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Originally Posted by FlDebra  I picked out some of the comments you made in this thread that really gave me pause. I am getting that you are very frustrated and may be transferring that frustration to your dog. They are VERY INTUITIVE. You need to really like your dog and they need to feel that before they can be comfortable. It may not be actual fear so much as not being secure. You have to feel confident before they can have confidence and trust in you. Almost all of their emotion comes from you. Relax and fall for your little one and you may be pleasantly surprised. Start looking at all the positive things about your dog instead of the negative. I am not hearing anything positive about your dog ownership. What drew you to Yorkies to start with? How cute do you think he is? What is he like when he does play? Think of all those things that you do like about him and see if you can build on that. This is more in YOUR control than you think. |
Oh you're absolutely right! And I know that, and I've been *trying* really, really hard to change it. Unfortunately I'm one of those people who doesn't hide emotion very well at all. I close the door all the time at work because if I'm upset, I just have to be upset and go on a little crying jag or have a temper tantrum before I can move on. After that I'm usually ok. Had I known how much of my emotion he would pick up on, I wouldn't have gotten a yorkie. I got Nozz because he's small (I live in Japan...I have a great house but barely any yardspace), he's cute (for sure!) and everything I read before said how confident and independent yorkies are. That's apparently not the pup I got...he's not super submissive, but he's not dominate either. It's a really strange combination.
Anyways, when he's not scared of me/other people/dogs, I really do think he's pretty freakin adorable. Unfortunately I just don't like the scared thing at all and I wish he'd get over it! I've had him for six months now. I'm at the point where I'm not sure anything I can do will help because even after a few great days, he'll usually freak out again for half a day or so. And the rollercoaster doesn't help right now because my boy is deploying this weekend and we may not be able to keep the relationship in tact (nothing bad, just very different schedules), so I'm a pretty sad panda at the moment.
Nozzle, when he plays, may be a little rough. Last night, Peet goes, "umm, Nozz is killing the squeaky ball!" lol...I don't know if that's bad or normal dog play. We roughhouse a little too much sometimes, but most of the time he's pretty well behaved. I dig that he knows "drop it" and does it fairly consistently.
I think the problems we have come a lot from his nerves (and my reactions to them...not trying to pawn this on the dog by any means) and his reactions to me when he gets nervous and tries to bite...or scream like I'm killing him....that's when I lose my cool!!!
So I'm trying to regulate me, and it's super hard. And him getting upset for no reason that I can pick out (honestly, sometimes me checking on him from the bathroom after I get out of the shower, a 3 second look around the corner, sets him off) doesn't help my frustration level. I'm trying to do the confidence/trust thing...but he's not eating treats I give, and he'll run up to me if I sit on the floor, but then start shaking like mad. So what am I supposed to do about that? Just only sit on the floor with him until he chills out? Try to (unsucessfully) train him (I say unsuccesfully because he will do what I ask, but get scared in the process)?