puppy-dumb

[dutchringdog]

Puppyhood is so cute, most of the time. Sadie still thinks she is a toughie.....this morning there was something lurking in the bathroom.. so she snuck up, hackles up and all, and had a stand off with the water pipe behind the sink, since it didnt bark back, she figured she had won. Tonight, we went out to cut some flowers.... she started barking... to me it looked like she was looking into the woods so I figured it was a squirrel... nope... it was a big bad flower... yep, it had been there all day and had not moved.... she barked.. and slowly poked her nose at it, but then it moved so she had to bark more and circle it.... it may walk away.... she poked it a few more times with her nose and slowly discovered it was going to comply... but she did look back to make sure it wasnt leaving.

[vneerland]

Wha ha. That sounds like the stuff that puppies can do to you. How old is Sadie now?
I see one of my 'pups' (juvenile, really) be super tough at times and then jump 3 ft high when she steps on a stick that moves. I suspect she has good reason to jump though. She is the one who will always alert me to snakes, and I am sure that she was not born with that knowledge. I assume she had an encounter once and she will now tell me if there are snakes in a one mile radius.
Ahem....(I guess that means she barks a LOT)

[Marjolein]

whahaha, I love that How 'bout some video material of this??

[Dutchringgirl]

Sadie is now 8 months, they are amazing dogs, she shows how brilliant she is by ou thinking me, then shows how dopey she is by giving me a goofy sideways look with a toy in her mouth. I know she is just letting the flower know who is boss and just being prepared incase the flower decides to bark back. The thinks she barks at are always there so I never know what she is going to attack next. I need to have a video camera on me at all times!

[dutchringdog]

Okay... tonight Sadie was protecting me from a stump, she circled it to make sure it didnt move and barked to make sure it know she meant business.

[Schlussdibusti]

Do you have a cell phone with video? We need to see this, please!

[Marjolein]

Do you have a cell phone with video? We need to see this, please!

couldn't agree more!

[dutchringdog]

I do , but dopey me dosnt think of bringing it outside with me, I should know by now to just carry it all over with me.

[Christie M]

Honestly, I think allot of them go through a phase like this between 7/8ish months and a year. My opinion (for what its worth) is that maybe they are starting to experience some of the natural, protective instincts that are expected in the breed but often not apparent in puppies. I think this stage is them "noticing" things for the first time and trying to decide what to do with any of that natural defense that comes up.

Personally, I think this is when many people start "hiding" dogs from the world (and I don't mean just DS - I mean any working breed) because they don't know how to handle it. But I also think this is one of the most important times to socialize, build confidence and remind the "teenagers" that its not their job to react to everything.

[Dutchringgirl]

Thanks for that Christie! It is so funny to watch her ! That makes alot of sense.

Sadie is definatley in her adolescence stage. She was doing excellent in her obedience but latley she gives me a look of, " I hear you tell me sit but im not going to" I had company over last night and they didnt beleive me that she was as smart as i was telling them she was. I think Sadie is the class clown.

[k9katet]

I can see why it's tempting to "hide" them when they're barking at everything and/or everyone! It's very embarrassing. But it does pay off to get them out there to see everything. Eventually it's no big deal cuz they've seen most everything and lived. LOL

[vneerland]

Look the other way, and try not to let it discourage you. I'd rather it would never happen. And in some dogs, it really doesn't. I have not kept track if the ones that breeze on through life, accepting everything, make better (more serious) dogs in the end though, or if both groups end up holding their ground equally. I must try so hard not to notice an occasional glitch, that I honestly don't remember!
I do seem to have noticed that high high preydrive dogs can be more prone to the 7-9 month nonsense though

[leih merigian]

Hey Lisa...Geyser, 12 months old now, is doing the same thing. The other day, she was startled by a feather floating about a foot away from the shore of the pond here...it was anchored on a weed or something, so it stayed put.

She got down, slowly extended her nose out towards it, oops!, jerked back!...repeat...repeat...then decided to bark at it (I'm sure the feather was just as cowed as your flower), eventually, she actually tapped it with her nose, but remained wary.

I was laughing. I eventually fished the feather out and showed it to her...took her a while, but she finally checked it out, but remained kind of wary of it.

Of course, she has nothing over my cats...move the broom that rests by the door a couple of inches, and it's a Major Big Deal for them to deal with

[Schlussdibusti]

It helps when an older dog introduces them to these "suspicious" objects........
When Marco was barking at a "suspicious" Budweiser 12-pack that was set beside a trash can (of course anything that is not Grolsch looks suspicious ), my senior Labi walked over to it, sniffed it and gave Marco the "see, it's all right - stop the stupid barking you idiot" look. That took care of it.

[Sugars Mom]

Glad to know Sugar isn't the only one that does these kinds of things...one day we had the kids wet shoes lying sideways in front of the baseboard heater, (so the heat would go into the open shoe) and she walked into the room, saw them, and stopped short. I laughed so hard! Good thing she is curious, because curiosity always wins out

[Dutchringgirl]

I do love when she does it, its so cute, she has been doing it allot lately. She usually has Thalie to show her the ropes but she has been getting more independent now. Thalie usually baskes in the sun all day and sadie still cant sit still enough so she goes off and gets into some kind of trouble. She is equivlant to a 9yo now and really acting her age LOL

[Dutchringgirl]

Today it was Thalies turn, Mind you, she is 9, and miss intellectual , always contemplating the theory of relativity. She was laying at the side of the pool, sunglasses were off because it was cloudy, a big yellow float snuck up behind her, very slowly, and tapped her, she looked very surprised that something had bothered her, she got up, but looked at it like it was from another planet. It has been in the pool now for days. She looked very carefully at it, she wasnt sure, went up to it, put her nose on it, when it moved, she didnt jump like the puppies do, but it was very funny watching miss know it all be confused. She walked back and forth looking at it, wondering how it got there and why it snuck up on her. No barking, thalie is stealth. She walked around the other side of the pool and glared at it, then walked back behind it, stopped about 10 feet from it. she did this for a bit, then decided it was okay and just walked away.

[dutchringdog]

Sadie has calmed down with the defense mode until this morning. Like any normal kitchen counter, stuff is moved, added, put away. Well, something.....I have no idea what, toothbrush, coffee mug, spoon, paper towel holder, was laying in wait to attack me and Sadie was there to protect and serve... hackles were up, she was barking and mad. I couldnt tell what it was, I tried to look where she was looking but she was looking everywhere. She is tall enough now that her nose is counter level so she can surf with out jumping... She must have gone on for about 5 minutes. Of course, Thalie is just sitting there looking at Sadie still not believing she is a Dutchie.

[Christie M]

Sadie has calmed down with the defense mode until this morning. Like any normal kitchen counter, stuff is moved, added, put away. Well, something.....I have no idea what, toothbrush, coffee mug, spoon, paper towel holder, was laying in wait to attack me and Sadie was there to protect and serve... hackles were up, she was barking and mad. I couldnt tell what it was, I tried to look where she was looking but she was looking everywhere. She is tall enough now that her nose is counter level so she can surf with out jumping... She must have gone on for about 5 minutes. Of course, Thalie is just sitting there looking at Sadie still not believing she is a Dutchie.

I absolutely love the mental images that you provide!

[Kristie E]

ok so here is Gwen... She is in the living room barking her warning bark.... I look out the window and there is nothing there. Gwen is still barking but she is looking at the wall... and then she starts moving, still barking... So, I start scanning the walls (this isn't like when she stands there barking out the couch... it is more like w w ww wwoo wwwooffff-there is usually a toy stuck in it).... So, back to the wall, I look up and it is a big fat spider.. ugh.. I knock it down and it starts running away except the big mighty Dutch Shepherd is there to save us all and she pounces on it, picks it up in her mouth and takes it to her couch and plays with it.