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Some of you might have read my introduction of my two foster girls. The major project is Linda, she is so fearful and scared of everything, you can not touch her. When she first came, the only place she felt safe in was the kennel. My goal is to work with her, resocialize her, make her comfortable with touch, a leash and the house. I do have some sort of training idea/program and so far, everything works amazingly well and she is making wonderful progress. Being aware that this is an extreme case (or not?) I would be interested if anybody has had any similar experiences. For those who are interested some of my personal experiences with this dog in the following paragraph.
Linda is a bit like a wild animal, I sometimes think. I have read a lot of books about fearful dogs, but most of them left me a bit at a loss – they presume that at least you are able to put a leash on your dog or communicate directly. But none of them told me what to do if the dog keeps a permanent safe distance from you and runs away as soon as you walk towards her. Linda first kept a permanent safety distance of at least 6-8 foot, mostly more. But her character is working for me, makes it easy in a certain way to work with her: she is curious, wants to get in contact, she has a positive attitude and she is not aggressive. With every step she makes forward she thrives and wants more, so this is of course not as hard as it could be.
When I started I sat down in the kennel (which was open all the time during the day) with my laptop and worked there just to get them used to my presence. This is not necessary any more. Her fear of humans slowly subsides, she comes closer and closer, sometimes she looks directly into my eyes. After weeks of work she manages to not run away every time she comes closer. Instead she more and more often manages to hold the tension and stays put, barking and jumping up and down to get it done (which is very, very sweet).
Right now she manages to give up the 6-8 foot safety distance and more often comes closer. After almost two months she is even in the house now and lies down on a specific spot she likes – but still runs away every time somebody comes too close or triggers fear in any other way. To not make her panic, the patio door is always open for escape. In the beginning I was focusing on touching her, but I learned quickly that this puts too much stress on her. Instead we now focus on socializing and keeping her close so she looses her fear of people and the surrounding things first.
Even a recall works nicely, when called she comes happily and takes her treat, but then goes back to her safety distance which is fine. We now also offer her a nose bump contact, we hold out the back of the hand outside of her safety distance and more and more often she comes and bumps. No hand moving during this event. And a general rule: contact is always initiated by the dog. Now we step by step initiate contact ourselves, but when we started, the best thing was to ignore her, especially when she tried to come closer. Any kind of attention was too threatening for her. I do not want to forget to mention that the second dog plays a crucial role in the whole thing. Linda needs guidance and somebody to follow, without the second dog Belle, all the progress we had so far would have not been possible. When we started I was wondering how many months or years I will need to make her enter the house. Since she is snoring in a dog bed in one corner of the living room right now, I am wondering what a wonderful dog she might become in the future, healing is possible.
Well, this is not all, just to give you an idea. So if somebody has made any specific experiences with a fearful dog of this kind, I would be happy to hear the story.
Linda is a bit like a wild animal, I sometimes think. I have read a lot of books about fearful dogs, but most of them left me a bit at a loss – they presume that at least you are able to put a leash on your dog or communicate directly. But none of them told me what to do if the dog keeps a permanent safe distance from you and runs away as soon as you walk towards her. Linda first kept a permanent safety distance of at least 6-8 foot, mostly more. But her character is working for me, makes it easy in a certain way to work with her: she is curious, wants to get in contact, she has a positive attitude and she is not aggressive. With every step she makes forward she thrives and wants more, so this is of course not as hard as it could be.
When I started I sat down in the kennel (which was open all the time during the day) with my laptop and worked there just to get them used to my presence. This is not necessary any more. Her fear of humans slowly subsides, she comes closer and closer, sometimes she looks directly into my eyes. After weeks of work she manages to not run away every time she comes closer. Instead she more and more often manages to hold the tension and stays put, barking and jumping up and down to get it done (which is very, very sweet).
Right now she manages to give up the 6-8 foot safety distance and more often comes closer. After almost two months she is even in the house now and lies down on a specific spot she likes – but still runs away every time somebody comes too close or triggers fear in any other way. To not make her panic, the patio door is always open for escape. In the beginning I was focusing on touching her, but I learned quickly that this puts too much stress on her. Instead we now focus on socializing and keeping her close so she looses her fear of people and the surrounding things first.
Even a recall works nicely, when called she comes happily and takes her treat, but then goes back to her safety distance which is fine. We now also offer her a nose bump contact, we hold out the back of the hand outside of her safety distance and more and more often she comes and bumps. No hand moving during this event. And a general rule: contact is always initiated by the dog. Now we step by step initiate contact ourselves, but when we started, the best thing was to ignore her, especially when she tried to come closer. Any kind of attention was too threatening for her. I do not want to forget to mention that the second dog plays a crucial role in the whole thing. Linda needs guidance and somebody to follow, without the second dog Belle, all the progress we had so far would have not been possible. When we started I was wondering how many months or years I will need to make her enter the house. Since she is snoring in a dog bed in one corner of the living room right now, I am wondering what a wonderful dog she might become in the future, healing is possible.
Well, this is not all, just to give you an idea. So if somebody has made any specific experiences with a fearful dog of this kind, I would be happy to hear the story.
