It can happen seemingly out of nowhere. One moment, your puppy is the exuberant bundle of energy that your family brought home. The next, they’re a nervous in situations that never bothered them before. What happened? Is your puppy broken? No need to panic! Your puppy may just be going through one of their fear periods!
What is a fear period?
Fear periods are stages in a puppy’s growth where they become increasingly sensitive to their environment. From an evolutionary standpoint, fear periods exist to keep young dogs safe from potential threats as they learn about the world. If their brain tells them to approach new situations with caution, they are much less likely to try to befriend a porcupine or go swimming in a rushing river. For the modern dog, a puppy’s experiences during these formative fear periods will shape their attitudes for the rest of their lives.
First Fear Period: 8-12 Weeks
Your puppy’s initial fear period coincides with the time that most puppies are leaving their littermates and going home to their new family. This is a time of rapid neurological development and environmental change for your puppy. This is also the period in which they will be most impressionable for their entire lives. The world is exciting, but also unfamiliar. While as humans we may know that there is nothing to fear from a balloon (or piece of tissue paper, staircase, textured floor, or any of the countless mundanities your puppy may run across), your puppy is experiencing it all for the first time.
During this time period, your job is to make the world a happy and positive place for your puppy. Allow them to get to know you, your family, their home, and start to expose them to new situations. Make sure that you are building in time to teach your puppy the basic boundaries of your home and also for your puppy to rest. Allow them to approach new experiences at their own pace. If you identify something that triggers your puppy’s fear, work through it with them without overwhelming them. (This topic will be expanded upon in future blogs.) When this fear period is over, your puppy should feel secure and comfortable with their family, their home, and should have had some initial positive socialization.
Second Fear Period: 6-14 Months
Puppies undergo a second fear period during adolescence. When this secondary fear period occurs is different for every dog, though small breeds tend to experience it earlier than larger breeds. During this second fear period, your puppy will once again become wary about the world. This includes suddenly becoming nervous in situations that never frightened them before; your puppy that never batted an eyelash at passing cars suddenly won’t even go near a parked one, or a previously beloved toy suddenly strikes fear into their hearts.
This can also mean a reversion on a behavior that you have previously worked on with your puppy. This can be frustrating from an owner’s standpoint, and is often misinterpreted as your puppy ignoring the work that you have put in together. Respond with empathy, patience, and consistent counterconditioning. Just as before, allow your dog to grow accustomed to their fear gradually rather than forcing them into a situation where they feel vulnerable. Your puppy can emerge from the other side of this fear period feeling more secure than ever before.
Can you avoid the second fear period altogether?
The short answer to this question is no, the second fear period cannot be avoided. It is a natural part of your puppy’s development and is not a failure in socialization or training.
However, that does not mean that the time you spend working with your puppy during their initial fear period was in vain! Having a solid foundation of trust with your puppy will help immensely as you help them overcome their fears. Your previous experience also has taught you both what techniques work best in your partnership. On the other hand, failing to address fears during their first fear period will make them more difficult to overcome during their second fear period and beyond.
How to recognize the second fear period
You’re already a step ahead by knowing that the second fear period of is coming, so good job! Beyond this, unusual responses to familiar situations are an indicator that your puppy is in a fear period. This includes behaviors such as avoidance, cowering, hiding, excessive barking, growling, freezing, flinching, or just general jumpiness. Learning how to read a dog’s body language can help you identify when your dog is feeling stressed.
As for how long a fear period lasts, this again can vary from dog to dog. Larger dogs tend to have more protracted fear periods than small dogs, but breed, experiences, and individual temperament all play a role. That said, if your puppy’s fear period lasts more than a few weeks, it may be worth reaching out to your veterinarian and/or a professional trainer to determine if there is an underlying condition or a more serious behavioral problem developing.
Conquering Fears Outside of the Fear Period
While working with your puppy during their fear periods is the most effective for nipping fears in the bud, that does not mean that once this fear period is over, they are doomed to be a scaredy-dog forever. Employing the same techniques can help you ease a dog’s fear at any age; it will simply be a slower process. The one thing to keep in mind is that the sooner you start working on this behavior with your dog, the better. Fears become progressively more ingrained as a dog grows and matures. The longer a dog is accustomed to reacting in a certain way, the more difficulty you will have breaking that habit.
You cannot possibly prepare your dog for every situation that they will encounter in the world. Working with them during these crucial fear periods will set your dog up for a lifetime of comfort, confidence, and calm. Beyond this, your bond with your dog will be your most important tool. When your dog encounters something that confuses or frightens them, rather than feeling the need to defend themselves or you, your dog has the trust to look to you and ask “What should I do in this situation?”
