lexismum

Hi all on Sunday i collected a 5 yr old (6 on the 22nd this month) blue and tan male.
Over all hes a very well behaved boy, sits leaves stays etc.
Hes fantastic with my kids & a really good boy.
I need some help with a few issues.

1st issue is he doesnt know how to play, today i gave him a bone and he hides it, as if to say its mine i will have it later, so i went and got it again and he hides it again :-( He has new toys he hasnt touched, if i try to play with him he turns his head and lays down.

2nd issue is pulling on the lead when walked, he responds to me very well if i say wait he stops but after a few seconds hes pulling again, ive been doing the stop technique if he pulls i stop :-) Might try a halti type lead...

3rd issue is he hates the car, id had him on the backseat but he wont sit and its not good for driving so today i put him in the boot and hes chewed both rear seat belts aarrgghhhh (Dog guard on order now).

Ive not left him for long except school runs etc and i come back to him laid on the front door matt waiting for me nothing chewed.

Hes had a hard life spent the last 5 years with a family with 3 children under 10 in a tiny flat and has been beaten many times, hence why he doesnt beg for food & is very well behaved. We dont think hes ever been out for a walk as the vet yesterday said hes a good weight but got no muscle tone :-( Hes also been fed on tesco bruno rubbish and his coat is in very poor condition, im feeding JWB fish variety with extra cod liver oil added and im told i wont recognise him in a few months :-)

Any help you can give me would be great, hes currently got his head on lap while i type this, i find it very hard to understand why someone would want to hurt him as 99% of the time hes an angel.

I will confess he sleeps with us or my teenage daughter and this works for us very well.

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greenkouki

Give him some time to adjust and I'm sure he will come out of his shell. For the pulling, I would start off walking him in your back yard or in the house and keep lots of treats on you, get him to focus on you. You don't need him heeling 100%, but keep him focused on you, and keep it positive since you don't think he's ever been walked and he doesn't know what he's supposed to do. He just sees all these great new things and wants to investigate. Above all I think you should get together with an obedience trainer and go to some basic obedience classes.

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Morgan3

Yes, definitely give him time!!! We've had our rescued Dobe for almost 2 months now and she opens up a little more every day...but the first couple of weeks she was very tentative and a bit shell shocked. It took about three weeks for her to start loosening up. For instance she didn't know how to play either...or so we thought! Recently she has been starting to play with our sons- we discovered she knows how to fetch! LOL

I think there is a thread on here where they recommend giving a new rescue two weeks of quiet time to settle in. If you search for it, it has a bunch of good ideas. Good luck!

Jazi

http://carebullies.org/forms/Two%20Week%20Shutdown.pdf

Huh, I wrote a post and it didn't send. Interesting.

Anyway! First off, give him time! While it's possible that if you know he was beat he may have had all drive to play and interact with "stuff" beat out of him, it's also possible that he doesn't understand what you want him to do yet because he doesn't know who you are yet. It's only been a couple days, he's allowed to be confused.

I personally wholeheartedly recommend doing at least an edited version of the two week shutdown. I did one with Skoll and it made a HUGE difference. Now that said I've only had my boy for two months and he still opens up a little more each day... last night was the first night that he was content to lay sprawled out upside down, and recently he's taken to cuddling up to me at night instead of sleeping in his crate (with door open). Slow steady steps.

Remember if your boy has never been walked before there is suddenly a HUGE world outside of his previous place and he just has so much to see and do and sniff and pee on No wonder he pulls! Keep walks short and sweet, start in your backyard or even in your house and perhaps just take him around the block a few days and slowly expand from there. If you lived in a closet all your life and suddenly you learned that there was this great big world outside you'd be excited to experience everything too. At least now he can live like a real dog If you need a training aide try to keep a head halti as a last resort (there are some who feel with dobes at risk for wobblers a halti is not so good)- I use one on my boy when he gets too antsy about dogs but I have him on a short leash so that he can't dash and whip his head around.

Also, try running him around or using a flirt pole. Most dogs with any amount of prey drive can't resist!

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lexismum

Hmmmm i dont need obedience classes despite his poor up bringing he will sit, stay,leave, paw, roll over and many more. Hes an angel in the house.
I think time is all he needs, hes just one big cuddle bucket atm just wanting my attention the whole time!

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