Dogs that are fearful are the result more often than not of inadequit socalization. That is dogs have a short window between 3-20 weeks of age that they are open to new encounters. A fter that period, they will look upon something they have not encountered before with fear. A common fear in many dogs is Men with facial hair. This is not because men with beard go around beating dogs. Simply the puppies had limited or no contact with men with facial hair. That said Shy/timid/fearfulness has a genetic component as well. It is the one personality trait that consistently survives from puppyhood to adulthood all others do not. When picking out a puppy new owners need to be aware of this because it means that shy puppy is going to be a lot more work and a life long project to bringout of its shell.
At six month of age simply exposing the dog to new experience is not going to alieviate fear as it would in a young puppy. It is going to take a more proactive approach. However ,the worse thing you can do is force the dog to face it fears. At best what happens is the dog will shut down emotionally. In a basset that means it stops doing anything. The so called "flat basset" is a typical basset response to stress. This does not mean it is no longer afraid simply that it has learned it can do nothing so that is what it does , ie learned helplessness.
You need to allow the dog to be able to escape that which it afraid of and approach it on its own terms. In the flight or fight response kick in a dog than can flee is not going to become agressive or learn that aggressive response can keep it safe as well . so forcing a dog to face it fears can lead to making the dog approach the same fear next time aggressively. Also if you let the dog flee it eases the dogs mind knowing that it can flee so it is more willing to approach the fearful object over and over again.
There are a number of techniques to help dogs over come their fears one of the common is called counter-conditioning and desensitization you can find a lot of articles on the net about it however I would recommend Patricia Mcconnell's booklet
Cautious Canine that deals exclusively eith this technique and provides more detail, which becomes important when a problem arises than any internet article.
HELP FOR YOUR SHY DOG
for a fair review of the book
click here
This breezy little paperback is a gem. Deborah Wood has managed to present a very readable, optimistic, and practical guide for coping with a shy dog. Between Wood's refreshingly conversational writing style and Amy Aitken's endearing illustrations, this is a book that any owner of a shy dog would find palatable and motivating
...The primary concept around which the book is structured is that the key to helping a shy dog through life is extensive and continual training and calm leadership, "...A dog's basic personality doesn't change. However, a fearful dog can learn to compensate for her shyness. The more training she receives and the more situations she experiences, the better she compensates. Your goal with your dog will be to help with the compensation process."
If Sophie is reactive, ie aggressive, in reactions to fearful objects, animals etc then
CLICK TO CALM - HEALING THE AGGRESSIVE DOG
other resourse include
fearfulldog.com
ShyK9 Yahoo Group