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[quote=Anonymous]We have a 5 month old goldendoodle puppy who we got at 8 weeks.  We are first time puppy owners so we admittedly probably made some mistakes in the beginning like chasing after her when she got a small toy in her mouth from the floor, picking her up too much, etc.  We've noticed she seems pretty hand shy/skittish (not overly fearful generally, just shy/skittish with people).  The best way to describe it is she just seems reluctant or suspicious.  She likes affection when she comes to us, but she seems to have mixed feelings.  She follows us everywhere, but if you turn around toward her she sort of backs away like she's afraid.  When I go to pet her a lot of the time, she'll dodge and run in the other direction.  Her ears go back a little and her tail lowers, so she's not playing.  She does come when I call her a lot of the time, and I give her a lot of positive praise when she does - which she likes.  But I am really disappointed by this lack of affection and trust, and wonder if anyone has this experience with a puppy?  She's still very small (12 pounds) and is expected to get to 25-35 pounds.  We have two kids, 7 and 9, who are very gentle and loving with her. They used to carry her around a lot, but we've stopped that since it was suggested that this may be part of the problem.  We all wanted a puppy but we got the dog primarily for one of our daughters who has a reading disability and loves dogs, we were hoping that she would sit quietly by our daughter so our daughter can practice "reading to" the puppy.  She does sit by us sometimes, but if we reach our hand out to pet her, unless she's tired, she jumps off the couch or runs away.  We have done a few training classes and are signed up for more with a different trainer that will hopefully help us with this - but I'm just wondering if anyone experienced this with a puppy who grew out of it.  I'm hoping this isn't just a temperament/personality thing.  I didn't notice this when we first got her, she seemed pretty trusting around people and playful, and the breeder recommended her as far as temperament as a good choice for us.  But, at the same time we have much more experience with "dog language" now then we did then.    [/quote]

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