Posted by T. on 8/29/2006, 11:37 am, in reply to "What can a new owner do to help..." Now, that is a very critical thing to say, so let me break it down for you. Unless you actively socialized your Monkey boy to strangers and took him away from his comfort zone and packmates, its easy to feel a puppy is very confident and outgoing! The truth is revealed when you DO take him to new places and see the goofy shy behaviors. A pup that lacks confidence due to lack of socialization - when caught at this young age - can be easily socialized; it just takes work, and consistency, esp during the first year. If you socialize like crazy during the first year this pup should be normal at the end of that year, ie become the happy go lucky puppy everywhere, not just in your back yard. Aloof temperaments run in the breed and some say they are normal. An aloof temperment can come off as a very shy pup with strangers - but not different settings. Such temperaments tend to take time to mature; I have an aloof one that took 2 years before he was outgoing with strangers - he is normal, but can be picky and choosy about who he makes friends with; what is funny is that will make instant friends with some total strangers and other strangers he holds in reserve. I have come to trust his judgement - the folks he is aloof with IMHO aren't true animal lovers, while the folks he drags me to on a walk always ARE - go figure! A shy pup never gets past the aloof stage, and always seems to be terrified of strangers and new situations and places, and while you can socialize them it takes longer, and even after years the dog will still show reserve or fear. IMHO such a temperament is genetic and pups that have this temperament should be altered and not used for breeding. Some sires and some dams produce aloof and/or shy temperaments! It helps to utilize puppy aptitude testing to determine a pup's temperament traits so you can socialize and place accordingly. (And, if you find your breeding pair consistently produce undesireable temperaments you may want to remove them from your breeding program altogether - JMHO!)
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He also sounds like he has an extremely aloof temperament, and is also perhaps genetically shy.
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