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Originally Posted by jsbart  Well, today is the first time I've left home since Sun. when I had such a meltdown with Brodie. As usual, he was holed up in the bathroom when I came home but did come out a little sooner than usual. I'm ignoring him (hard to do) and he's coming in the room with me, but hasn't made any effort to jump up and sit with me. I know Yorkies are supposed to be playful and fun, but my little fellow has no interest in toys, doesn't notice squirrels, won't play with me or my other dogs (dachshunds) and therefore, has no outlet for any excess energy or anxiety. I'm don't know if he's been this way with everyone else but probably has. When I first got him he was constantly humping one of my dachshund to the point that I thought I may have to return him to the previous owner. My dachshund is so good natured that he just put up with it and finally after about a week he stopped. That's about the only interaction he's had with my other dogs which I think is a dominant trait. He wants to snip at my other dogs if they try to come up to sit with me when he's already there. They pretty much ignore him, but my youngest dachshund (I have one 13 and one 5) has gotten enough of it a time or two and jumped on him. It scared him badly but not enough that he didn't continue to do it. I just want him to feel relaxed, content and happy. Trying hard to make that happen. |
He's just temporarily shutting down and needing his space for fear of being subjected to things he doesn't like or fears. If I were you and he were my dog, I'd just let him get over it all and learn how to trust again. He's a troubled dog that you knew about when you got him and whose been moved from home-to-home and no doubt is unsure about playing, chasing squirrels or anything as he's basically distrustful of what might come next in life. Some dogs just take the easy way out and want to isolate when they get too scared. Normally, we don't want that and encourage getting them involved in distracting activities but with this dog, in this particular instance after some of the things he's recently been through which no doubt traumatized him further, I'd give him his space and ignore him until he begins to see things have changed.
I'd just give him ample time and space, keep my interactions with him very limited and allow him to grow assured over time that nothing else drastic is going to happen. Live and let live. I guarantee you he will begin to seek you out on his own when he's healed enough psychologically. Those sessions of trying to put him into submission and assert yourself are likely still too fresh in his mind but he'll move on given time and begin to forget and live in the moment. He'll see you going about your business, non-threatening and not trying to assert yourself, he'll notice he's being ignored on a regular basis and begin to seek you out.
In time, you can reward that behavior and make him glad he did. Once he's rehabilitated over his trials and tribulations from his many changes of homes and owners and rebuilt his trust, you can teach him all about playing and one day, when he takes ownership of your home as his very own, he'll show a lot more interest in the peripheral things most dogs enjoy and run and play. But right now, he's just a traumatized dog who apparently didn't like things he was dealing with on a daily basis, maybe something you or the other dogs did and with his bad, troubled history and distrust of all things - maybe he was bullied or attacked by other dogs in his other home(s) or neighborhood - and he just found a safe place to stay and then got more traumatized by your trying to help him and do what you thought he needed at the time.
It's going to take time but with love, patience, reading all you can about positive reinforcement and how to interact with troubled dogs in books and online, you'll find ways to bring him out of himself once he regains trust in humans. He'll get there - just give him some space and time until he begins to ask for your attention and makes himself available to you willingly and eventually, once he's comfortable seeking you out and is jumping up to be near you, then you can close the bathroom door for a few hours a little at a time to gradually encourage his staying in the room with you, if you think that's best when the time comes. Give your other dogs lots of hugs and attention and play sessions and in time, it might start to make him want some of that sooner rather than later but until then, I wouldn't force him to make hard choices he's not yet ready to make.