Let's talk about fear.

I've encountered a few things that are new to me while living at this new house. I don't particularly like them. I back away from them and try to hide from them. Sometimes they make loud noises and sometimes they look strange. I don't trust them. They might hurt me.

1. The garage door

What the heck is that thing? It rolls up and down and makes a terrible noise as it does so. Ugh. Why would anyone have such a horrifying thing on their property? Keep me away from it, thanks.

2. The rolling laundry bin

I've seen laundry baskets. Humans carry them and they are usually full of things I like to chew, like socks! I love them and I love socks! But there's a few here that I DON'T like. There are a few that are on wheels. They have a handle and they make a loud noise when they are rolled on the hard floors, and I don't like it. The worst part? There's a cover so I neve get a chance to catch any loose socks! AWFUL.

3. The Umbrella

It's been raining a lot lately, and Allie is using this stupid thing to keep her somewhat dry when we go out. UGH it is horrendous. It POPS open and gets swung up in the air over her head and it makes weird noises and it goes form skinny to this awful huge weird shape and WOW I do not like this thing. Can we please come up with an alternative?

4. The bags of pellets for the pellet stove

There is this pellet stove that makes things warm, and it hasnt been used a lot but the rain makes it cold so we've been using it more. It gets filled with these giant bags and when they pour into it, I hear a big noise and when it stops there is this big crinkly bag and I don't like it because it's big and might make a bad noise or it might eat me. I really am not sure.

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Westin has had an eventful day. Those last two fears were discovered today. The umbrella was this morning, and the bag of pellets was this evening. The garage door and rolling laundry bin were the first weekend he came to my house. He's gotten better with those, and I just keep using them with him there so he realizes they are part of daily life. They were pretty easy fears to overcome, I just stood next to the laundry bin and had him come over to me and we walked around it and then I moved it and stopped it again, and had him come back over to me... and we kept doing this and we still do it every time I do laundry. The garage door was an easy fix, I think it just startled him the first couple times. He's almost immune to it now. 

The umbrella caught me off guard as much as it did to him, I didn't realize he would be scared of it. I tried putting it on the ground and sitting next to it with treats and he really wasn't having any of it. It's going to take a lot of convincing. (Any hints for us?) 

The bag of pellets was worse. He was trying to hide behind me! I tried bribing him with treats and sitting on it and next to it but he just wouldn't go near it! I hope we overcome this one, too.

Puppies naturally go through fear stages, and the second one is during adolescence. This is HORRIBLY timed with his defiant/testing-me behavior, and is hard to overcome. It is important to get through this, though, so he doesn't develop life-long fears. It's going to be a challenge, but I think Westin and I can work together to get through these and overcome his fears. He might be hesitant in new situations but if I keep calm and act like it's not a big deal, he is likely to follow my lead.

What commonly feared item ISN'T Westin afraid of? The vacuum cleaner!