A little frustrated

[Samba]

I adopted a kennel dog who was 18 months old. It took three days just to coax him out of his crate! He was terrified in the backyard also.

I took him outside on a leash and just kept him tethered to me as I moved about. I didn't try to interact or reach out to him. We just moved about together, me being confident and basically ignoring him. He grew to like going out and associated it with a good time in my presence. When we just let him out free, he was a bit awash.

He took a long time to line out. I was dubious if it was going to work many times. He changed so much over the months though. We became great buds, he was protective of me, he even went on to earn an obedience title. Patience and not pushing go a long way with these dogs.

[Castlemaid]

Yeah, six months or more . . . I think that is how long before most people start seeing big changes in fearful rescues - it was the case with mine. She was not afraid of people in general, but did shy away from men if they reached out to pet her. I think she was tied dog for the first year of her life. When I adopted her, she was afraid of "stuff": cars, trucks, noises, barking dogs in the neighborhood, garbage on the side of the road, rocks in the ditches, stairs, lots and lots and lots of stuff. She would shy away from stuff, hide behind my legs, or try desperatly to run away (kept her on leash a lot). I completely ignored this behaviour. COMPLETELY. Did not acknowledge it in any way. If she showed willingness to go up to something scary and investigate, I praised her calmly.

It took six months, but one day, she seemed to decide that the world was a safe and predictable place. She just seemed to take in a deep breath, let it out, and her whole demeanor relaxed. She seemed . . . happy? Her fears of new things got replaced with interest and curiousity. The change occured almost overnight. Her shying away from men was replaced with forward confidence - I even do Schutzhund training with her . . . she loves to bark at the bad guy and fight him for the sleeve! My club is very supportive of people with "non-traditional" Schutzhund dogs wanting to train, she really came a long way, and people just couldn't believe it was the same dog.

As for Sasha seeming to like some members of the family better than others, LOL, don't be offended - she is coming to you with a history, and it most certainly will affect her level of confidence and her behaviour around different people. Sasha's mom, there may be something about you that reminds her of someone that she did not trust - I'd just continue on with her as you are doing, and she will come around.

[aubie]

It took almost exactly a year for Duncan to open up to us when we adopted him...he'd been in the pound for a year and abused previous to that.

We let him come to us on his terms, never forcing it. When he did, he got lots of pets and rubs. We took lots of walks together and used that time to bond.

Now you can't get him off you and he's a great therapy dog. Sometimes it just takes a while for them to realize "hey, these people are okay!"

[MaggieRoseLee]

It will take time but there are things you can do to help. I know some people feed 100% of a new dogs meals from their pockets thru out the day. So are constantly giving the dog something all day long when ever the dog comes near.

I also would really really really recommend clicker training. It's 100% positive based. Has us shut the heck up so the worry and concern that can come from verbals and our tone is taken completely out of the picture. Let's the dogs learn to THINK and offer behaviors to earn rewards while doing the 'wrong' thing only gives no rewards and feedback.

Clicker training really is a relationship based training, and that's exactly what you are trying to develop and build.

Load the clicker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5z1dFx_jfs

http://www.youtube.com/user/zakgeorg...68/8i-L3-gqWic

[Riley's Mom]

One of the things that sticks out to me, is that she doesn't trust people yet and you sure can't blame her. What those people did to her was cruel.

I would stop approaching her. Instead, when I wanted her to come to me, I would sit down with my back to her and have some really nummy treats in my pocket (and I mean REALLY yummy like chicken or something like that). You're trying to show her that coming to you gets her some REALLY great stuff. You can always go to something less yummy once she trusts you.

Her curiosity will eventually get the best of her and she will seek to smell you which she needs to do. I would not make any fast movements that would startle her so I'd need to have some of these treats in my hand so I didn't have to reach into my pocket for them (at least initially). Let her work her way around totally to my front side and then slowly and calmly while telling her what a good girl she is, let her take the treat out of my hand.

It may take a few times of doing this and it might take quite awhile the first and perhaps the first few times so allow yourself a chunk of time to do this so you don't have to quit in the middle of it to run off to work or something.

I'd like to add THANK YOU for taking this poor thing into your lives and trying to give her a great home and life She's got some issues from what was done to her, which are not her fault. Some people, ugh!!!!!

[Karin]

It takes time, but I know Sasha-girl will come around. When we got Heidi, she was extremely fearful. If you went to pet her, she'd whip her head around and/or cower. If you made a sudden move or loud noise, she'd jump back in fear. If we took her by the collar, she'd flatten out on the ground.

It took about 6 months for her to really trust me, and a couple more for my husband. Now, she is SOOO much better. She's still a little skittish at times--especially with strange men. But she's come a long way.

It just takes time and patience. Clicker training with lots of praise and really good treats also helped. Long hikes were also something that seemed good for bonding.

Thanks for taking in this sweet girl and working with her and giving her a good home.

[mjbgsd]

I don't have anything to say but THANK you for taking this girl in!