Puppy abuse comment

:eek: A friend of mine thought my 10 week old puppy was abused! :eek:

Obviously she didn't think I did it but wondered if he has been abused in the past. He cowers or runs away when strangers approach him...he has always done this and seems to be getting better and better recently. I really hate to think that strangers approaching my pup might assume I beat him!! OMG

Just so this is perfectly clear I have never nor willl never hit my puppy. When I got him a lot of older people suggested hitting him with newspaper if he was bad! This has always struck me as just mean.

Could he have been abused by someone that came into the shelter to visit the puppies? Could it just be that he is simply timid with strangers? :fingerscr If so, will he be more outgoing with time?

Everyone assumes that timid, shy or frightened dogs were abused. This is not necessarily the case.

Sometimes puppies just have flawed temperaments and are born this way.

Others were not socialized by whoever bred them, and are frightened of anyone or anything new.

Of course, there is always the possibility that your puppy was abused.

Yes, you can help your puppy overcome this if it's due to lack of socialization. If it's genetic, you can help to a certain extent, but your puppy may always be a little timid around strangers.

When I got him a lot of older people suggested hitting him with newspaper if he was bad! This has always struck me as just mean.

You're right. Hitting puppies with anything is indeed mean.

Thanks Lucky. My feeling is that it is a temperment flaw (the word flaw sounds so harsh though). He seemed really outgoing with people when he was with his littermates. He is still crazy about other doggies....nothing gets his tail wagging faster. When he is around other dogs he is more outgoing with people. Strange.

His mom was very submissive and shy I think. If it is genetic then I hope we can at least get him comfortable with people.

It also depends on how long the doggy was with the litter. Apparently if the dog spends way more than 8 weeks with the litter and without much human contact, it will respond far better to other dogs than to strange people.