nervous

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Hi all

We are having a bit of a problem with Willow. She is the most timid dog I have ever seen in my entire life and is so nervous it is unbelievable! Some days I feel a bit sorry for her as she seems to be so jumpy and frightened of everything - and that is just in the house. In spite of that she has a lovely temperament and we are after ideas of things we can do to help her. I have no idea how to increase her confidence - ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I have had long chats with my breeder about her and we think that although she was a little timid when we first got her, the car accident we had when she was around 4/5 months old seems to have really affected her and I am wondering if she was more traumatised by the whole thing than we realised at the time. Consequently, she spends a lot of her time jumping at everything and running away quite a bit. Funnily enough though, she isn't really bothered by fireworks - go figure!! We are going to try DAP and also valerian - but one at a time to see what works but we would appreciate any advice or comments that could help.

Thanks

[Stuart]

I think I would start by simply sitting on a park bench, with a pinic lunch and have Willow watch the world go by,.. when she gets used to the calmer setting of the park, them start to move slowly into town

This way you are not pushing her into anything, she gets used to things in her own time, I dont know quite how bad Willow is, but I would guess that in a couple of months you may well be sitting in a town center bus stop

.....at least I cant think of a better way,..its what I would start doing

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Sorry I forgot to put into my message that Willow isn't too bad in the great outdoors. She can be a little jumpy but we have walked through woods, main roads, passed buses and all over the place and she is mostly ok. It actually seems to be in the house that she is at her worst - although I still had to laugh at the image of a GSD trying to hide behind my legs when my friend had her hoover (switched off) on her front lawn ready to clean her car! You would think after over a year living with my family that she would be used to the general din that passes for normal here. If I am washing the dishes, she paces up and down in the kitchen as if something terrible is about to happen and she runs from the hoover, although she is getting a bit better with it. I moved a piece of paper on the table earlier and she jumped. She is on restricted exercise for now because of her hips so a friend suggested hiding things in a cardboard box to give her something to do - she was frightened of the box and it took a week of leaving it lying around before she was brave enough to consider looking in it!

[isaacd93]

Sounds exactly just line mine and I socialised her so much. When I walk into the room with the hoover she runs away and hides. She hates the hoover.

Also scared of cats(Only because she chased one then the cat got pissed off and scared her), big dogs. But fine with any bangs such as fireworks.

I'll be watching this thread closely to see what replies you get

[LindaM]

I'm not experienced but this is what I would try:

to do things as quietly as possible around her for the moment, so try not to clatter the dishes etc

at the same time I would ignore her behaviour but be symathetic to her by doing things as quietly and 'slowly' for example if you are getting something out of a cupboard, or closing a cupboard door.

I hope she improves but I think it could take some time.

Good luck.

Linda and Lukey

[Kealagirl]

Will she work around her fears for food/toy rewards? If so try and get her to do a behaviour that is really simple for her like 'sit' or down or a bit of both whilst she is near the thing (if you can identify what she's afraid of) that bothers her.

Example - whilst you are washing the dishes ignore her undesirable pacing/stressed out behaviour and have some really tasty treats beside you. Whilst she is pacing ask her to sit (only ask her once if she ignores you calmly put her into the position) and reward her with a piece of tasty treat, praising her calmly with your voice 'good girl' will do and go back to washing dishes. Do not go over the top with voice praise as this could upset her more. Try and do this 3 or 4 times every time you wash up and hopefully she will soon see this activity that you do as a good thing.

Also go and put your Hoover on your lawn. Take her out as close as you can to it and do the same. Ask her to do a behaviour and reward calmly. If she freaks out don't go too close, build up the distance you get through time and patience. Once she is comfy with that ask your neighbour if you can work her around their car cleaning activites.

You are basically telling her that there is nothing to fear and actually good things happen around the situations she thought were scary

[claire_88]

I agree with Linda. Both mine are not fond of the hoover or the hairdryer but i continue doing what i am doing and ignore them, saying this though they are not running and hiding so i think the slow and steady approach is a good idea.

The only other thing i could think of, without having hands on experience of this would be to treat her when she is calm, so for example place the hoover (or object she is scared of) in your front room.......wait for her to calm down and treat, then perhaps start moving it around slowly with it turned off...... calm=treat.

If she creates too much or starts getting stressed i would remove the object from the room and continue my day, but i would not show her attention as this would re-inforce her behaviour and probably make her worse.

[LOVEGSD]

You need to build up positive associations with things, is she food or toy motivated? I would reward her for every time she 'copes' with something but never force her into a situation she is clearly uncomfortable with.

Stuarts idea of sitting somewhere quiet is a great start....xx

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I do try to ignore her fearful behaviour whenever possible. With the hoover, as long as she can get past it without getting too close, and can watch it from a safe distance, she is not too bad. Unfortunately, apart from the couple of examples I have given, mostly we cannot predict what will make her jump. Something as simple as moving something on a unit can make her jump. Maybe it's because being hit by a lorry in a car was totally unpredictable for her. It's almost like she thinks that we will drop something on her. I think we struggle so much with this is that at other times, she runs around like a maniac and loves to play.

Today, I bought a doggy destresser plug in defuser - it has valerian and some other stuff in it. It says on the packet that it will help to soothe the dog but will also help to destress the humans too! I will give it a bit of time and if it doesn't work, I will try a DAP one.

[Kealagirl]

Today, I bought a doggy destresser plug in defuser - it has valerian and some other stuff in it. It says on the packet that it will help to soothe the dog but will also help to destress the humans too! I will give it a bit of time and if it doesn't work, I will try a DAP one.[/QUOTE]

Good idea with trying the defuser. I have never used one but a friend has used the DAP recently on a really nervie husky pup and she seems to think it has worked a treat chillin the pup out. Keep us posted.

I had one of the kenneled rescue dogs out for some of the big out doors yesterday and he freaked out as a motability scooter came along the pavement. He threw himself as far from it as he could. I said nothing and then followed the scooter along the pavement at a comfortable distance and praised him with my voice for not reacting. He did follow me quite happily though and I wouldnt have dragged the lead to make him do this, the dog has to trust you and not be stressed out to achieve a good result.