Hi not sure if this is my fault or not but albeit maybe a wrong decision I decided to walk my 14 week old Cocker to school this morning with my daughter.  He was a little wary of the traffic but nothing untoward.  After dropping Hannah at school he whimpered etc. as he couldn't go in but was ok on way home.  On the other side of the road coming behind us was this big well massive long haired jet black dog with a muzzle on, (sorry not good on breeds) the owner was adult although not much taller than the dog!  He barked and growled for England!  It frightened poor Dicksy to the point he couldn't walk and I had to pick him up, I waited behind a parked car and watched the dog proceed up the road and eventually calm himself down as the owner offered no words of reassurance to the dog or correction.  Putting Dicksy down again I followed on and he didn't seem too bad altough he was taking the heel command litterally and just about walking on my boots!  I needed to cross the road to get to my house but couldn't due to the dog infront.  The dog went around the corner so I crossed and guess what ..........yes you got it they came back towards us with the dog barking and growling again!  I had no option to but to scoop him up and cross the road quickly as I don't know if Dicksy were more scared or me!  He was shaking and crying bless him, anyway I eventually got home 20 mins later than if I'd walked on my own.  Dicksy just wouldn't settle not even in the house he was going mad downstairs running around and whining, gave him a chew didn't want it, in the end I've had to put him in his crate cos I don't know what to do with him, he's quite in there but he always is, he wouldn't let me cuddle him or anything, anyone offer advice?  Do I do right in picking him up?  I honestly don't know, first puppy owner you see!
Thanks for any advise

Ideally the better thing to have done would be to turn round and walk the other way rather than pick him up. Dogs take their cue from their owner, and if they think you're not bothered, they're less likely to be. If you appeared scared too, Dicksy may have been given the impression that 'outside' is a bad place to be. If the other owner had responded to her dog's behaviour with 'reassurance' or 'correction', her dog would have perceived it as being encouragement in his behaviour and it would have been reinforced. It would have been much better if she had made the dog 'sit', then she could have rewarded it for behaving ...

The point is that dogs should only be given attention when they are doing what you want them to - what we see as 'reassurance' they see as 'praise' ...

thank you, i'm shook up by it and I know he was, I have a lot to learn and so has he!  I never even thought about going the other way but I will remember this for future outings and leave his paws firmly on the floor, he's fast asleep now in his crate so no harm done I guess and I will take him around the block at lunch. 

My Cocker has been scared like this too & I must admit I picked him up. We had a big dog growling at both of us & the owner saying 'oh its OK hes a big softy really'!!! Thanx to this post Ive now got an idea what to do, I guess your first reaction is to pick puppy up, but I did wonder what I should've done.

The magazine Your Dog is quite good on little article about this sort of thing, trainingfor real life situations etc....it is available from Smiths and is i feel a good one for novice owners :)

Lindsay

thank you

The owners emotions go straight down the lead to the dog....so it important to conquer any fears you have of other dogs. The other dog clearly has a problem, but it seems the owner is aware of it, and is dealing with it...using a muzzle is reassuring. Try to get your pup socialised with other, well behaved dogs.:)

Dogs have a fear imprinting stage at between 14-16 weeks so NEVER take your pup to any uncontrolled areas where fear my be imprinted in the pup.It is going to take a lot of hard work and CONFIDENCE from your side to fix the problem.If the pup does not improve I suggest you contact an animal behaviourist or psychologist.Better to try and rectify the problem early,otherwise your dog could have a fear problem for life.Retha.

he mixes well with two german shepherds that belong to friends of ours and two other Cockers but to be honest as pointed out by lots of Champdoggers I think I gave him the wrong signals so the fault lies with me not him, he's a gorgeous loving, mischievious bundle of fun.  We start puppy socialisation next Thursday 15th and on Monday we are going to sit in on a training class to see what happens.  I want nothing more than for him to be a confident dog.