Hi, I have just been given a schnauzer, but she is very scared of everything and can be agressive with another dogs, any advice please

Firstly, I expect she will be scared, new home, new owner, new surroundings, most dogs would be extremely upset.

Can you give a little history, how long have you had her? Her age? Which size of Shnauzer? And any circumstances of her previous upbringing all will help us to give the best advice possible and depending on the severity she may well even need a behaviourist.

Schnauzers can be quite territorial with their family/owners, if she is afraid of everything it is probably down to bad socialising, but there are quite a few programmes and training methods to help her to settle into life with you and desensitize her, we just need a little more history, and if you could list what she seems to be afraid of, how she reacts etc it would be really helpful.

Thanks. :-)

Hi there,

First of all, you've done absolutely the right thing by asking the question straight away, rather than ignoring it and hoping it will go away, so well done there.

One thing that has always stuck with me that I was told by a dog trainer is that more harm is done to a puppy by being given a label by its owner than by almost anything else. A ten week old puppy gets called aggressive, or boisterous, or difficult, and it never has a chance. I'm not saying that this is what you are doing, but please remember to have an open mind and don't always expect the worst, or you can guarantee the worst will happen. Easier said than done!

Assuming that it is still a fairly young puppy, the first thing you should do if you haven't already is book in to take the puppy to some socialisation classes, so it gets used to meeting and playing with other puppies in a safe environment. Your vet may run these, or know people who do. Alternatively, a lot of dog training schools run puppy sessions. The person running the course should also be able to give you help with getting your dog exposed to other sights, noises and experiences safely. The trick with puppies is little and often. They need to exposed to new things every day, but only to the extent that they can manage them, and then they should be allowed to cope without you interfering. For example, if your puppy is scared by a busy road, don't pick it up as to the puppy this is telling it that it is right to be afraid. Instead, lead it away from the road and next time try a quieter one.

Also, the puppy should be taken for some basic training as soon as he or she is fully vaccinated. A lot of dog trainers do this at the same time as puppy socialisation, but I think that they are very different things and it's worth making the effort and doing both, particularly if the puppy isn't happy around other dogs.

A good dog trainer (check if they are members of the APDT - Association of Pet Dog Trainers) will be able to help you out by observing the puppy, allowing it to play with other dogs that it is comfortable with, and giving you some exercises to help build its confidence. People on this board will be more than happy to help and give advice, but it's nowhere near as good as seeing the puppy itself. Is there anything in particular that sets the puppy off?