Sophie Posted June 21, 2006 Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 We've had Sophie since the beginning of October. She is nervous with other dogs - it seems she wants to be friendly, but is scared, so generally greets other dogs nicely but grumbles under her breath as she does so. If we meet more than one dog coming towards us at a time, Sophie will avoid meeting them if possible. If not possible to avoid, she generally whimpers a bit, then walks quickly past grumbling quietly. When she is with Morse and Smudge (my parent's dogs who she adores), she is much better. I think she lets them intercept other dogs and decides if they are safe based on how they act with the boys. She pulls a huge amount of confidence from Morse, and is a different dog when he is near her. We started going to clicker training classes pretty much as soon as she came to us. This was for training, but more importantly socialisation. It took a couple of months, but she began to relax in the hall and around the other dogs. Unfortunately in February/March, another dog had a go at her, and a second one joined in. Sophie ended up pinned in the corner by the two other dogs. We went back a few times after, but Sophie was terrified. I couldn't get her out of the corner/away from the walls at all. She was so clearly unhappy we stopped going. Instead, we started agility - again, primarily for socialisation. At first she was overwhelmed by the dogs and people, but she's gradually been relaxing there. Last week she took food from one of the trainers (first time she'd taken food from someone not in the family since we got her). Yesterday she was having a really good week - she was bouncy when we got there, and quite enthusiastic. She didn't grumble at any of the other dogs. About halfway through the session, one of the other dogs suddenly jumped on Sophie and started attacking her. She cowered away (she doesn't fight back), but it took about a minute before we got the other dog off her (actually probably much less time, but it felt like ages). I quickly checked Sophie over, and she wasn't hurt at all, but she was spooked. She stopped responding to her name, wouldn't take food, and was pulling toward the car. I sat down with her and gave her a gentle massage, and got her taking treats. She then seemed up for continuing with the agility, so I did some simple things with her (just going through the tunnel). After about 5 minutes, she made a run for the gate. She was stopped and I put her back on lead, and we just sat and watched for a while. The class then moved on to the long jump, so we thought we'd try that. She did it ok, but then ran back to the car. I brought her back, put her over the dog walk (which she loves doing) once, then took her home. Basically what I want to know - opinions please - is whether I did the right thing after she was attacked. Should I have taken her home immediately when I knew she was stressed? Or was it ok to keep going? What should I do next time (if it happens again)? And does anyone have any ideas as to how I can help make Sophie more confident with other dogs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celeste Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 Oh poor Soph, it' horrible when this happens especially when you have a shy dog, i think you sort of did the right thing, i would have taken her back in but stayed on the sidelines away but in veiw of the other dogs and did a wee bit of simple obediance with her, this would get her thinking with her brain, rather than reacting with her fear, but not to full on that it would keep her fearfull (if that makes sense) it seems that although she would like to be friends she lacks the social skills to meet new dogs with any confidence, think of it as the diffrence between being at a party where you know everyone and they all like you and you like them, and going to a party where you don't know anyone, how would you feel if you were a bit shy ? not very comfy probebly, thats how Sophie feels, so you need to make all her encounters with new dogs good, don't try to force her into meeting new dogs, just take it at her pace, how close can she get to a strange dog before she reacts? watch her closely and look for things like liking her lips ,glancing away, tail carage (up or down) thats when to get her attention in a happy voice and treat her untill the strange dog is past, try and not let the other dog get to her, the point of the exercise is to create a new behaviour by changing her view of other dogs from "oh no here comes a dog, what should i do, oh worry worry worry, it's getting closer!!!, get away!" to " hey hey, here comes a dog, where are those treats?" it's really important that you don't let another dog mug her, she needs to trust that you will look out for her and take charge of any encounters untill she can do it for herself, hope this is of some help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrio Posted June 22, 2006 Report Share Posted June 22, 2006 Oh No - sophie - thats terrible. How about getting together with just me and Tealeaf to bolster her dog confidence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophie Posted June 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2006 Thanks Celeste - that is pretty much what we are trying. We have the problem that it seems it was fairly strongly entrenched in her by previous owners that she will not eat outside. It took us two months of trying and training to get her to take food from us on walks. Even now, if she is at all worried, she reverts back to no food taking, so we are making slow progress. Kerrio - might take you up on that offer. Will PM. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts