I have a shy dog and am moving to a new apartment with 3 roommates ?

Question

She is just naturally shy. She has never been abused and is a little over one year old. She is a blue heeler/lab mix. She is fine with me, but when around my roommate she cowers away and just stares at them confused. If I try to hold her while one of them pets her she pees a little on the carpet. What is the best way to get her to be more open to socialization and not so afraid.

I am guilty of coddling her when she's scared which I've read you shouldn't do. I've also taught her some tricks which I read was suppose to build her confidence. Please help.

Answer 1

In her book, "The Dog Listener", Jan Fennel, television dog trainer, tells the reader of an experience where she took in a dog from an animal sanctuary that had been found abandoned, tied to a concrete block by a string. The dog would hide under the table scared of the owner. She explains that after a while the dog would come up to her but she wouldn't touch him so that the dog would get to know her. I recommend that your roommates ignore the dog until it feels comfortable around them and then they could show affection to her but not try to force themselves onto her.

Answer 2

A good way to make your dog more confident of other people is to take her out and meet other Dogs, Dog owners and normal people. I don't know if you take her out for walks in public places, but this is a good way to get your dog more confident around other people.

Coddling her is not a good idea, what you should do is introduce her to your new roommates gradually until she becomes more confident around them, soon she should be able to be around your new roommates a lot of the time.

However you at first you should make sure that none of your new-roommates treat her too harshly or that will make it worse. But if you try what I've suggested then you should be fine (however you might have to clean up a few pee stains until shes comfortable around your friends).

Hope I Helped =]

Answer 3

IIs your roomate beating her??

I had a dog do the same and it was from abuse when i wasn't around..

If this is not the case does she pee with others as well? may be nervious bladder problems check with the vet.

give this trick a try

Try having your roomate lay on the floor with a dog treat in his/her mouth and let the dog come to then it's best if you are in the room but back out slowey allow the dog to see you are safe with the roomate BEING IN THIS POSTION ANDTHE DOG MAY PEE BUT WILL GO TO GET IT TREAT AFTER it feels safe try this at 3/4 times a week for a hour the dog will build up trust and when it does will get it's reward..

Answer 4

First, stop forcing your shy dog to interact with scary things (she's not ready for that yet - hopefully with your help she will be some day, but not yet). Your new roommates need to learn to totally ignore her (that's right - no eye contact, no petting, no reaching out for her, etc.) until *she's* ready.

Second, realize that fear cannot be reinforced - it is a myth. Unless you are making your dog more afraid by whatever it is you are doing to comfort her (if you are anxiously petting her and anxiously trying to reassure her that will make her more anxious), you cannot reinforce fear. Take your cues from her - if she seems more distressed when you try to reassure her, stop doing whatever you're doing and try something else.

Counterconditioning and desensitization are very useful tools for helping a fearful dog.

This website is the best I've found so far for complete information on fearful dogs (including the myth about comforting fearful dogs):

http://www.fearfuldogs.com/

this yahoo group is the best I've found so far for support and help from professional trainers as well as other owners of fearful dogs:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shy-k9s

The archives and files sections have an enormous amount of resources for new people to read through. Just reading many of the daily posts also helps to get ideas and advice.

Best wishes. Your shy dog can be helped but you really need to do the research and use appropriate techniques.

Answer 5

Stop the coddling.  Pet her a lot when then others are around.  You still have to punish peeing on the floor no matter  how good her reason for doing it is.  If she is already housebroken the punish needn't be more than a small stare

Tell your roomies to ignore the dog for a few days and then have them give the dog small treats, or take over the feeding by turns.

Mostly have them leave the dog alone.  If they feed her it is enough that the dog see them do it.  They do not have to stand around and try to praise and pet her.

I have had this problems with dogs and cats.  Unless they animals are very old they adjust fairly easily over a couple of weeks.Because you are upsetting her life in 2 ways, new apartment, new roommates it may take a bit longer.  Take her for longer and more frequent walks along with a roommate or two at a time.  But again, have the roommates mostly ignore her fora long time.

Answer 6

Hi,  It's not a good setup but don't despair.  Just keep the others away for her for the first few weeks until she get to know them.  They should not force her in any as scared dogs can be a danger.  Be patient I'm sure it will work out ok and it might be good for her too.  Good luck

Answer 7

This is tricky...you really have to do it right, or you end up making it worse like I did with my fearful dog (a lab that cowers and growls at people...and I, suprise, coddled him and reinforced that behavior.)

I hired a behaviorist to help me work with him.  While this is working with my dog, it may not be the best route for yours, so you may check out hiring a behaviorist (contact your SPCA to see which person they use...our city's one only charges about $30 a visit...very affordable.)

Anyway, the behaviorist has me keeping the dog in a down position (pinch/leash) while the guest feeds him delicious treats he doesn't get at any other time.  That position and those treats calm him down fairly quickly until he feels confident enough to be around the person.  I do NOT force physical interaction on him.  So far, it's been going well.  Slow progress, but progress none the less.  Good luck!