With my chocolate passing away in late November, I recently adopted a 2 yo black female that is a field trial and hunting washout. The reason for the washout has nothing to do with drive, trainability, or just not having it and has everything to do with her shyness. She did great with her former handler, but when new people came around, she wanted to run and hide. I suspect that this is a result of harsh training methods on a sensitive dog. I've now had her for 2 weeks and it has taken the entire 2 weeks to get her to trust just me and be comfortable around my home. I have been spoiling her rotten and socializing her with new people as much as possible and she's getting better, but still has a long way to go. She loves treats, but I've been unable to motivate her much with them up to this point. Anyone else have any experience with this type of dog? My previous experience is with labs of the bouncy / social butterflies variety. Any tips or words of encouragement would be appreciated.
Hi , and welcome I have a four year old working bred Labrador and also adopted a terrier two years ago . Whilst I haven't dealt with a shy dog before , I just wanted to reassure you that with kindness and patience , a dog with any past problems can usually be brought round by kindness and socialising , just as you are doing . It takes some time for trust to be gained and really, two weeks is a fairly short time , focus on what she enjoys , this may be retrieving , given her past, not to the same degree but maybe just with a ball ? Well done to you for helping a dog in need , it does sound like her training has not been very kind to her, but you are now her keeper , she will get there I`m sure .
Hi and welcome to the forum. I have no experience of adopting a dog but there is plenty of advice here from those that have adopted. What I do know is that 2 weeks is a very short time and if you are gaining her trust and she is becoming comfortable in her new home you are certainly on the right track
YES. Here is my one word of advice - Patience. We took in a 4 year old rescued field bred English Springer Spaniel. Whisper retained her training and drive to hunt but any time outside of hunting she was a quivering mass of apprehension and worry. Especially with men. It was plain she'd been handled roughly. 2 weeks is very early days. It may well take a year, as it did with us, before your girl feels comfortable. I suggest you do not spoil her, be kind and fair but spoiling will not make her a good pet or good dog and sets up future problems. Obviously I am making all kinds of assumptions about what you mean by "spoiling" Be careful ot the socializing too, I'd wait till she feels more comfortable with you before making her face the rest of the world. Our Whisper was never completely comfortable with strange men but she did lose her fear of my OH. One thing to consider is basic obedience classes. Classes help establish your expectations of the dog and how to communicate them. A timid dog needs to know clearly what you want and most respond well to knowing you are in charge. Classes tend to forge a bond. Timid and submissive does not have to mean a dog with no hunting ability. Whisper was both timid and very submissive but out in the field she was energy and drive personified and the best kind of energy, the kind that begs for direction. Good for you, good luck. OUr experience was wonderful, I hope yours is too. I miss Whisper, thank you for bringing her into my mind this morning. I'm feeling a little teary that she's gone but what wonderful memories she left us.
Thank y'all for the words of encouragement. This is my second go round with adopting a lab. The first one acclimated to her new lifestyle in about 24 hours, so I guess I just got lucky the first time. Josie has plenty of ball chasing, sofa laying, boat and truck riding, and river swimming in her future, so I'm thinking that she'll come around just fine. But, I'm worried that she may always be a little weary around new people. I love the site by the way. This is the best online resource for training methods that I could find. Kudos and thanks for sharing.
Being a little wary of strangers/new people isn't necessary a bad thing, it's just a question of how wary. If Josie is just holding back and not rushing to greet I wouldn't see it as a problem compared to for instance trying to hide/barking etc which could be. If you've been reading posts on the site so you'll know that we love puppy and dog photos so we would love to see some photos of your new girl . There's information on uploading photos on the Technical & Help section of the forum, but photos have to be hosted through a site like Flick.r, Imgur etc.
Hi and welcome to the forum from Hattie 8 years old and our rescue Labrador x Pointer Charlie 5 years. Good for you adopting Josie Like everyone has said 2 weeks is very early days it can take months if not upto a year for a rescue dog to settle in and I would assume especially a failed gun dog. I assume she is a good retriever so that could be a great way to build a bond with her. There is an excellent thread on BAT, so sorry I don't know how to link but someone I am sure will do it for me please? We have used this technique with great success socialising charlie and overcoming some of his issues. As for treats maybe up the value to maybe sardines, roast chicken etc. you could also hand feed her entire daily meal allowance with short training sessions or any attention on you, good interaction with strangers etc. Again we did this for months and months with Charlie, we didn't waste a single morsel he had to earn it and he did With lots of patience, time, love and positive only training I am sure Josie will settle in. Keep us upto date and good luck! Helen x
I'll share some pictures when I figure out how to do it through my phone. Posting photos to a forum through a file sharing site is a little risky for the Bank's cyber security measures. One day, I'll own the bank and this won't be a problem. Thank you for the advice, I'll keep you updated.
Hi and welcome to the forum from me and my two Labs, Willow and Shadow. I can't offer too much in the way of experience, but I can tell you that my black bitch, Willow, is highly sensitive and needs careful handling. We've had her since she was 8 weeks and I've known her since the evening she was born so I know she's never been subjected to any harsh treatment which could cause her delicate nature; it's just how she is. She had her first introduction to gunshot when we were in the UK in November and it did not go well. After that, I decided to completely put to one side anything to do with gun dog training for a while (which we only do for fun anyway), and concentrate on games. I bought a new dummy for her - a completely different shape and size to all the others - and just chucked it around for her to chase and play with. I didn't put any pressure on her for a good few weeks, and then just slowly reintroduced a bit more formal training. This approach of everything being game-based seemed to make a big difference to our bond and when I eventually asked her to be steady for a retrieve again, she quivered with excitement, not stress. She struggles with other things, too, which I partly put down to her nature and partly to my failures with continued socialisation wen she was younger. She is afraid of children and strangers on the street in general, and will bark at them. She is certainly not your typical bouncy, exuberant, over-friendly Lab! So, my advice would be to take things really slowly with Josie, introduce clicker training some little games if you don't use that already, because it's a massively rewarding way of dogs learning, and everything can be made into fun, which is bonding for the two of you without any stress if either of you gets it wrong. Give her some time and plenty of space (Willow doesn't enjoy cuddles), and she'll come around, I'm sure
I had a rescued German Shorthaired Pointer, he was 13 months when I had him and had never been into a house. When I collected him he was frozen in terror and so I just put him in the car with my other two and came home. I put him in the utility room with the door open and let him decide when he felt brave enough to come out, the first night he slept with the two dogs and cat! It took a fair time for him to become confident, when we went for a walk, I always stood up very straight and if I saw him being scared I kept walking and singing a happy tune! Eventually he became the most beautiful of dogs and I loved him dearly, sadly he died just 8 years old from epilepsy. He was a gentleman. xx
Hello from my 2 year old field girl Molly. She is not your typical laid back Lab. Boisterous, high energy. never nasty, but sometimes a little cautious with people and other times over friendly. Whether this is simply because she is a field line Labrador or not I simply don't know and never will. We have several members who have had difficult times with their dogs, but they have stuck with it and we have all enjoyed every little victory with them. I think you have what you need for the job ahead - a good heart. Wishing you and Josie many Happy Years together.
Josie has reached the point where she seems to be totally comfortable around my house and yard and I have proceeded with training activities (sit, down, stay, here, bed, kennel, heel, and steadiness on her retrieve; don't worry, not all at once). She's done most all of these things in the past and just needs some brushing up at her new home. She can't get enough of the tennis ball! I've been having a person or two stop by in the evenings to get her used to other people and dogs being around. At this point, when others come around, the training goes out the window. But, I realize that this will just take time. I do have a few pictures of her to share if someone would let me e-mail the pictures to them and post them for me...
I got Josie at the perfect time, the week before Christmas because I always take the two weeks around the holidays off work to end the year. This allowed me to spend as much time with her as possible and I think this helped a lot. Now that I'm back to the office, I've been sneaking in a short training session in the morning before heading off. The last 2 days, I've also gone home to eat lunch and snuck in another small training session. I didn't get home in time for it yesterday, but I hope to be home in time for another training session this afternoon. While I'm away, I've been leaving her loose in the house. We've had no mishaps (well, she did raid the garbage can once), but the crazy dog loves to move my stuff around (it took me a little while to figure out how my dopp kit got into the kitchen). Josie is getting better by the day and I'm optimistic that she'll be comfortable in most any situation with time.
