[hokisteph5]

My female, Gretchen, started out as my mom's dog. When she went to Puppy Kindergarten at about 12 weeks old, it was eye-opening.

My mom said Gretchen almost didn't want to go in the door, she didn't want to meet the other people or dogs, etc. I didn't attend that class because my male and I were in a CGC prep class, but did get to see her in the rest of the classes.

The instructor and other puppy owners worked really hard to show Gretchen that the world's an okay, sometimes even great, place. For example, she was given treats when she met the other owners.

My mom also made it a point to walk Gretchen around downtown Fredericksburg while my male and I were in class to expose her to the noise of the cars, the people walking, etc.

One thing we tried to never do was reinforce her fearful behavior in a way that comes so naturally to humans. For example, we never told her it was okay and then petted her when she was scared.

She's now 2+ years old and does well when going to new places and meeting new people. There are still things that she and my male discover about the world. They'll startle so I stop while they slowly approach the source of their inquiry, which I may find weird (e.g. huge tree root, brick sticking out of a wall, lone flower). Since I tend to walk the same couple routes regularly they'll pass by that same thing again and be fine.