So here's the story. My brother and his wife (who live in a different state) just got a Fila puppy. I'm not sure on the exact age of the pup but I'm guessing about 8 weeks or so. They've had him less than a week now. I'm not a Fila owner, but I've done a bit of reading on Ojeriza specifically. From what I've read, Ojeriza develops/matures throughout the first year of life, but can start to be manifested as early as just a few months.
My question is, how often does a young puppy need to be around a person in order to know/accept that person - and how late in the dog's life can it be? I know that will vary a bit from pup to pup; I'm just hoping for a rough generalization based on the experience of members here.
My wife and I have two kids (a 4 year old and a 9 month old) and we know we're moving to a new state in a couple years (after I finish school), and we're seriously considering the state my brother lives in. If we do end up moving there, we'd like to be able to visit them (obviously) at various times, and it would suck pretty badly - for everyone - if one of their dogs (they have two older dogs we already know) had to be put in a crate every time we're around. It's not difficult to imagine that it might get to the point where we just don't visit because their dog goes "defense mode" every time we're in their home. As the pet owners, they wouldn't want that; as parents of young kids, we wouldn't want that... it would just be a lousy situation all around.
We were planning on visiting them in June next year, but now we're looking at trying to make it over Spring Break (March). If the pup is 8 weeks now, then he'll already be five months old in March...
Is there even a CHANCE that if we spend 2-3 days with them in March, and then visit again in the Summer, that their pup will accept us in the future after his Ojeriza is matured?
Obviously not an end-of-the-world sort of thing, but I really want to try and do what I can to preserve a friendly visiting atmosphere if at all possible.
Thanks a bunch.
My question is, how often does a young puppy need to be around a person in order to know/accept that person - and how late in the dog's life can it be? I know that will vary a bit from pup to pup; I'm just hoping for a rough generalization based on the experience of members here.
My wife and I have two kids (a 4 year old and a 9 month old) and we know we're moving to a new state in a couple years (after I finish school), and we're seriously considering the state my brother lives in. If we do end up moving there, we'd like to be able to visit them (obviously) at various times, and it would suck pretty badly - for everyone - if one of their dogs (they have two older dogs we already know) had to be put in a crate every time we're around. It's not difficult to imagine that it might get to the point where we just don't visit because their dog goes "defense mode" every time we're in their home. As the pet owners, they wouldn't want that; as parents of young kids, we wouldn't want that... it would just be a lousy situation all around.
We were planning on visiting them in June next year, but now we're looking at trying to make it over Spring Break (March). If the pup is 8 weeks now, then he'll already be five months old in March...
Is there even a CHANCE that if we spend 2-3 days with them in March, and then visit again in the Summer, that their pup will accept us in the future after his Ojeriza is matured?
Obviously not an end-of-the-world sort of thing, but I really want to try and do what I can to preserve a friendly visiting atmosphere if at all possible.
Thanks a bunch.