# Do they go through another fear stage around 2 years old????



## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

I'm wondering if goldens go through another fear or wierd adolescent stage around 2 years old. Brady had an incident at daycare today that was TOTALLY out of character for him. The staff apparently uses milk gallons filled with water to refill the dog bowls, and they periodially refill the gallons at a water spout. The dogs are not allowed near this area so they don't try to use the gallons as chew toys. Well, Brady managed to get ahold of one today and was parading around with it. But when another dog approached him, he growled and showed his teeth. :doh: He has NEVER done this before. Apparently he thought he got away with the special prize. The person closest to him intervened and told Brady to sit. He immediately sat and dropped the milk gallon (we've trained him to do this as his "off switch" when he gets too rambunctous while playing...I was glad to hear that it worked). They then gave him a short time out to teach him that this behavior is unacceptable. After that he was absolutely fine. He's been playing with 20 other dogs at this daycare for over a year and they share toys, he plays with the neighborhood dogs and they share toys, other dogs come into our house and play with his toys and he's fine, he's fine when we mess with his food while he's eating, he's even fine when we give him a high value treat like a raw marrow bone and we periodically pick it up and then give it back to him. Never been an issue, so this shocked me. The other strange thing I noticed a couple of days ago is (my mother is in rehab recovering from back surgery) when we were walking the halls of the rehab center, he is always very happy to greet whomever we meet. But this one aide was in the hall and she had a very heavy accent, and when she started talking to him, he tried to back up and I heard a very very soft growl in his throat. I refocused him on something else and he snapped out of it. So I'm wondering, could this be a stage that they go through, or do I have a budding behavior problem on my hands? Thanks for your throughts.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Developmental fear periods are around 8-10 weeks, with a secondary fear period around 10 months. It could just be that the bottle was so novel, it was something he was willing to use a display of aggression in an attempt to keep it from the other dogs. As for the aide in the hall, could be he felt a bit trapped and there was just something about her that, to him, was worrisome. It's great that he's snapped right out of both incidents.

They could be completely isolated. If it turns out they aren't, I'd go for a full medical work up: blood, urine and complete thyroid.

My only other thought:

*The person closest to him intervened and told Brady to sit. He immediately sat and dropped the milk gallon (we've trained him to do this as his "off switch" when he gets too rambunctous while playing...I was glad to hear that it worked). They then gave him a short time out to teach him that this behavior is unacceptable.*

Why did they give him the time out after he successfully dropped the bottle? By the time he actually landed in the time out, he's already snuck into the area, stolen the bottle, taken it back to the general population, ran around with a bit, snarked a dog off wanting to take it and then peacefully surrendered it when asked. Poor dog -- landing in time out for a peaceful surrender.

Doesn't seem like the most behaviorally-informed staff (at least some of them). It would make me wonder if there was a way they were somehow handling interactions with the dogs that might be contributing to this behavior change? Not trying to besmirch your daycare ---- but it did stand out as odd to me.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I find a lot of male dogs start to show more aggressiveness right around the age of two. It's like they've reached "manhood" at that age and are ready to prove themselves. I've seen that in both intact and neutered dogs.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

My husband (who picked Brady up today and got the story from the source) just clarified one thing: It was a group of dogs that approached Brady while he had the milk jug, not just one....so maybe he was feeling ganged up on???


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Doodle*

Doodle

How often is Brady around other dogs and people? Maybe not often.
He might to be socialized a little more.
Just trying to help.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

Karen519 said:


> Doodle
> 
> How often is Brady around other dogs and people? Maybe not often.
> He might to be socialized a little more.
> Just trying to help.


He goes to daycare and plays with 20 other dogs 2 days a week for the past year, he plays with neighborhood dogs every night (except when it rains), he comes to my office with me and greets everyone who comes in 3 days a week, we attend obedience classes weekly, and we walk in areas where he meets and greets lots of people and dogs since we are practicing for CGC. Most recently we've been spending a fair amount of time visiting my mother in rehab after her back surgery, and we wander around so he can meet and greet the staff and many of the patients and their visitors.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

I don't think I'd worry about two fear incidents . The first: he was probably afraid of the "pack" of dogs he saw coming after him and his "toy".
and the 2nd: I believe dogs sense things about people that we don't see/ are unaware of. Maybe he was perplexed by her accent/tone/body language and maybe she just had something weird about her.

The only person Gunner has ever growled at was a strange guy who was renting out neighbor's basement. The guy would bark/growl at my dogs, was dirty/sleazy and also gave me the creeps. Selka also barked at him. I trust my dog in a situation like that.

It could be he has some anxiety but I wouldn't worry about two disimilar situations. : )


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Hmm, doesn't really sound like a fear stage to me (though I am certainly not an expert). I'd say in both cases what your dog did was understandable behaviour, but maybe not correct/desired behaviour. Sounds like he was just warning the other dogs to back off when they wanted what was "his" prize. Did it deserve a correction? Maybe, but like FQ said, the time for correction was past. He got a time-out for calmly giving up his prize to a human without an arguement. The fact that he gave it up to a person is great, especially if the other dogs were still prowling around.

As for the unusual barking, again I doubt it's an issue. Especially since you were able to re-direct the focus so quickly and easily. He might have just been startled by something as silly as the accent (Ranger is always very interested in a group of asian people that walk past us on our lunchtime walks) or who-knows-what. 

I think the two incidents are minor and seperate and it sounds like you have a great, well-trained dog. I'm really impressed that he gave up his milk jug prize when it was obviously something of high value. That speaks volumes of the work you've done with him. That's coming from someone who had to work long and hard with her rescue dog about letting strangers near "his" food.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

I would say it's totally normal for him to act that way around the other dogs with his 'prize' and he was good about giving it up. Not sure why a 'time out' would be required for that. I would think that maybe putting the water containers in a separate room, or behind an xpen would save a lot of stress on the dogdaycare rather than fighting with the dogs about going to that area (at least where I worked, we kept all the buckets and tools on the far side away from the dogs so it wasn't ever an issue). 

The strange person thing, if he's never seen someone from a different background with the accent it might seem odd to him. See if you can get that person some awesome treats to share with him next time, he might change his mind. Usually it's a combination of the different sounding voice and the different scents that can bother a dog.

And like others have said, he's hitting his 'manhood' stage and they tend to get a bit goofy around then. 

Lana


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## Makino82 (Oct 23, 2009)

I had a dog that reacted strongly to people from a different country speaking in another language. She happily ran up to them and as soon as they started speaking she got sooo scared and ran away cowering and barking...I guess even if culturally they move different and even use different intonations in their spoken language the dogs really pick up on that if they're only used to 'their culture' as silly as it sounds!


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