Kara’s been taking our puppy, Cooper, to obedience classes for the last 4 weeks and I attended for the first time this last Sunday. Cooper is the WORST dog in the class!! When the teacher is talking to us, the dogs are supposed to lie down and stay… All the other dogs do a pretty good job, but Coop just wiggles around like a maniac. And before class they have ‘play time’ where all the dogs get to wrestle with each other, but little Cooper just cowers in the corner (to be fair, the other puppies are way bigger than him)...
Now I know what parent-teacher conferences feel like when you have a ‘slow’ kid.
Contrary to "popular" belief, I think "play time" is more "important" than "sit" and "stay". (like my "quotes"?)
With obedience commands, you can reinforce them everyday past puppydom. But socialization is only a brief window in a puppy's life. Try bringing a toy (if the teacher allows) that Coop is familiar with and see if he can "share". (i.e. chew on it with other dogs)
Disclaimer:
--this advice does not reflect the oppinions of any endorsed puppy chow company, nor is it intended to suppliment any real (or imagined) instruction that a professional may give--
Yes, get the dog socialized. We have a dog that obviously wasn't (we got him at the pound after it was too late) and he's a nightmare around other animals. He's a perfect sweetheart with humans, but our life would be so much easier if we could have him around any of our friend's and family's pets.
On the other hand it'd be nice to have an unsocialized guard dog.