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Play and Behavior Training
I have a 6 month old dog that I rescued a couple days ago and I'm noticing that she doesn't know how to play with other dogs at all and that she seems really skittish, almost as if she was abused or mistreated. My question is how to encourage her to not be afraid of the other animals and what steps to attempt in training her from this point. I'm almost ashamed to take a firm tone of voice with her because when I did last night she started to visably shake and it really worried me. Any advice anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.
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Lakota
on Jul 15th 2011
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in Fears & Phobias
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It takes some dogs longer to build trust. You've only had her a few days, so be patient, positive, & give her time to realize that she is the luckiest dog in the world to have found her furever home. It can take a long time for some dogs to come around. Try dropping tasty treats when you walk near her..no expectations..just good things happen when you are close. Let her come to you, don't force anything. Try short & positive training sessions to help build a bond. Two good books are Scaredy Dog, by Ali Brown, & The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller. Bless you for rescuing.
Wiley
answered on 7/15/11.
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Can the firm tone of voice. It's not helping.
Dogs often act "abused" even if they weren't, because they were unsocialized. Puppies have a short window of time (roughly 5-12 weeks, some people say up to 16 weeks) where if they don't have human contact, they will act like wild animals and be scared of people for the rest of their life. You can work on building her confidence, but it will be more difficult than working with normal dogs.
I would say, like Wiley, that you need to step back and just let her adjust for a few weeks. Ignore her, let her explore her new home at her own pace. Set up a "dog proof" room in your house if she's not housetrained, and let her out frequently. See if you can hand-feed her instead of giving food in a bowl to build a bond between you. With other dogs, see if you can find a gentle, friendly dog to play with her and draw her out of her shell. That might teach her that other dogs aren't so scary.
Bruno
answered on 7/15/11.
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