Newbie needing advice please for a stressed little dog

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StarSpotter*
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Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:43 am

Newbie needing advice please for a stressed little dog

Post by StarSpotter* »

I am a newbie here, and I could really use some advice!

I have a 10 year old Sheltie, we have had her since she was 6 months old and she has always been a happy little dog, though sometimes quite timid, but the death of our big old dog last year seems to have really affected her, and her behaviour has changed:

Now she only seems to be relaxed when my dad is at home. When he is out she sits in silence, on constant alert, ears up listening to every little noise, and you can see the worry etched on her face. She yawns a lot too. This happens even when I am in the house, I have tried to distract her with toys and treats and sometimes that works for a brief minute, but then she goes straight back to listening out for my dad to come home. She sometimes sits like this for hours. When he is home, she visably relaxes.

Another problem she has is at night. She is fine if the windows are all firmly closed, but in the warmer weather when the windows are open a bit she gets really anxious if she hears people walking down the street, especially if they are talking, or people getting out of cars. Again, if she hears one of these noises, she will sit in silence, on alert, ears up and looking very stressed - eventually afetr a long time she will fall asleep, but with her ears standing completely erect, and any little noise wakes her up and makes her jump out of skin. When the windows are closed and she can't hear any street noise, she will sleep soundly all night.

She has always been quite nervous around people and dogs she doesn't know, but now if we come across other dogs on our walk, firstly she pulls on her leash and growls, but when they get close enough to sniff her the growling and pulling stop, and she will cower behind my legs and very occasionally she will nip the other dog if it trys to get near.

I am desperate to help her, and had wondered if getting another dog might make her feel less stressed again, but with the way she is behaving around other dogs at the moment, I worry that it would just add to her stress.

When my dad is in the house she is the happy little dog she has always been (except at night), you only have to talk to her and her little tail will start thumping, and she loves to play with the cat!

How can I get her to feel comfortable and relaxed all the time, instead of only when my dad is around? And how can I get her to relax at night?

Many thanks for reading this,
Lucy
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Horace's Mum
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Post by Horace's Mum »

I know the others will have more ideas, but it sounds like she needs more confidence in herself. Maybe she got her confidence from your old dog, and now she feels very alone? Best idea I have would be to do something like clicker training to help her build self confidence - sounds mad i know, but you would be amazed at how much more confident and therefore less stressed my dog was once we started agility training and he got things right.

For the minute I wouldn't put her in the situation of allowing her to get scared of other dogs, just keep her away from strange dogs or keep them away from her. She is scared. As far as another dog is concerned, I don't think it would be the problem you are worried about because of her reaction to strange dogs now, but not sure if it is the best thing straight away?

Not a lot of help, but wanted to offer my support!
StarSpotter*
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Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:43 am

Post by StarSpotter* »

Thanks for your reply and advice. :)

Clicker training sounds like a great idea if it will boost her self confidence, I would love to give that a try! :D The only problem is, I wouldn't really know where to begin! She has always been very good at the basics - sit, down, stay etc, and though agility training sounds like amazing fun, it is sadly out of the question for my little dog, the poor thing suffers from terrible arthritis, and one of her legs is held together with pins, so the vet says running and jumping is a big no! I'll have to rack my brains to think what else we can train her to do, I think you're right that it will give her self confidence a massive boost, and she is one of those dogs that is always so eager to please. I would be willing to try anything to distract her from her alert, worried listening.

Many thanks again for your advice, :)
Lucy
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Horace's Mum
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Post by Horace's Mum »

Have a look at the clicker training thread on here to give you an idea of how to start, and then let your imagination run wild! You can start by teaching her little tricks like paw, say your prayers, pick up a named toy, and develop it into big things like tidying all her toys away. You can teach her to find household objets like remotes and glasses cases. You can also use it randomly to get her using her brain, just think of something you want to achieve for that session (doesn't have to be big, maybe just walk to the door and touch it with her nose, stand on a small box, crawl under the table etc, not necessarily a useful thing) and just see how far you can get in a session.
This is called freeshaping, and is better once she has got the hang of the clicker a bit more, but it is endless as long as your imagination is! Should help her feel more satified as well if she can't exercise a lot due to her legs.

What about teaching speak, lie down, play dead, roll over, bow, shake hands (left and right), wave, shake your head, nod your head, hide you face, kick the ball, go to bed, pull the blanket over your head, put the slippers on..........there's a few ideas for you to get on with!! There are loads of good clicker books out there, have a look on amazon for ideas.

Have fun!
ckranz
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Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2008 12:18 pm
Location: San Diego CA

Post by ckranz »

Make sure you have a quiet clicker. Some anxious dogs are very sound sensitive and the loud click frightens them. There are many inexpensize thing you can use as a clicker...a pen, baby food jar lid or even muffle the sound of the clicker by putting it in a pocket when using.

One problem you may find is motivation. It sounds like when you dad is one she has little motivation to want to do anything except be anxious an stressed.

Does she show interest in food or treats when your dad is not around. If no you may need to increase the value of your treats. Real left over meats like chicken, turkey, beef or canned meats like chicken and baby food are especially tantalizing.

One book above all others I would recommend is "Click to Calm". Start with very simple settling exercises to help her be able to relax. For instance, you dad leaving puts a lot of stress on her. When leaves, thats when the treats come out. Initially do not ask for much more than looking at you to earn a reward. You want to build the association that dad goes, chicken comes.

As she begins to relax more at home start adding in in other tricks.
StarSpotter*
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Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:43 am

Post by StarSpotter* »

Thanks for all the advice, :) I will definitely give the clicker training a try! I think that my dog is the sort of dog who would be frightened by a loud click, so I might try clicking a pen to start with. I will definitely look out that book too, and the thread on here about clicker training, some of those tricks sound like fun!

At the moment, she is distracted from her worrying if I give her treats - but only for as long as it takes her to eat them, as soon as she has finished she goes straight back to sitting and worrying. Hopefully if I follow the great advice on here, and we take it very slowly, she might start to feel more confident again - I'll let you know if it works!

Many thanks for all your help,
Lucy :)
zeus'fostermom
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Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:25 pm
Location: Portland, OR USA

Post by zeus'fostermom »

You say she is interested in the treats but only as long as it takes for her to eat them. What about using something like a Kong stuffed with peanut butter and frozen or one of those puzzle cubes stuffed with treats. Both would keep her interested and challenged for a longer period of time. Baby steps.
Foster failure ... I've adopted Zeus !
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