Hi, first post. I am the new best friend of a 1yo lab named Tiffany. She came from a home where she was outside a lot with horses and she jumped up at them in play too much for her previous owners. I no nothing more as I got her off an ad site. She has a fantastic temperment with all, although I suspect she had more good contact with women. She gets on well with other dogs. I have only had her since Wed and she is settling in well, but sad sometimes. Early days I know, but she is very frightened when we go for a walk. She is docile when I put on her harness and lead and starts off fairly well. She stops and pulls back when she hears or sees something I can't and is desperate to return home. At times we have got past this and even made it to a nearby field once, which she enjoyed. She walked well in the company of neighbours but I can't rely on them all the time. I am trying short and frequent walks, hoping to get longer.I don't want to frighten her by dragging her along. Sometimes she accepts and then walks very well indeed so I am sure it is just the fear factor. I think that she has no real knowlege of the outside world apart from her yard. Please advise how I should proceed' I really want her to join me on my hobby of walking. Sorry for so long a post.
Re: Frightened outside home I'm no expert but she sounds under socialised. I'm sure i remember an article on socialising an older dog, I'll try and find it later for you. Welcome to the forum and i wish you lots of luck with your lively new friend
Re: Frightened outside home Welcome to the forum and good on you for taking on Tiffany. It does sound like she has limited experience of the world, doesn't it. Your approach of starting with short walks and gradually building up is a good one. Using really tasty treats to reward forward motion or to get her past scary spots may also help if you are not doing that already. If you can notice any particular events, places or noises that seem to trigger her fear that'd be particular helpful as you can focus on gradually exposing her to slowly (very slowly) increasing intensities of those things, with great treats for calm behaviour. Even if her fear seems to be just about the 'big wide world' it'd be good if you can identify those environments in which she feels most secure (or at least pretty calm). Start there while gradually introducing new elements, always at low intensities at first. All the time using awesome treats for being calm. Try not to push her out of her 'alert but not fearful' zone if possible. The edges of this zone should gradually expand.
Re: Frightened outside home Don't have any insights to offer, having only had a pup and we just did the normal things. But just wanted to say Hi, and Tiffany sounds to have landed on her feet with a lovely new home with you, and I hope it all works out soon. I have Charlie, a nearly 9 month old chocolate. Any photos of your girl? We love photos.
Re: Frightened outside home Hi there, I can't help with advice as Dexter is our first dog and he is 13 months old,just wanted to wish you well with settling Tiffany in and that I know you will succeed because you sound very committed to her well being. Best Wishes Angela
Re: Frightened outside home There is a book about rescue dogs (there'll be a few I'm sure), but the one I read did have advice for socialising older dogs. Bless her, with your guidance I'm sure she'll learn the world is not such a scary place.
Re: Frightened outside home JulieT Am not really computer literate. Would not know how to import/show photo, but will find out. Thanks all for kind words.
Re: Frightened outside home Ah the joys of a rescue dog. I can give some very helpful advice to this topic as we went through the exact same thing with our rescue dog, who had never been socialized with people or used to living in a home or an urban environment. First thing, stop taking her for walks, if she is not happy do not put her through the stress and trauma of taking her for a walk where everything is new and scary to her, you will only make her worse. Start by putting her harness and lead on then give her a treat or reward then take it off again so she does not associate having her harness and lead on with going for a walk, but she associates it with lovely things like food or play, you want to get to the stage where she wants to have her harness and lead as it brings good things. I would also suggest that you maybe use just a collar instead of a harness as our dog did not like wearing harness and it took us longer to get him to like wearing a harness than it did to get him out for a walk. Next step start just sitting with her in the house with the front door open, so she can see cars,people, bikes and so on go by. But stay inside the house, where she is comfortable and happy. Try doing this at first in the evening or early morning so it is quite, only do short sessions at a time, and slowly build it up. Once she is happy start taking small steps outside the house but only one per session and build it up so you can get to the end of the driveway/front garden with her, and praise her for being good, make it a happy thing, like play time or a bone to chew so she likes being outside. Then start taking outside of your property, if she stops and wants to turn around stand still and wait until she stops trying to pull backwards and only go back to the house when she is calm is you keep going back when she is scared and wants to go back you are reinforcing her to be scared of the outside, and build it up slowly in little steps at a time. If she is happier to walk in places like woods or fields drive her to these places and make it fun for her when she is there, it might be that she has not seen much of roads and cars driving past her. This whole process took us 2 months with our dog, we had to patient but not forceful, we had to let him get used to things in his won time. Do not rush her, she will get there eventually, it just takes time. You could also try things like a thundershirt or TTouch body wrap, or try calming supplements such as dorwest skullcap and valerian tablets or an adaptil collar or plug in. There are loads of different things you can try, some work better with than others depending on the dog.
Re: Frightened outside home Hi, I can't really add to the great advice you've been given, just take it nice and slow. And welcome to the forum
Re: Frightened outside home Puppypal. Your advice makes a lot of sense. I will try it your way. I was worried about the lead/harness being associated with bad thoughts anyway. She does not mind it on, so I will keep to the harness though. She is also wary of my van as she was transported in it; so I will have to introduce her to that slowly as well. Thanks all for your posts; I'll read them all so please keep them coming but I won't waste your time by replying frivolously. Thanks again.
Re: Frightened outside home Hi and welcome to the forum from me Helen, Hattie 6 years and our rescue Charlie nearly 3 years. Sorry but I don't have any advise on this one really just wanted to welcome you and Tiffany and well done for rescuing Tiffany, what a lucky girl she is
Re: Frightened outside home [quote author=keiths4949 link=topic=3320.msg36067#msg36067 date=1384699478] Puppypal. Your advice makes a lot of sense. I will try it your way. I was worried about the lead/harness being associated with bad thoughts anyway. She does not mind it on, so I will keep to the harness though. She is also wary of my van as she was transported in it; so I will have to introduce her to that slowly as well. Thanks all for your posts; I'll read them all so please keep them coming but I won't waste your time by replying frivolously. Thanks again. [/quote] A lot of work is trial and error, if one way does not work, try a different way. I would also spend lots of time, playing, training and getting to know her, so she builds a bond with you, so she will feel safer in situations that upset her, as she will see you as someone who will protect her and not let her get harmed. I would start clicker training her aswell, it has been an invaluably tool in training barley, he has made leaps and bounds since we started using the clicker. It is a great tool
Re: Frightened outside home Puppypal. Thank you! I started just sitting on my porch and then Tiff decided she wanted to explore. only short distances and she is often spooked by people and animals. If she refuses I stand still until she starts to move. I am letting her dictate where we are going as I feel any walking is a bonus. The clicker has just arrived and already she seems to be getting the hang of it. 5 minutes!
Re: Frightened outside home That's great news, keep at it. She will get braver and braver the more positive experiences she has with the outside world. Glad to hear that things are going well, you are both doing great
Re: Frightened outside home Hi there from Lisa and Simba, 15 month ChocolateX. Our boy was a rescue too, we got him when he was about a year. He also was nervous around some things while on walks, particularly noisy/strange vehicles going by, or garbage bins suddenly lined up on the street on garbage day, or hay bales in the field. With all these things I pretty much did as has been suggested, taking it slow, letting him go at his own pace, letting him stop and check things out for as long as he needed to. I'm sure if you take all these suggestions your boy will come along fine. Clicker training is great, you will find it very helpful, too!!
Re: Frightened outside home Just wanted to say hi, and keep at it, you will get there in the end and one day will be enjoying lovely walks with your new friend Tiffany! But don't rush things - there is an awful lot that has happened in her short life, no wonder she is a bit scared. She needs to get to know you and her surroundings, and to be able to trust you. That just takes time - and you really don't know what happened to her in the past. Good luck, and do let us know how you are getting on!
Re: Frightened outside home Just had a great walk with Tiff. It's pretty quiet here on Sunday mornings, just some traffic on the nearby Bypass. Good that she hears that, I think. She wanted to explore everywhere and even peeded once ( only the second time outside the garden) Obviously she is still very skittish but we are overcoming this slowly. She has really taken to the clicker. I will have to learn how to use it for a variety of situations now. She is very clever, she found some bread which I led here away from but even when we were 50 yards away she tried to lead me back there by circuitous routes. I'm smarter though! Why do dogs roll in other dogs poo? On the eating point I have read that Begonias are very bad for dogs so I am going to dig my tubers out now.
Re: Frightened outside home How lovely, so leased to hear you're making progress and having lovely walks
