Nervous puppy attacked

[Laura2408]

Wondered if anyone has any advice that could help.

I have a very nervous reacue puppy. She was abandoned by her mother very Young due to a genetic defect. She has had a few surgeries to repair the problem at 4 weeks and 6weeks and has spent a lot of time in hospital.
She is now recovered to the point she can live a happy life and has started to enjoy herself, she's about 5 months old and is a very happy dog when with family and my dogs.

However, she is very very nervous of people and dogs. She is literally terrified of dogs bigger than her (screaming if they touch her, squirts anal glands, runs away, shaking etc)
She is fine with my other dog and dogs she knows but she can not cope with strange dogs approaching her. After some introductions she walks with other dogs but remains too scared to play with them and will scream if they approach her.

With people she does not want to be touched but will approach for a sniff. I am doing lots of work getting strangers to treat her.

I have had some behaviour consultations but she isn't improving as well as I would like. She had started to come round slowly and had been wagging her tail when meeting selected dogs.

Unfortunately today she was attacked by an off lead dog that came from nowhere and now she is back to square one (growling and barking at dogs that are within eye distance, crouching to floor and shaking)

I'm now tempted to just keep her away from others to keep her safe. She is happy when with us or my dog so does she really need to want to be friendly with everyone?

Any thoughts?

 

[gunnergundog]

Depending on the size and breed of dog and owning your own land, then yes, it may be possible to give her a happy life on home turf.

What was the physical problem she had? What breed is she? At what age did you get her and where was she beforehand? Also, what info can you share about your other dog...breed/age/sex/level of confidence/sociability/issues?

With whom did you have your behavioural consultations? What were their qualification/experience? Were they APBC registered? What did they advise? Behavioural re-modification can take a LONG, LONG time, so given pup is only 5 months old it may be that your expectations are unrealistic.

PS Do not allow other people to approach her and foist themselves on her delivering treats.......you will need to micro manage her environment for a while and she has to learn/gain the confidence to approach neutral people who ignore her.

Also, without wishing to be rude, may I ask your experience level?

 

[Laura2408]

Hi! I will try and answer as best I can.

Yes my trainer is adpt registered. I have had a number of dogs before, one with behavioural issues and both GSD. I wouldn't say I was an expert on dog training though and I have not had a puppy for a long time.

The training I have tried is typical of positive reinforcement, treats from strangers, controlled greetings, egnoring bad behaviour etc.

She is also GSD and she had a heart condition that needed two chest surgeries and a lot of follow up treatment. I have had her since 3 weeks old. She spent 3 weeks with the bitch and breeder before this but was surrendered to me as the breeder didn't want to try.

My other dog is Gsd and is friendly but nervous around men. He is male, castrated and roughly 4 although he is a rescue. He was a cruelty case before he came to me.

Both dogs come with me most places and she has been with me since a very young age and met hundreds of people/dogs which is confusing as from what I read this would help- turns out it has done the opposite!

Thanks for your help

 

[gunnergundog]

Hi! I will try and answer as best I can.

Yes my trainer is adpt registered. I have had a number of dogs before, one with behavioural issues and both GSD. I wouldn't say I was an expert on dog training though and I have not had a puppy for a long time.

The training I have tried is typical of positive reinforcement, treats from strangers, controlled greetings, egnoring bad behaviour etc.

She is also GSD and she had a heart condition that needed two chest surgeries and a lot of follow up treatment. I have had her since 3 weeks old. She spent 3 weeks with the bitch and breeder before this but was surrendered to me as the breeder didn't want to try.

My other dog is Gsd and is friendly but nervous around men. He is male, castrated and roughly 4 although he is a rescue. He was a cruelty case before he came to me.

Both dogs come with me most places and she has been with me since a very young age and met hundreds of people/dogs which is confusing as from what I read this would help- turns out it has done the opposite!

Thanks for your help

Wow! What a story! I think in cases like this that anyone on the internet can not really give appropriate advice as they cannot see the behaviour. I would counsel you to get help from someone with an APBC accreditation at the very least...that is a behaviourist as opposed to a trainer (APDT). Your pup will have missed out on so much learning from its mum and has now past the various crucial classical conditioning phases, such that he will probably not respond as the text books state.

All is not lost though, and you can win with appropriate help. Whilst APBC is a starting point, there are many people who have EXPERIENCE without qualifications who may be able to help. Are you anywhere near Bishop Burton?

 

[Laura2408]

Thanks very much for your reply. I am hoping to get some one to one behaviour consultations.
She is very dependant on me to the point she hides behind me or my other dog a lot. She has spent lots of time in isolation at the vet which won't have helped.

I am not a million miles from bishop burton, about 1.5 hours approx?

Thanks again!

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I think getting her to meet tons of people will overwhelm her completely and might indeed be the wrong thing to do. With mine, who was similar, but more aggressive with it, I got people to totally ignore him and just drop treats in passing. He eventually approached them in his own time, but will still take himself off into a different room if he feels overwhelmed.

Even if a trainer is qualified, he or she may not be the right trainer for your dog: I went through two highly recommended before finding a good one, unqualified, who has changed the dog and us for the better.

I think you're going to have to go super slowly with the pup and not expose her to tons of situations like you normally would with a youngster. I hope she comes good.

 

[Dobiegirl]

Even if a trainer is qualified, he or she may not be the right trainer for your dog: I went through two highly recommended before finding a good one, unqualified, who has changed the dog and us for the better.


I totally agree, one of my foster dogs in his new home was being aggressive towards other dogs a behaviour that I had never seen from him and he had lived with my 3 dogs and met all my friends dogs with no problems. The new owner contacted a well qualified dog behaviourist who said he would come along with his stooge dog, I thought oh this is good and then she told me it was a stuffed dog, when I had finished laughing she told me this was £200 for 2 hours. I finally went over with a friend and her foster dog and sorted it, it was not the dog it was the way they were handling him.

Laura what sort of exercises are you doing with your trainer? is the behaviour seen when other dogs approach her and what do you do when other dogs approach? I love GSDs Ive seen some lovely ones lately is yours long coated? is your other dog good with other dogs?

 

[I.M.N.]

I have a nervous GSD, he's an entire male and I've had him from 8 weeks. Nothing too terrible has ever happened to him but he is just naturally nervous.

I can't really offer any advice as he's not nearly as bad as yours, but I thought I'd mention that his nervousness has gone up and down as he's grown. I'd say 10-12 months he was at his worst, it was bordering on turning into aggression but now aged 15 months he seems to be settling down and strangers can now look and talk (no touch) to him without him kicking off.

I haven't done anything too specific or modified my handing of him as his nervousness varied, I've just made sure I've always made it clear what is expected of him without ever forcing him to meet that expectation.