Worried about my 1 year old male

[NJrottielover]

Hello everyone,
I am hoping to get some advice on my 1 year old male rescue, Apollo. I apologize in advance for the length of this, but I am concerned and want to give as much info as possible. My husband and I adopted Apollo at the age of 5 months from the shelter I volunteer at. He was an owner surrender, and the guy fully admitted that he kept the dog in the garage at all times, and when he got home from work, would simply open the garage and let the dog wander around the neighborhood until he came back to the garage. Yeah, not such a great start.
Apollo was immediately a very sweet rottie, but also unsure of himself. He loves his big sister Nadia (5 year old rescue) and wishes the 4 cats would play with him. He's always loved other dogs and people, and we've tried to socialize him a lot to somewhat make up for his rough beginning, but we realize that you can never completely make up for that. He's been through Basic Obedience and Basic Agility (for fun and my trainer thought it would help him with his confidence level) and passed with flying colors. He's very obedient and submissive and has never once "tested" me or my husband for dominance. In fact, if we make any loud movement or accidently drop something he cowers and drops to the floor or jumps back. He startles very easily. A few examples: there was a plastic bag that got caught in our bushes in our backyard and his hackles went up and he barked and whined, the wheelbarrow was in our front yard, and it's usually not, same bark, whine and hackles up, we lit a candle a couple of months ago, same reaction. When we went to my parents' house on Christmas, they have those fake reindeer on their front lawn, and those freaked him out too. All of these times, I say "Ok, Apollo, let's go see the (insert scary object)" and we walk up together and he sniffs it very timidly and sometimes jumps back but eventually is okay with it.
My main worry is what happened on Christmas. Apollo and Nadia are used to being at my parents' house among their assortment of animals and have a great time. We were there for a couple of hours when my two uncles came, who the dogs have never met. They came in holding a huge pile of presents and had big bulky coats and hats on, and Apollo immediately began barking at them and his hackles went up. I wasn't that concerned because he gets afraid of things like that and I thought when they put their stuff down and took their jackets off, he'd be fine. He wasn't. He continued to bark and GROWL at one of my uncles. My uncle, unfortunately, wanting Apollo to immediately like him, kept coming up to him and reaching his hand out. I told him not to do that because obviously the dog is upset for some reason, and I know his sudden movements were scaring him. But my uncle continued to do it, and Apollo put his mouth on his arm. He didn't bite down, he just placed his mouth around his arm! I sternly yelled "NO!" At that point, I had had enough, and put Apollo outside onto the screened in patio, where he could see us through the glass door. We all sat down while Apollo looked in at us and whined. When my uncle got up to get something he started barking and growling at him through the glass. Finally after about 20 minutes of remaining calm, I put him on lead and took him in to sit with me on the floor. He immediately went up to my other uncle (the one he didn't bark and growl at) and took an offered treat from him, stump wagging. He seemed to settle down considerably, and I had the "hated" uncle give him treats, which he took. The rest of the night continued without incident, but Apollo never felt comfortable with that particular uncle. He didn't bark or growl any more, but didn't really want anything to do with him, unless he had treats (then he had no problem coming up to him). This uncle is a very hyper guy- he can never sit still, he's always walking around looking at things, and has that nervous energy. I think that may have made Apollo uneasy, but of course he shouldn't have reacted that way.
Those same uncles came to our house the next day with my mom, and Apollo was much better, but he did let out a rumble when they first got there. I corrected him, and he was fine the rest of the visit, but he still didn't seem to like him or trust him for some reason.
The last thing (finally) that I am concerned about is that he seems to not be getting along with other dogs as much any more. At the dog park the other day, which he loves, he got in a tiff with another dog (although I think that dog started it), and on a walk today, a big shepard ran up to us, his owner running after him. He was very friendly and the shepard and Nadia, who my husband was walking, sniffed each other happily. I had Apollo a little ahead of them and he was barking a little, whining, and had his hackles up. I thought he just wanted to go say hi, so I slowly walked over to the shepard. Apollo barked not-so-nicely at him and tried to jump on him. So I corrected him and we walked away.
My husband and I are very concerned with his behavior lately. Although he's always been a "spook", as my vet calls him, these latest incidents are unsettling, to say the least. We are planning on taking him back to class in February, but what else can we do? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Again, I'm really sorry this is so long! Thank you!!!

[KatMc]

Hi, I don't have any ideas but I did a quick search on the archives (don't know what type of connection you have to the internet, but I hate dial-ups when I want to do a search..:D ).

Hopefully some of these will give you ideas that will help.

www.rottweiler.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9288
www.rottweiler.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8019
www.rottweiler.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5204

good luck,
Kathy

[NJrottielover]

Thanks, KatMc. I have read those posts before, and they were helpful. But I'm still pretty worried about my boy especially now that he's a teenager! I took him to the dog park today and he was great, but I would still like some advice on what else to do and how to approach his fears and uncertainty. Thanks again! :)

[Judi W]

First of all be accepting of the fact that this is a fearful dog who will, because of those fears, occasionally make bad decisions. It is your job to protect him from being placed in situations where he can get into trouble.

Don't ever stop your active training classes and attendant socialization. Dogs who are unsure and fearful do much better in life with dependable structure and being able to follow instructions so that when they are feeling pressed, they can rely upon you to give them commands to follow. Of course they must also trust you that you are not going to place them in untenable situations.

In informal situations do not allow someone to press him to where he feels he cannot even retreat and has no option but to become defensive. You must understand and respect his limitations. It is unfair to the dog to do otherwise. He had given his message the best way he knew how with growling and barking and you all ignored that message. Now he has the experience behind him of using his teeth since his warnings and clear evidence of discomfort were disregarded. When you see these situations, place him under a command and ensure that whoever he is concerned about respects your request to leave the dog alone. If you are unable to do that, put him up rather than in a situation where he might bite.

As far as the dog interaction is concerned, keeping the training classes going will help with his dog social skills and self-control around other dogs, but he is becoming older and his days running with all at the dog park might be coming to an end. Be selective about who he plays with. If the mix in the group doesn't look good, remove him and go practice your training.

Take care of him, recognize his limitations and work within that framework.
Best,

[NJrottielover]

Judi W., thank you very much for your much-valued advice. I love my Apollo so much and only want to help him as much as I can! Thanks again! :)