Emma's shy and cowers at times

[Vicaroo1000]

She's so cute. Another thing you could try (with folks whom you know, obviously, because you have to explain) is when they greet you and Emma: "No touch. No Talk. No Eye Contact." Basically ignore her until she's "greeted" the visitor with a proper sniff/whatever. Lots of direct eye contact and excitement (she's a cute puppy - how can you not, right?) is sometimes overwhelming to some shy dogs.

 

[acarabias]

I think puppy class will improve her confidence around strangers. I have a shy poodle she's shy around strangers but even with us too. I think Emma will do great because she adapted to you guys and her brothers so well. I'm excited to see the pictures!! good luck in school Ms Emma

 

[MamaAndi]

Sookie was very shy and cowered when she was a puppy. She used to do the submisive piddle too. Eventually she grew out of it...now she's a queen alpha psycho!

 

[JeannieCO]

Great advice above. @Vicaroo1000 that is something I sorta forgot about and I need to start practicing that with Emma. I'm doing it with Jack right now when I get home from work because he's out and greets me excitedly at the door. Emma gets super excited too when I let her out of her crate so I just started that with her too this past Friday.

Ok, so this morning the moment we get to Petco for play group Emma gets to meet a 6 1/2 week old American Bulldog (that little guy was so so small). What does she do, she nipped at him. Head into the group and she gets a bit growly and barky with a lab pup, Abby. I put a stop the barking pretty fast for her with the SHUUUSH command and she responds well. Overall, she did great and interacted. The bully pup is Mia and is absolutely beautiful - we met her a few weeks ago when we first went.

Then at Petsmart this afternoon, while we're waiting we meet a wonderful Mastiff that's only 4 months old that's there because he has shy issues with dogs and doesn't really care for them (his mother turned her back on him so he had no litter interaction and was bottled fed). OMG he was beautiful. But, wait, what does Emma do, but starts her low rumble growl and the NIP at him too. Would you believe that they became best of buds though and wanted to be with each other after that.

This is going to be very good for her. She had a very active day too and konked out.

Here's two short vids from the play group

Now on the cool side, at Murdocks today, we met another bully owner. I gave her an EBN card so hopefully we'll see her here.

 

[bullmama]

You are such a good mommie This is exactly what she needed! And the other dogs are so cute too, especially the other bully pup! Looks like all they wanted to do was tear open those bags tho! lol

 

[Vicaroo1000]

She's so adorable, wiggling around there with the other pups. I'm sorry but baby Bullies ARE the cutest dogs in the universe - hands down. Or should I say, "Paws Down".....

[MENTION=2014]JeannieCO[/MENTION] - Bo really picks up on my energy when we're meeting other dogs. For a time, he was outwardly dominant; he'd immediately put his head on top of the other dog (NOT the proper way to meet a new friend!) and for a time, I noticed that I "expected" this behavior. And what do you know? It happened. Every friggin time. MY BAD! I started practicing a different energy (calm assertive) when we meet new/old/off leash/on leash dogs and Bo's greeting behavior then got MUCH better. (of course it did!) And because he "practiced" these nice greetings over time, he's gotten into the habit of them now. He doesn't do that "head dominance" thing anymore.

 

[Watson]

I couldn't agree more. She instantly fit with us. She's going to have a very busy day today. 10am it's puppy play group, then off to Murdock's for a new leash and harness, and then at 3 it's off to Petsmart for puppy group training. I chose to go that route on training solely so she can have more exposure. . This will be our routine for the next 6 weeks, except Murdock's that is. You did an excellent job on bringing them up too, I am blessed to have her.

sounds like a long but exciting day for emma