Training a fearful pet

I have posted a problem regarding my male who bit my friend. I have a question about my female. We adopted her from a rescue group when she was about 7 months old. We have had for a year. She is an AMAZING dog, she is the most loving, do anything for you pet. She has helped our male become more social and she is smart as anything. The problem is that from what we know (and by the way she acts) that she was beaten by a man. While my husband has done everything in his power to get her to trust him, she won't. She is loving with him, etc but is my shadow. If he raises a voice (he has a deep voice) she RUNS for me and hides. We have never hit her but she is disciplined like the male. We tell her "no", etc. I travel for work and the mornings that I leave she knows and sits with her ears back and looks pitiful. She will also stay to herself when I am not home and hide somewhere in the house.

Please do not say that maybe my husband has hit her because he has not. He adores her and I have seen her do it from day one. She runs when we use the broom, open a garbage bag, anything loud.

It breaks our heart that she won't relax. Any thoughts??

I also wanted to add that we have done everything we can think of to make her comfortable. If she is in the room, I make sure the pans don't bang around too loud or use the vacuum unless she is outside. She gets treats when she does something good, and gets tons of hugs and kisses.

She responds to my husband when he is showing affection but rarely will she solicit him for it.

Thank you

[Carol Burke]

Some dogs just have soft temperaments. She may or may not have been abused. She has weak nerves and will probably always act the same way. Train her gently, I'm sure she thrives on individual attention and will make an excellent obedience dog once she gains a little confidence.

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Carol
Darrlburg Rottweilers

[Orville Story]

This is a weak natured girl. It would be better for her if your husband just ignored her. He should act like she does not exist. She looks to him as the alpha, and is worried that she may offend him. The more powerful he acts, the comfortable she will feel. Powerful pack leaders don't acknoweldge weaker pack members.

[FredAl]

I have worked on a very similar female Rescue Rottie before but was a bit worse because every time anybody approaches her, she downs, shows her belly and starts to pee -- very submissive, weak-nerved, shy and fearful.

Rehabilitation and re-training took some time. One thing I finally found out was that, because of the way she reacted to people, the new owners "babied" her. They would always try to assuage her every time she reacted this way. They would pet her and tell her that it's okay. That was part of the problem.

The rottie perceived the owners’ calming her as praise and dwelled on the submissive fearful behavior. She associated the behavior with a rewarding petting and cooing from her owners so she always resorted to this rewarding behavior (for her).

If, or when, your rottie displays this fearful behavior, ignore her. Reward her (pet or encouraging words) only when she displays a more confident behavior. You don’t have to act differently when you’re around her. If you have to do noisy activities, like vacuuming the room, do so and just ignore her behavior. You have to desensitize her from your noisy daily activities. She’ll get used to them.

Try some clicker training techniques to click and reward a confident or alert behavior. If you don’t have a clicker, you can cluck your cheek (tsk-tsk!) to “mark” the behavior. You can start by clicking small increments of behavior, i.e. an alert look (ears forward, head held high, etc.), a happy attitude, a confident posture, etc. Timing is important to make her understand the behavior being marked. A half-second that transpires after the behavior may be too late. Do a search to find out more about clicker training so you can clearly understand the method.

Do some confidence-building exercises with her. If she will go for a tug o’ war game with a rag, play it and let her win by giving up the rag to her. Retrieve games are also helpful as stress relievers and makes them feel good about pleasing you. It would be better if your husband plays the retrieve game with her. Instead of a ball, use a tug toy or a 1’ rubber hose so you can also play tug with her after she retrieves it.

Once she’s focused on the game, introduce some noisy distractions from a distance (husband plays with her, YOU (from about 10’ away) use the broom, open the garbage bag, etc.) – whatever bothers her. This is what’s termed as “desensitizing.”

To sum it up, you only need to do four things to change her shy demeanor:

1. Ignore the behavior.
2. Mark the confident behavior and reward it.
3. Desensitize her from the situations that cause the behavior.
4. Play confidence-building games with her.

Good luck!

[WorkinDogz]

I would only add...

Make SURE you don't reinforce her fears by coddling her and telling her "It's ok honey...It's oooook" when she's being fearful.

Completely IGNORE it. Praise her for confidence (ie responding to a command favorably without going overboard of course with the praise) ignore her irrational fears.

Trying to not make any noise that could startle her isn't the way I'd handle it.

I would carry on as usual; make the noises that daily life makes and when she can see that they're no big deal to you; she can begin to work through some problems herself.

Don't even glance in her direction when she jumps or runs away from noises.

A soft temperament is a soft temperament. She's probably never going to be a gutsy dog no matter what you do; but you can make sure you don't increase her fears by reinforcing them.

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts. Many of you are completely right, because I have such a bond with her, I do baby her. She does roll over on her back and show her belly and I DO coo her and "re-assure" her by paying too much attention.

I will try the techniques and let you know. She does love to play retrieve the ball and brings it right back. My male could care less and lets her get it and then he tries to get it from her.

While I cannot do the tug of war with my male, I think it is a great idea with her. We will try it.

Thank you again!!!!

[Silvana]

I had very good success bringing out my frightened rescue bitch taking her to agility and obedience training. She surprised us all and progressed much further than I ever thought she would. She approached many more people when she discovered they had various treats for agility work. We have had her 3 years now and progress has been very slow. I agree with the other postings: ignore the frightened behavior.

[suzanne611]

Would the samw advice hold for a dog that has truly been abused? I would love to hear from the trainers on that problem. Thank you.

[Ales]

I have owned Rotts for 6 years but with my males I feel like a novice.
After lossing two reg. female rotts to Parvo on two seperate occasions, each about 1.5 years of age (they were well vaccinated), I happened into rescue. My first male whom I have had 5 years now was very shy when we adopted him. He was fearful of people especially men. He was afraid of his lease, ropes, anything in your hand, raised voices, and crowds. He would not come through a doorway if you were in it. My spouse encourged Jake to accept affection. It seems that it took about a 1.5 years for him to truley feel relaxed with us. Today his confidence has grown and he is really coming into his own! He wears a instead of a worried expression. The worried look is gone expect when it needs to be . He is also very obediant oriented.

[Judi W]

I also agree that the worst thing you can do with a timid dog is to baby and coddle her. When you are tempted to do so, simply say to yourself, "she's a big girl and a Rottweiler" and refrain.

Remember, that obedience is an excellent thing for the weak dog. It gives her something to hang on to when unsure how to act. The training tells her what to do in circumstances where she might like to induldge in fleeing. The more often she sits and stays instead of running away, and learns that staying did not kill or endanger her, the more confidence she will gain. Just remember to concentrate on the obedience and refrain from stroking. A good sturdy pat on the side with a happy voice instead of a "soothing" voice is also helpful. She should improve but do not expect it to be fast.

[FredAl]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by suzanne611:
Would the same advice hold for a dog that has truly been abused? I would love to hear from the trainers on that problem. Thank you.</font>

It should. But, can you elaborate further on how your dog behaves? Does he duck when he sees a hand reaching toward him? Does he cower when you look at him? How do you know he's abused? Do you have an idea HOW he was abused? Please give us more details so we can help your dog.

[suzanne611]

Fred Al, It is not either of my pups. I posted a story some time ago in the Rescue Forum about a boy named Nikko who had been severely beaten, legs tied, muzzle tied.I have since that time met him he was friendly, easy to pet. he has not found a home and since he is in a rescue with women only, I was wondering how he will react to a man and how would one go about obedience training him, unfortunately he is not living indoors and I think he might be clueless as to house manners. I am not able to adopt Nikko but I have been working with the rescue that he is in to find him a home. That is why I posed the question. If anyone is interested in seeing his picture, he is in Doberman Dachsund Rescue of New Egypt, New Jersey. the picture on there now is me with him. If any one is interested p.m. me. I will put the correct url in rescue. To the moderator I am sorry if I overstepped the bounds of the topic but I am really interested to know how to deal with these issues.

[Ales]

FredAL,
I am also interested in your question. Was he shy or abused? I adopted my dog 5 years ago. When we adopted him he had marks on his belly and under ears. How they got there no one knows. He was afraid of leases and other objects in hand, raised hands and raised voices. He would lean from you when you pet him. He would not enter a door if you stood in it. But, he had a strong need to connect with us. Today he is not the same dog. He shows in shyness in only aobut 5%, such as when the vet is examining him. He has proven to be brave an protective when he feels the need. He continues to show a dislike for men of a certain demeanor. He has a good realtionship with my husband. I can definately say that he does not show weak nearve universally. For, this reason I have learned to respect temperment test as a tool but not for total prediction of a dog.

[This message has been edited by Ales (edited January 31, 2001).]

[FredAl]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by suzanne611:
Fred Al, It is not either of my pups. I posted a story some time ago in the Rescue Forum about a boy named Nikko who had been severely beaten, legs tied, muzzle tied.I have since that time met him he was friendly, easy to pet. </font>

Sorry, Suzanne. I'm not able to visit this Forum as often as I want to and am not aware of Nikko's plight. I will do my best to help Nikko. Please keep me informed on his progress and PM me if there is something I should be made aware of. From your assessment of Nikko, it seems like he’s got good nerves and character to survive such inhumane treatment.

How has he reacted to men in the past? He should be started on socializing with men in a positive manner. To keep this post short, the formula is MAN = FRIEND.

The best way to obedience train an abused dog is by clicker training and/or positive training methods – a lot of rewards of treats and praise. Do you have a behaviorist/trainer in your Rescue Group?

House-training Nikko, or any dog for that matter, will give him a better chance to be adopted. He should be conditioned to a foster home that will teach him proper manners and behavior in a home environment. This is also the best time to observe him – what scares him, what motivates him, etc.

When I did Rescue in No. VA, I asked a boarding kennel for some space where I can put the dogs I work with. It was only 20 minutes from my home and I can drive there during my spare time and work on the dogs. The staff observes them and gives me feedback. I bring home some of them on weekends and get them accustomed to home living. Maybe you can do the same thing for Nikko?