Need help; accidentally scared my dog.
#371669 - 01/05/2013 11:43 PM |
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My big girl is not very brave and last night I accidently scared her and now I need to know the quickest/best way to fix this.
In my house we have to go through the furnace room to get to the backyard. The back yard is fenced in and there is no other way to get in (or out) except for through the furnace room.
The regular procedure for coming into the house is this; Sasha sits in the furnace room, gets her front feet wiped off with a towel and then stands and gets her back feet wiped off. She is given a treat and released. It’s been done this way since she came home at 9 weeks old.
Last night as she went to stand, I lost my balance and knocked the box of treats off the cabinet and it fell on top of her, scaring her bad enough that she took off into the house and tried to hide under the coffee table.
I lured her back with one of the treats and we did a little bit of easy obedience (hand touches and sits) in the furnace room with lots of treats and praise. She did ok and seemed happy enough, so I figured everything was ok.
This morning I let her out but when I called to come back in, she came to the door but didn’t want to come inside. I led her in by her collar and asked her to sit. She broke loose and took off into the house. I brought her back and made her sit and get her feet cleaned with lots of treats and praise. She was scared; shaking with her tail clamped down tight and cringing everytime I would move.
I hate seeing her so scared but I can’t have her running through the house with muddy feet. Help!
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Re: Need help; accidentally scared my dog.
[Re: Debbie Martin ]
#371670 - 01/06/2013 05:36 AM |
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The main thing is to just act the way you usually do and make the furnace room no big deal. I would have her on leash for a while so that she can't bolt inside but otherwise just stick to the routine giving treats and praise the way you normally do but basically ignoring the fear.
"A dog wags his tail with his heart." Max Buxbaum
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Re: Need help; accidentally scared my dog.
[Re: Debbie Martin ]
#371680 - 01/06/2013 09:59 AM |
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Aww, poor Sasha.
Debbie, in a case like this, I'd be recreating the fear creator in the funnest way possible.
Bring her in the room without going outside. Does she have a "Touch" command?
Reach up for the box. Treat. Bring the box lower, Treat. Have her "Touch" the box. Treat, treat, treat.
Put the box close to her back or wherever the scary connection happened, treat. Bring the box forward, treat. Have the box go back and touch her, treat.
All the while making it the greatest time of her life. Make sure that tail is out and she’s having a good time.
I would then attempt a happy stumble, show her what a goof mom can be. The last time scared us all but it's nothing to hang on to. Stumble around the room giving her treats.
Once you're confident she's okay in the room, I'd do an exercise with just in and out the door.
Put your boots on and go in and out with her to begin with. Treat for every step closer or into the room.
When she's going in and out with you, this may be the tough one...stand at the door and invite her in.
Maybe hook her up to a long line for some encouragement if necessary.
I'd probably do all this over 3 or 4 sessions, as long as she's making confident progress each time.
Fears aren't fun. I've found that making them fun is the fastest way to get them to face and get over them.
But very slowly so that they barely notice that they are in the situation that was causing the fear in the first place.
Just some thoughts.
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Re: Need help; accidentally scared my dog.
[Re: Debbie Martin ]
#371681 - 01/06/2013 10:51 AM |
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And as if that wasn't enough of my ramblings, here's a couple more thoughts.
It sounds like she's got a pretty fearful temperament. I've got a timid boy and one that came to me with a lot of fear.
Whenever I'm with them, we're on dog time. If something like that happened, I deal with it immediately. We start heading right back to square one where the incident happened.
It may take time to get there but it's a slow progression to make sure that no fear was anchored in the incident, whatever that may be.
The fearful guy is about as confident as they come with the fears he was initially facing. He still doesn't care for people but that's another story.
And the timid one rebounds extremely fast.
I've found that taking the time to notice those fearful moments and slowly dealing with them at the time they are happening (like when she bolted and went and hid) saves a lot of time having to go back and uninstall that fear - after they've been left to deal with it on their own and given it a chance to set in.
Once I had her back in that room, I'd of been recreating that stumble without the fear in me and making it as funny as I could for her.
Some thoughts just in case there's a next time.
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Re: Need help; accidentally scared my dog.
[Re: Debbie Martin ]
#371685 - 01/06/2013 09:03 PM |
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Thanks CJ. That's why I immediately brought her back into the room and did some easy obedience. She seem relaxed and ok at the time but the next morning was acting so scared again.
I love your suggestions so we'll use those and keep working on it using super good treats. P.S. The box is now on lower shelf so it can't get knocked onto her again.
Actually for a fearful dog, she's come a long way. I take her with me every where I can and if I see her tail start to go down, I start doing hand touches and easy obedience with her with lots of happy "good girl!" and great treats. She's still afraid of cats but I have no problem with that.
My last dog was fearless; *nothing* scared her. Having a fearful dog has been a different and very much a learning experience for me. Amazing! The same breed, same breeder; two totally different temperments.
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Re: Need help; accidentally scared my dog.
[Re: Debbie Martin ]
#371686 - 01/06/2013 10:18 PM |
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I've come to the conclusion that some "fear" is a sign of intelligence, an awareness that bad things do happen and a dog needs to be "thinking".
As the dog gets more confident in your leadership (you will protect them) and guidance (you know there's nothing to be scared of) they get less worried.
My dog has outgrown many of his fears.
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Re: Need help; accidentally scared my dog.
[Re: Betty Landercasp ]
#371688 - 01/07/2013 09:08 AM |
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I've come to the conclusion that some "fear" is a sign of intelligence, an awareness ....
I love that Betty and completely agree.
It's often referred to as sharpness, which describes it well too but I like to use the term "heightened awareness" when I describe Vince to people that we come in contact with.
Don't make any sudden moves and you'll be fine.
But once these guys are on your side, as you say, trust you as their leader, those sensitivities translate to some incredibly fast learning, including the elimination of those things they once feared.
His thing with people is different though. If he'd run and hide, that would be one thing, but I'd call this anything but fear. It's a challenge of his head on, personal space and he's always up for it.
He's doing well with the handshake command but he's got his eyes on me. As long as I've got my shit together, he's doing well with another person across from us.
And yes Debbie, I realize that you took her back in the room but it's what happened during the feet wiping that instilled the fear. Your stumble, the box dropping and there was probably some sort of fear or startled reaction in you that these more sensitive (intelligent...love it ) types pick up on in a heartbeat.
The fact she won't come in from outside or does and bolts is because that's the part she's avoiding or fearful of.
A sit and hand touch in the room is not recreating the foot cleaning scenario, which I probably would have gone back and done too immediately after I played with the box and stumbled around.
Anyway, it's sound like you're off to a good start. Best of luck with this, I know you can do it.
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Re: Need help; accidentally scared my dog.
[Re: Debbie Martin ]
#371705 - 01/07/2013 09:41 PM |
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Well Betty, if fear is a sign of inteligence, my girl will be brilliant once she gets over all her fears. ha ha
Actually, we are doing quite well in the furnace room now. Her tail, while it's not wagging just yet, it's not clamped down either. It's just in a relaxed state. The shaking part is pretty much gone and I'm sure if we keep working on it, the tail will be wagging again soon.
I've been setting some of the treats on the box and she'll pick them up from there. I'm just acting like this the best thing ever; getting her feet wiped and getting treats from a box while mom's acting like a goof.
Sorry guys for being a bit of an alarmist and over-reacting but it was really upseting for me to see her that scared. She's never been scared enough around me that she's been shaking like that. I have confidence we'll get through this like all the other things we've gotten through.
Thanks so much for being my soundng board.
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