Skittish pup

[markp76 0]

Got a 14 week old whippet/beddy/greyhound pup and hes very skittish around traffic and other dogs, but if he sees another human he'll go bounding up to them and adopt a submissive position. I keep trying to socialise him with other dogs every day and its slowly working, but the traffic situation gets no better i've tried sitting with him by the side of the road for 10 minutes at a time {which hes fine with} but then we move on and he starts jumping again? Any suggestions or is it in his breeding? Will he get better with age?

Edited March 8, 2009 by markp76

[Daveo 61]

How old is it?

[markp76 0]

Ooops should have read 14 weeks, ive edited the origanal post as well

[Kay 3,709]

14 weeks is very young still perhaps limit it to traffic one day & other dogs another day , maybe flooding the pup with all this new stuff's just to much for it in one go

[skycat 6,174]

14 weeks of age is slap bang in the middle of the 'fear of new things' period in a pup's life. Keep exposing him to new stuff, gently, just for short amounts of time: do this every day. As long as he is not a naturally scared of everything pup he will improve, though if he never had exposure to this sort of thing at around 6-8 weeks old he may always be a bit wary of certain things.

 

Some dogs are very sensitive to traffic fumes/vibrations etc. Take it slowly and don't expect miracles all at once: it could be a couple of months before he calms down and realises that the vehicles are not going to hurt him. Make sure your'e not close to buses, lorries etc (stuff with air brakes in particular) stuff with big engines. A quiet village street is better than a busy town street.