Shy Scared Misty

[Ann Morscher]

My pup is almost 6 months old. We have had her since she was 3 months old. She came to us very shy and scared. She had only been around dogs and only 1-2 humans. We immediately went about trying to socialize her. We had people over to the house and began to slowly take her places. She does not like people to try and pet her. She allows them to put their hand out so she can sniff, but then she wants nothing to do with them. She scampers back between my legs. If the person trys to pet her she jumps back and crouches to the floor. On one occasion she was lying on the ground by my feet at my son's ball game and a little girl approached and tried to pet her from behind. She was chewing a bone and she did snap and growl. This is the first and only time she has shown this behavior. I am worried about it though and don't know what to do. She loves dogs and is not shy with them, only people. My brother came by last night. She sees him at least 2x a week and this has been since we've had her. It was as though she had never seen him before. She ran wild dog and tried to hide.

She also has some separation anxiety. We do crate her when we are gone and she is not happy about us leaving. Yet, with lots of techniques, I believe this issue is slightly better. She doens't pee as often as she used to and she is often quiet when I return home. Her bed is often still nicely made and not completely torn apart. We are making progress here.

I am worried she may bite someone if they try to pet her head. She just freaks and I have to tell anyone who wants to see her that she needs to smell you first. When people come over to the house and are there for a few hours, she does warm up and will usually allow someone to pet her. She just takes a really long time and it is always on her terms.

Ann

[Luciann]

Ann,

Not sure if it was on Doggie Bag or some where else that with a dog like yours and mine (Tika) you have to tell strangers to ignore her and let her adjust to them. Literally talk to you and ignore her and let her do that apporach.

Tika has the same problem but with her it is dog and humans. What i have done and in the past, especially with children who come charging up to me when i walk them. I have them stop outside of leash rang and then let Frodo and Tika approach them. Once Frodo finds them okay he will let them touch him some but with tika i just tell them that she is shy and let her do all the work. MOst times no one really can touch her if she does not know them but sometimes she will. I have to say that it is getting better with Tika, she is not being aggressive towards other animals or humans anymore but just leery....I know that taking them for walks has helped

[heathea]

That was my dog Teak 5 years ago when I got him. He is still shy, but currently will seek out people's attention and is generally a good, friendly dog.
It took a LOT of work. I ended up going to a trainer for many other reasons and in the process learned I was handling him COMPLETELY WRONG. I was shocked. I thought since he was abused (and he was horribly abused and taken away from his previous owner, he was almost not adopted out to me 'cause he fear bit the dog catcher!) he needed to be cuddled constantly (which he sought out from me, no strangers), protected, etc. This was WRONG. who knew?

What I needed to do was increase his confidence. The trainer put me and him on NILIF (articles section) immediately and the dog was not allowed up on the couch or bed (That is a privilige that he is allowed to do now, but only if he is happy and relaxed, never out of fear) because he was getting up on these items to escape his fear and/or reality. I also taught him obedience including sit (most important) because this is what I want him to do when he is scared (he does) as opposed to running willy nilly. The sit, down, wait, look at me, "nummy" (aka treat), heel, "okay go" (walk ahead), etc. were incredibly important to give him confidence.

It worked, it went against everything my maternal/dog owner instincts told me to do, but it worked. I cannot say he is a perfectly normal dog, he never will be, he is stressy by nature. However, I cannot tell you how much more normal this dog is than he was. The other thing that is important about the training, etc. is that the dog gets enough exercise. The more you tire your stressed baby out, the better off he/she will be.

As for people touching the top of his head, don't let them do that. Whenever people come up to pet my dogs, I tell them to pet under the chin after sniffing. Reaching over any dogs head is a threatening gesture, which is not good.

I hope this helps, and I hope your puppy becomes less fearful soon.

Take care,
Heather

[Renee Premaza]

Hi Ann,

Please read the article I'm linking here for you:

http://www.doggiebagonline. com/articles/article.php?articlei d=16

Having a fearful dog can be a great deal of work and responsibility. You always have to keep in mind that she has definite issues. It's your job as a good leader to protect her and keep her from harm's way. In her mind, having people approach her and try to pet her is being put in harm's way.

If you follow the advice and suggestions in this article, you'll get some nicer responses from your dog. Also, put her on a good NILIF program and be absolutely consistent with it. Never physically or verbally punish her because she lacks self-confidence as it is. Also, punishment creates even more anxiety, and you want to avoid that with her.

As far as taking her to your son's ball game, I think that's setting her up for failure. You're actually using a process called FLOODING here. Too many people at one time! You can't be watching her closely, watching her environment to avoid people from approaching, AND watching your son's game at the same time. Let her stay home next time where she'll feel less stressed and anxious. Socialize her slowly with one person at a time. If you take her to public places for socializing, make sure to keep her at HER safe distance from people. Don't trust children not to try to pet her. Kids just don't listen!

Hope this helps!

My pup is almost 6 months old. We have had her since she was 3 months old. She came to us very shy and scared. She had only been around dogs and only 1-2 humans. We immediately went about trying to socialize her. We had people over to the house and began to slowly take her places. She does not like people to try and pet her. She allows them to put their hand out so she can sniff, but then she wants nothing to do with them. She scampers back between my legs. If the person trys to pet her she jumps back and crouches to the floor. On one occasion she was lying on the ground by my feet at my son's ball game and a little girl approached and tried to pet her from behind. She was chewing a bone and she did snap and growl. This is the first and only time she has shown this behavior. I am worried about it though and don't know what to do. She loves dogs and is not shy with them, only people. My brother came by last night. She sees him at least 2x a week and this has been since we've had her. It was as though she had never seen him before. She ran wild dog and tried to hide.

She also has some separation anxiety. We do crate her when we are gone and she is not happy about us leaving. Yet, with lots of techniques, I believe this issue is slightly better. She doens't pee as often as she used to and she is often quiet when I return home. Her bed is often still nicely made and not completely torn apart. We are making progress here.

I am worried she may bite someone if they try to pet her head. She just freaks and I have to tell anyone who wants to see her that she needs to smell you first. When people come over to the house and are there for a few hours, she does warm up and will usually allow someone to pet her. She just takes a really long time and it is always on her terms.

Ann

[Ann Morscher]

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I am definitely going to do the NILIF program and see what happens. I also will stop taking her to ball games and try introducing her to the world more slowly.

Ann

[Monique Shimm]

And, it seems to me, even perfectly normal dogs may feel a bit territorial about being under a chair or picnic table with a treat. Twice, we have hosted a doggie birthday party at the park. Tons of dogs. Tons of food. (yes a disaster waiting to happen.) But we managed okay. The only occurance was when a dog seeked refuge under the picnic table. Normally a nice dog, but it defended this priced spot with some nastiness.

So, maybe you should not allow people to approach your dog (if it has fear issues right now) when it is under the table, under a chair, or in its crate etc. It may either feel cornered or feel like it has to give up its spot. Better to call your dog out to be petted.