Darla entered her first fear period
today, her normally up, wagging tail in a position seldom, if ever seen on her
before, neutral. My little girl must be about right weeks old for this stage of
development. About three weeks ago I found her in a bucket along the side of
the road.
Today she no longer bounds straight
up to me, but approaches obliquely, making an arc in her travel to approach me
from the side. Her wide eyed puppy innocence is gone. As she nibbled out the bowl,
I walked by and she circled with a piece of kibble in her mouth, which is reminiscent
of Chi-Ping’s behavior with me, when she first came. She also exhibits watchfulness
of the surroundings that I’ve just seen her do in the last couple of days. Our
group has remained stable, nothing outward has happened to influence her
behavior.
Witnessing puppies enter this
maturation phase before was probably more chaotic with people and dogs, me
being busy, and most of all other puppies. What surprises me the most is the suddenness
of the shift; yesterday she was the quintessential idiot puppy, today she’s
caution girl.
Protect her from big scares during
this time was my first thought. Today is Three Kings Day in Puerto Rico, which
means parandas or parades and here it came right down our road, loud,
pulsating, horns blaring, whistles blowing loud, loud. I went to the door in
time to see Darla running to the back side of the house to get away. I called
her to the door which meant she had to come back towards her fear. To my
surprise she scurried into her safe house, where she calmed and stood at the
door. Gone are her puppy forward ears, unless focused, she’s pretty much
carried them to the side. This is a change for her.
Like you, I love watching dog
behavior. I’d love to hear your stories and comments on this maturation point.
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