I have aquired a Feral Border Collie. She was found on the side of the road with her brother. It took them almost a month to catch the dogs. I took in the female who was about 4 months old. I have had her over a month now.

She lives at my store because I can not get a leash or collar on her so good for me she paper trained herself. (which I hate)

It took me a week to get her to come to eat food from the bowl if I held it. It took a few weeks to be able to pet her while eating.

She will come to me for food and follows me around but if I approach her she moves away.

I feel like I am at a stalemate place with her now and just want to know if anyone has had any expeirence with a "real feral" dog who had no human contact for who knows how long if ever?

I thought of many things to do and one is waiting her out and the other is to put a towel over her and just pick her up and wait until she calms down.

Oh, she is a very bright intellegent dog who loves to play with her toys and sometimes will even throw them at me as if to interact.

She likes other dogs and will go up to people to sniff them but will sit and growl if they approach or stare at her.

Any ideas????

I've never dealt with a feral dog, I don't know whereof I speak, but your 1 month time line jumped out at me.

This dog has essentially just been abducted by aliens. She needs more time to get her legs under her and learn to trust you.

Putting a towel over her seems counterproductive to me.

 Quote: Meredith Hamilton

I've never dealt with a feral dog, I don't know whereof I speak, but your 1 month time line jumped out at me.

This dog has essentially just been abducted by aliens. She needs more time to get her legs under her and learn to trust you.

Putting a towel over her seems counterproductive to me.

I agree. (and I also have no experience with feral dogs- )

I don't see any reason why you can't start marker training with this dog. Sounds like she may have some food drive and you may be able to use that to your advantage. Marker training will do a lot to help develop trust and a bond between you.

Here's a link to get you started. If you have any questions about marker training (clicker training without the clicker) please ask. Lots of experienced folks here can give you advice...

Free Marker training e-book

A good place to start might be with eye contact, and also marking and rewarding any time she comes close to you. If she won't take treats from your hand, drop it on the floor. Use really good treats, like small pieces of cheese, chicken breast or steak. You may be suprised at how fast she learns to trust you...

I'd like to add to Aarons' good 'general' guide lines.
That it may be necessary to not even face the dog but turn side ways or even your back to the dog when wanting to initiate contact. Don't push it, trust is what your trying to build at the moment. Nothing else.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

eta,
Hope her brother is as lucky to have found a caring home.

I have personal experience living with a dog that was raised (with his 8 littermates) by his dam, in the woods until they were about 5-6 months old. The dam was an escaped sled dog, and she went to a woman who had a nearby cabin for food, for several months, before anyone even knew there were puppies.

I will preface my personal experience with the very strong sentiment that every dog is different. Breed, life experience and temperament are going to shape the dog. The dog I am speaking about was a husky-type, male dog with a fair amount of rank drive (desire to move up in the pack), and an EXTREME prey drive.

When I first got him, he was not really that shy, as he had been with a foster for about 2 weeks, and was pretty food driven. He was extremely destructive, and extremely prey driven - for real prey (such as my cats, snakes, birds - he caught several out of the air, rodents, etc).
At the time, I was actually working as a dog walker, so I had him with me all the time. In quick order, I learned that he was a MASTER escape artist. He would actually stay close to me on the walks, but if I tried to leave him crated in the truck, he would be out of that crate in no time. I have a rather humorous story about how he busted out of the crate, and chewed on the horn so that it was a continuous honk all the way to the mechanic... and oh, he has also chewed through my seatbelt. I also have a rather not-humorous story about how he broke out of his crate, knocked down the bedroom door, pushed out the window a/c unit, jumped out the window, scaled the fence and killed my neighbour's cat.

But, I'm getting off topic here. Ultimately, he was a wild dog. I lived in a city at the time, and city life was not meant to be for him. His destructive nature only got worse with time, he developed some separation anxiety I think, and he simply could not be crated (I could physically crate him in a plastic crate inside a wire crate with locks on it, but he would injure himself trying to get out).

Of course, looking back, there were things I did wrong. I let things go for too long, thinking he would come around, and things got worse. He adapted his wild dog ways to my house - which was destroyed.

While you do need to build up trust, I would caution against coddling a dog like this. I would say that a very, very strict routine would make her feel secure. I also would not leave her alone at your store just because you can't get a leash on her. She is essentially still living as a stray dog with you as a food supply, occasionally throwing a blanket over her. Since she follows you around, I would try and get a collar on her, and tether her to you (tie a rope to her collar, and the other end to your waist). Then don't approach her or go after her, just go about your business and she will have to follow you. Carry lots of yummy food items with you, and reward her when she sits beside you or looks up at you (marker training as mentioned above).

Have you tried to crate her? I would guess not. I would start out by just having a crate available to her, and leaving the door open. If she is truly a wild dog, she might take a while to be ok with being closed in the crate. But, if she is that timid, she might enjoy the solitude - you'll never know until you try.

The longer you go letting her live in your shop, peeing on paper, the more enforced it will become. If you are serious about this dog, and don't want to live with a wild dog, you will have to take some steps.

Not to insult the breed group but... I've heard of northern breeds being like that even when bred and raised in a home situation.

Some of that is just their nature.

I would definitely say that the northern breeds would be the most challenging to socialize and acclimate after having grown up as strays, simply because their breeding makes them naturally independent. They don't seek a lot of external reinforcement. The act itself is often more reinforcement than you could provide.

 Quote: randy allen

I'd like to add to Aarons' good 'general' guide lines.
That it may be necessary to not even face the dog but turn side ways or even your back to the dog when wanting to initiate contact. Don't push it, trust is what your trying to build at the moment. Nothing else.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

eta,
Hope her brother is as lucky to have found a caring home.

Sideways approach is always good. Other friendly dog language signals can help with a dog like this, too. Blinking at her, turning your head and yawning if she feels stressed are a couple of good examples.

It makes them happy to be understood this way.

I learned that if humans are not part of the picture at all from 6-16 wks that the animal is essentially wild and rehab is not possible.
Is that now "old" info?

Gotta disagree with you vehemently on throwing any blankets on this dog Phaedra.
Decidely not the way to build any trust.

If, IF there was a dire situation requiring medical attention, then yes by all means the first priority is the life of the dog.
But barring that, time...time...time.
Build trust before asking or demanding anything.