farms. Sometimes the odor from the farms are strong outside of our house. I am not sure if this is what spooked him or if it was the darkness or a combination. I have also noticed that times when we are at the dog park he is not confident around more than a couple of dogs. I introduced him to live quail this past weekend and he was a little timid at first but after a few minutes really enjoyed his time playing with them. Are there specific things that I should be doing or should the confidence just develop over time as he ages.


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## v-john (Jan 27, 2013)

Well, it wasn't cold outside... 
To be honest, if it were me, I would just ignore it. Rather then react and accidently encourage the behavior, I would just ignore it, make him do his thing. As far as the dog park goes, do you notice if it was bitches or dogs that he is spooked by? Or dominant dogs or bitches? 

He had no problem with Grady, who is an intact male, and a good sized one. Some dogs just give that dominant vibe and with him so young, he might just be showing submission.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

Sounds normal from what I've read and experienced. My sister's puppy, now 7 1/2 months went through a fear stage around 4-5 months and is now much more confident without her doing much to help him. Just keep socializing him and acting confident yourself when introducing him to new things (or old things that seem to suddenly spook him). There's a chart on the forum somewhere about the different development stages. I'll look it up and post back.

Here's the link, originally posted by threefsh: 
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/DevelopmentalStages.html


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Just spray some of this outside ???


Vs love farm animals... but, do the farm animals love Vs the same?


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## vzoprks (Feb 17, 2020)

einspänner said:


> Sounds normal from what I've read and experienced. My sister's puppy, now 7 1/2 months went through a fear stage around 4-5 months and is now much more confident without her doing much to help him. Just keep socializing him and acting confident yourself when introducing him to new things (or old things that seem to suddenly spook him). There's a chart on the forum somewhere about the different development stages. I'll look it up and post back.
> 
> Here's the link, originally posted by threefsh:
> http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/DevelopmentalStages.html



The "acting confident yourself" point is spot on, I 100% agree. They pick up so much on our emotions and attitudes. That and just consistency...the more they experience the bigger their world gets and typically they adapt well in time.


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