| Re: Won't stop playing!!
Good question.
He was hand shy from day one. Literally. We didn't understand that when he would go under the end tables at 6 weeks that he wasn't 'just chilling' he was afraid. Sigh, so we (mostly me to be honest) would reach on under there and pull him out. Looking back, after learning more of course, I can see the signs of nervousness and insecurity. The trainer confirmed when I had him in puppy class so at that point I went out of my way to have him meet new people but I apparently wasn't doing something right.
So anyway, with new people I would tell them to let him warm up, don't reach over him, etc. Then he would get all pushy for pets when they started so I started telling people to ignore him and it's been a habit ever since. Once or twice he growled really low when someone started reaching over him so out of fear that he would bite someone I just don't let people pet him. And yup, I would correct him with a no, and then down him but at the end of the day, I guess it didn't bother him because he didn't want to be touched anyway. He's perfectly fine around people, will just sniff and ignore so it didn't bother me.
The only exception to that is children. He's not threatened by children at all, loves them. Very very tolerant, will be poked, leaned on, head rubbed, he's gentle with them, etc. At least he WAS, he hasn't been around children in at least a year.  |