I decided I wanted to try to get out today on a bit of a longer walk. My puppy is 11 weeks old and so far we have only walked between 5-10 mins at the time. Today he seemed restless so I figured he could use a bit of a longer walk so we set out for 15-20 minutes instead.
When we set out it was calm and no one was around so I felt confident that it would be fine but suddenly there was a school class with a bunch of kids, as well as two dogs that we spotted. I felt bad because I feel like I have been slacking on socializing training so I thought that this might be a good opportunity for it…But I’m now scared it backfired and that I totally overwhelmed him. When we got back 20 mins later and he was shivering and he barked a couple of times while we were out. I tried to get back home sooner but he he sat down several times (not completely unexpected since he doesn’t quite understand the concept of walking on a leash yet) and he didn’t want to be carried either.
I tried to be calm and I would tell him to sit and reward him when he looked at me but I feel horrible because I’m not sure how badly he was shook by the experience. I realize also I having difficulty reading him. He’s always got his tail tucked over his back so can’t read him based on that. and he’s not very expressive. I just don’t know, never really had a puppy like him before. my other dog’s a retriever and loves everyone and everything. I havd no experience with dealing with a puppy acting insecure or scared before. I hope I didn’t set him back too much, or that I messed up this socializing journey already.
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