Dog owners: Did your young dogs go through an intense period of fear?

Your pup has taken on the role of protector and will not ever change. Embrace that your pup has matured into that role and respect it and do not shelve his behavior as fear. It will be the others he encounters that should fear him….that said be mindful of his protective role he now assumed and both on leash and off….you as his master will have to “manage” his instinctive reactions to any and all who he will perceive as a threat. Start now to teach him how to respond to sounds, passerby’s and new guests. It takes a LOT of work but worth the effort that will circumvent a lot of barking and biting. Good luck!

@Cruiser He’s fearful for sure. If you saw him, you’d agree. I work at a dog training centre, and I see protective, angry, happy and fearful dogs every day. Wilson is definitely fearful. His growl was very unsure, a puppy’s growl. He had his tail low, ears back, eyebrows pulled together in a worried frown, hackles raised.

Thanks for your thoughts, though!

I’ve seen behaviors like this in young dogs for two reasons.
A pup who is more sensitive by nature (not usually a lab) will let this fear response manifest like you’ve described.
The other reason, and the more likely one, I would imagine, is that there may have been a frightening noise incident that happened when you weren’t around, and now he responds skittishly to similar audio events. It may be as simple as a car backfiring nearby and a girl with a similar voice to yours screaming in surprise.
This should clear up with the distractions that you’re already providing for him.

My pup (1.5 years old) has become taken on the role of “protector” while in the house or on the trails. Note: she’s a 23 lb dog that attacks by rolling on her back and demanding belly rubs. But her growling and intimidating barking didn’t start until she got a bit older (forget how old).

She likes to perch herself up on the couch in front of the large living room window and growl at people and their dogs. But if I bring her outside, she runs up to the people and dogs with a wagging tail and love. She does seem to be playing the protector role in the house.

Recently, she started taking the lead on our hikes and growling at sounds she appears to hear off the trial. Last month, she was very upset and growling at what appeared to be nothing while we were hiking in the White Mountains. It turned out that she had been hearing a couple of hikers as they were ascending the trail.

I’m not a dog psychologist, but I don’t interpret what my dog is doing as necessarily neurotic and fearful. It just seems to be her protective nature – even if her growl is her only tool. She has never bitten or even come close to biting. She is extremely friendly, and very tolerant of children (having been raised by 3 of them and the neighborhood kids). It appears that her job is to warn us of potential danger.

I let her out to pee really late a few weeks ago and she started barking. She never does this outside – especially late at night, so I went to let her in and noticed that she was barking at 3 deer standing in front of our house.

As you know, Frodo’s fear/protectiveness/resource guarding turned into biting a little while after I brought him home. I suggest you stay on top of it and use “positive reinforcement” (ha!) to train him to manage it.

@longgone My Sadie is a rescue dog that spent her first 6 months of her life locked in a cage and she is/was scared of her own shadow. Once she matured, she became hugely protective of us and her home. Jumping, biting and barking at everything that moved especially people/strangers. Got so bad I had to hire a trainer who gently made me realize is was not Sadie that needed the most training…we did. The one thing we did not want to do is to completely neutralize her natural instinct to protect her home and family. What we ultimately did accomplish was to get her to respond to our commands and body language. She still barks and howls at passerbyers when we are away but when we are home, she responds very well to our commands and is no longer fearful of people and other animals.

You are handling his fear just right by distracting him (rather than comforting him). If he starts to turn fearful of strangers, I would hand them a treat to give him.

@longgone This is not uncommon in pups of Wilson’s age, especially boys. Keep everything positive and you should get him through it fine. If you need additional help, maybe consider and adaptil collar to help him cope with all the scaries that life throws at him.

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your insight. I agree that some dogs are protective without being fearful, though I have found that this is rarer than people think, and very rare in young Labradors.
Wilson is quite sensitive, for a Lab. I will definitely stay on top of it and keep making things fun for him.

@Cruiser I know it is possible to manage a certain amount of fear by making sure some cues are rock-solid, but I’d rather change his initial response to scary things, precisely because I want him to be okay when he’s home alone, as well. Thanks for the success story, that’s the kind of thing I love to hear!

@canidmajor Yes, the second scenario is very possible, though he’s not the most typical Labrador to begin with. There are lots of noises from the street, however, especially as the last sunny days are luring people outside.

@janbb Well done, here is a mackerel as a treat :] Just to confuse you, I will also use classical and operant conditioning. (Ha!)

@OpryLeigh Thanks for reminding me that I still have a spare Adaptil collar lying around. It probably works better when fastened around the dog’s neck!

@marinelife Yes, I’ve done lots of that in puppyhood. At the moment, strangers are very welcome :)

@DoNotKnow Thanks. You may have one of those dogs who are protective while being sure of themselves.

@longgone Yum!

You’re welcome :]

@longgone As far as ‘we’ have come….I do not think I will ever get her used to Fireworks!

^ Well, know your limits. My sister’s dog, Amy, is getting better with strangers – but I doubt she will ever be a dog that enjoys parties. That’s okay.