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08-15-2014, 05:34 PM | #1 |
and molliluv too! Donating Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Irving TX, USA
Posts: 1,619
| Very scared dog-needs help Ok not a yorkie but I figured some of you know way more about training and maybe could offer help. There is a beautiful lab mix at our shelter named Paul, as a puppy he fell out of the back of a truck and broke his leg very badly. He spent his entire puppyhood in a crate in our medical area mostly only being handled by vet techs who are mostly girls. As a result he is extremely under socialized and scared of strangers, especially men and children. He barks, growls and howls at strangers. If you try to walk him past a stranger he slinks low to the ground barks (big mean dog bark) and cowers away from them. I have been trying to work with him but I'm not really sure what the right thing to do here is. He likes treats but is not super food motivated, when he gets scared a treat does not help. I worry he is getting worse, the other day he lunged out at a young boy which he has never done before. I don't want to correct him too harshly because he is acting out of fear. He is about a year old now and sadly he is too big for me to take home so I need ways I can work with him at the shelter. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks
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08-15-2014, 05:51 PM | #2 |
♥ Love My Tibbe! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: D/FW, Texas
Posts: 22,140
| I'd ask a few co-workers for help and have some of them walk past his crate/cage and drop a high-value treat into it and keep going, which should begin to allow him to associate strangers with good things to eat and see if that starts to help him feel better about the strangers he comes in contact with. He's obviously so undersocialized that only taking him out of his crate/cage on the leash - a loose leash not held taut - and having one stranger a day come close by him, drop a treat at his feet and sit by him within 24" of his body, presenting only their side to him, with no eye or physical contact for a couple of minutes at a time will start to show him that not all strangers are that scary and that nothing bad will happen to him when he's in the company of a stranger. Having a different person do this two or three times a day should start to desensitize him to strangers when nothing really bad happens to him during those close-encounters. Go very slowly with him and don't move forward to have anyone make any overtures to him UNLESS he begins to sniff and show friendliness to others first. That's how I'd start in on this poor, sweet baby and begin to help him have better associations with people.
__________________ Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis |
08-15-2014, 06:36 PM | #3 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: USA
Posts: 4,285
| Have you talked with a vet about using appropriate anti anxiety medication prior to socialization for a while to help him learn not to be so hyperaroused emotionally? There is no short term fix here for this degree of anxiety.
__________________ . Cali , and Cali's keeper and staff, Jay No, not a "mini" Yorkie - She loves to motor in her Mini Cooper car |
08-28-2014, 01:57 PM | #4 |
and molliluv too! Donating Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Irving TX, USA
Posts: 1,619
| Update: I am taking Paul to a trainer that specializes in behavoir on Saturday. We will see what he says. I haven't given up hope yet, everyone cross your fingers it goes well.
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08-28-2014, 02:06 PM | #5 |
♥ Love My Tibbe! ♥ Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: D/FW, Texas
Posts: 22,140
| That's what he probably needs if he's really fearful. I sure hope he can find a forever home one day.
__________________ Jeanie and Tibbe One must do the best one can. You may get some marks for a very imperfect answer: you will certainly get none for leaving the question alone. C. S. Lewis |
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