Anxiety: a state of apprehension or fear,
either real or imagined, resulting from anticipation of a threatening event or situation.
Imagine living in a constant state of anxiety (fear) about your environment.
Did you know that most anger/aggression is fear based?
What if you were never exposed to other children at a very young age? Would you
know how to communicate with them? Would you be willing to share things or know where your boundaries lie?
How do you think you would respond to people if you were never exposed to strangers
your entire life? Would you be willing to shake their hand the first time you met them? Would you even be willing to greet
them at all?
What if you where never exposed
or had inconsistent contact with the outside world. Would you approach it without apprehension or would you be
afraid and runaway, or forced to lash out at the world.
NOW,
imagine being a puppy. Maybe the first seven weeks of your life you were confined to a cage with little
exposure to humans. Then you were taken away from the rest of your litter before eight weeks of age (which is to early) ,
put in another cage till being sold at twelve weeks of age, pampered like a human , punished for "normal" puppy
behaviors, tossed around like a rag doll and underexposed to your environment. At twelve months of age
when all those cute little puppy behaviors have now turned into full blown problem behaviors, your human decides its time
for "training and socialization". At this stage it is called "Desensitizing" or " behavioral
modification". The damage has been done.
Socializing and training your puppy at the earliest age possible
is the number one gift you can give your dog. 
NOT socializing your puppy can cause more harm, than
any illness they may be exposed to at a young age.
As humans, we have the capacity to rationalize, control and communicate our fears
so that others can understand what our fears are.
Dogs
also communicate their anxiety, but unfortunately most humans can not understand what their dogs are trying to tell them until
the behavior has become problematic. Many times when aggression is the response of the dogs fears ignoring or punishment
is all to often used resulting in the behavior intensifying.
Desensitizing a fearful dog is a hard time consuming and sometimes expensive process. Unless you are very
dedicated to improving your dogs mental well being it is not always a positive outcome.
Granted, breed type, genetics, and personality are also a factor in your dogs behavior,
but why not start out with the best foot forward if it could make such a dramatic difference in your dogs life.
What about the rescued or adopted dog? Is it to late?
No, it's never to late, but like I said, it will be alot more work on your part and
your expectations have to be realistic. A dog who is afraid of strangers may never be a "lick your face" kind of
a dog, but with work and patients may accept being approached and petted. Maybe your dog may never be comfortable at large
gatherings but will enjoy a walk in the woods with a friend or two.
