[Cotonlove]

Are these things normal for a 7 month old pup?
1. Sometimes when she wakes from a noise she will bark like she doesn't recognize us for a minute. Does this signify a vision problem do you think? We just talk to her and she calms right down.
2. She sometimes get what I would call fearful of a place (like out by our barn where I think she may have seen a deer). She will pull toward the place and then smell around and bark but doesn't want to get closer. We just pretty much go on about our business and not fuss over her.
Are we doing things right? Is she entering her teenage years now at 7 - 7 1/2 months old? Is this normal behavior?
Thank you in advance.:wave:

 

[luvmyfurballs]

She sounds pretty normal...mine was questioning the cardboard display at the pet store today. She figured out that it was okay after she smelled the treats it held. You just want to keep socializing her and taking her into different situations. If you find that she is showing signs of being afraid, approach whatever it is carefully from far away, gradually moving closer until she is good with it. This process can take minutes or days depending on what it is and how fearful she is. Your end goal is to have a dog that is not fearful and is confident and stable.

 

[Wicket]

Hey there, it sounds all normal to me. Puppies have 2 fear imprinting stages one being from 8 to 11 weeks, and the second from 6-14 months (varies in length in time, but approx.). It's a good thing you don't make a fuss, it'll just reward the fear behavior. When she does get fearful, don't force her to deal with it, but don't let her runaway. Encourage her, at her own pace, to investigate and discover the scary thing is not really scary. Reward curiosity and bravery

 

[Abbylynn]

All sounds normal to me also. Barking out of a dead sleep is just being taken by the element of surprise! I don't think it is sight related IMO.

Fear stages are normal ... I have a newly adopted dog Eddee who is guestimated to be about one year old. He is going through a fear stage ... he is afraid and barks at every type of light fixture that is above his little short self ... including the ceiling light fixtures in the house and headlight covers on the truck and the porch light cover. :/ I have begun to just ignore his barking and let him check it out on his own without pushing the issue ... and rewarding him when he is looking at it and quiet.

 

[hanksimon]

Agreed, he's adapting to his fear stage, cautious about things. He'll grow out of it, don't push him or force him.

Also, a dog's vision goes through various levels of acuity. Pups see things through cotton gauze, adolescents see a bit more clearly, 1 - 2 yo dogs seem to have good vision, then their vision settles down to about 20/50 - 20/60 ... time to apply for glasses :-0 This is deceptive, because visual motion sensors remain very sharp. Their low light vision and grey scale vision is much better than ours.

 

[Cotonlove]

Thank you so much...all of you...for answering my questions! I appreciate it!