have a pup who was out at her 1st show yesterday stood perfect, ran round ring lovely but when judge went to go over her she fell to pieces, she does have a bit of a problem where strangers are concerned & do take her out to the likes of training classes, car boot sales to walk about & local sunday market for people to pat & talk to her...i have thought about getting some scullcap & valaria tablets from dorwest herbs, she was so frightened when judge went to go over her, i am just a little worried she will not grow out of this, we have been breeding & showing dogs for years & this is the 1st time we ever bred a puppy thats turned out to be like this...she is also very imature....has anyone had a pup like this & if so do you have any tips or advice that you could give me to try, i would be really grateful for any help received or has anyone any suggestions as to what i could try to help with the nervousness, i really felt for this pup yesterday & withdrew her from the ring, judge was really sympathetic & really took his time with her, even called us back into the ring for another try but still would not have his handling, i guess i have to persevere with this pup but my main concern is am i doing her more harm than good taking her out for people to handle, shes a lovely promising pup but dont want to push her when shes not happy
         advice please would be appreciated
       shirley

Yes I had a pup like this although in his case he was fine for a good few shows and the started to back off -well actually that is an understatement, he was up in the air trying to get away from the jude. I stopped all showing for months and just practised with as many strangers (to him) as possible, making sure he was never given a chance to get scared. It took a lot of hard work but in the end he was fine. I did use Skullcap and Valerian but will not again as it didn't help at all for the ring shyness, it did however turn him quite aggressive towards other dogs!  Once I'd taken him off it people kept asking me what on earth I'd done to him as suddenly he stopped having a go at all other dogs he saw.

thanks for your reply, i was so sorry for this pup yesterday i scooped her up in my arms & carried her out the ring...i just do not know where the nervousnes comes from as both her sire & dam are so outgoing too, such a shame but this puppy comes before showing...will see how we get on with taking her out in public etc before thinking about anymore shows..she was really struggling to get away from the judge...poor puppy
     not having had a dog like this before i am just after all the advce & tips i can get
        thanks
shirley

Is there any chance she is coming into season - that can sometimes cause them to go haywire.
You dont say how she reacts at car boots etc with strangers? It could be she didnt like this judge for some reason, however kind he may have been.
I would get her out and meet as many people as possible, and try to stay nerve free when you are in the ring next, if you are expecting her to be silly she is more likely to do so.

I've only shown my girl once and she jumped and flew around so quickly, she didn't go for the judge but I've never seen a dog spin round like her.

So I've now decided to totally give up on any idea of show training until next year.  Such a shame as she's a stunning pup which I know would of done well in the show ring but I'm not going to push anything.

So after her day on Sunday doing gundog training I'm going to work on that and obedience.  She was fine with the people there and even let a couple of the people stroke her on her back, so hopefully 2007 will be her year.

Just hope that she doesn't decide that she likes people going over her now as I've just clipped all of her coat off :d 

try rescue remedy, i had an american cocker who was neurotic when on the table, fantastic with everything else, a Basenji breeder gave me some to try and i never looked back, after using it for about 6 mths [ only just before showing and ringcraft] we didnt need it again
Regards
Pauline

thanks to everyone for your replies, i will take onboard what everyone has said, teela is very spooked about strangers & cannot understand why, she has not been to a lot of ringcraft classes because of the way she is...maybe this is the wrong approach to be taking, as far as i am aware this has come out the blue & does not come from her breeding, after all these years this has been the 1st time we have came across a timid pup that we have bred, i was told about rescue remedy on sunday & heard how good sculcap & valeria was, i will ring dorwest herbs tomorrow & explain the way teela is & go from there
she is not fond of strangers & on sunday when a lady came to talk to her after i withdrew her from the ring she tried to avoid all contact with this lady...i really did feel for this pup, & do wonder what is making her like this, she gets on well with our other dogs so know she is not getting picked on by them
         any advice will be greatly received & taken onboard, this is going to be a trying time but hoping to get there after lots of TLC
            shirley

Just a thought, but you say she gets on well with your other dogs.  Do you take her to car boots etc with them or without?   If she only ever goes out with the other dogs, then she won't have built up any confidence in being on her own ;)   This may be something to consider ;) ;)

hi there dill, we take teela out as much as we can without the other dogs, i know what you are saying about trying to build confidence though
i am hoping in time we can let her see its not all bad out there
thanks
shirley

Hi Shirley,

some dogs are simply more sensitive than others, regardless of how good the character of both parents and how much dedication has been given to socialising ;)  I have Belgians - if they don't freak out as pups the chances are they will, completely out of the blue, throw a major wobbler at 3 + years old -  not so easy to excuse :rolleyes:

Patience and not putting any pressure on a shy puppy are the main essentials - particularly if she has a slow recovery rate from something which has made her uneasy.   Teela maybe just needs some time, to get her first season over and done with and also the opportunity to build up her own confidence in her own way.  Personally I wouldn't go down the homeopathic route at this stage nor would I attempt to show her.  If you have any local companion shows coming up wander around them with her so that she gets accustomed to being in a densely dog populated area but has no added pressure of being haandled by a judge.  If she can cope with the surroundings, then after a few such outings perhaps have her in the ring - again only at CD level.  If she seems in the least spooked, ask the judge not to go over her but just to let you move her up and down and leave it at that :)   

I've gotten a couple of youngsters over their concerns that way and know many others that have too.  If you don't see much or any progress then forget her show career for a year if necessary - a good pup is well worth waiting for and certainly not worth ruining for the sake of a few ribbons in the puppy classes.

HTH, good luck  Teri :)  

thanks teri, i will give up on the show idea for now with her like you say & look for maybe a companion show in the future for her to mix about the crowds but not to enter her....with the summer coming up there are lots of agricultural shows about too so lots of chances to get her mingling there too, i have tried to think of all things that could be leading her to be the way she is...the excitability around the house...barking when i leave the room...etc...she is crazy & so bouncy....i know iams is not the best of liked foods about these boards but can tell you all that this is the only food teela will eat... we have tried everything....well most anyway....some say it could be the food but her being a such picky eater before we tried iams i am reluctant to try anything else...i know young pups are bouncy but this 1 is exceptional
   thanks again teri
shirley

Hi Shirley

I was at that show and saw you, she really looked lovely being shown, so I think what I would do is keep going to the ringcraft but perhaps ask people to just talk to YOU and not Teela, then whilst talking perhaps slip a hand down to her and pet her but not make a big thing out of it.  Let her get used to the people before they attempt to even stroke her and hopefully she will eventually get a little more confidence.  In my humble opinion she looked very promising and although I don't think she should be pushed yet, I feel it would be a shame if she wasn't shown.  The only problem with the Agricultural shows are that everyone WANTS to stroke your dog, which is great if your dogs like this, but not so great if they feel wary of strangers.  Good luck with her and hopefully you will find some people that are prepared to help you put the effort in on her.

hiya alison, thanks for your post, i was hoping someone would see this post that was at the show so they would see what teela was like while being gone over, i felt so sorry for her..poor little mite, she was really trembling when i picked her up..& the judge was lovely & so patient...he even called us back in the ring after he had gone over the last dog...alas was not to be....however i will try all i can with her over time & will take onboard what everyone on here has said to me....somedays i could cry the way teela is at home, her yapping when i leave the room is driving me mad, i really do think that the seperation of her from her sister when aged 13wk could have some effects as this was when the yapping started...
yes teela does look very promising but at the moment like any puppy at this age there are things i really do not like about her. the fact shes only 6 months old any way & so immature does not mean she wont blossom into a beauty, maybe i expect too much from her...friends of ours on sunday said she looks more like a 4 month old puppy than a 6 month...& so fine not like our normal stuff....i did breed her & this is the 1st time we ever had a puppy like her...suppose there has to be 1 like her at sometime
   we will try to persever with teela as long as we can & will not give up at the moment...like everyone says keep at it but dont over do it...we will take her to the training clases next week & take it from there...after sunday i thought better to leave her for an extra week before we went to classes
  i will speak to the people there & ask if they can help with regards helping her gain confidence etc....
thanks aging everyone
shirley