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How do I help our rescue dog - we think she's insecure.

10 replies

SDTGisAnOlympicWolefGenius · 11/08/2012 23:22

Mia is a 4 year old lab cross (lab x pointer, we think), who we got from the Dogs' Trust in Glasgow about 6 months ago. She hadn't been with her previous owner for long, and before that, had had a couple of litters of puppies. When we got her, we were warned that she was insecure - she'd become very over-attached to her previous owner - and we were aware that there might be problems.

In general she has settled in pretty well, but there are a few things that still worry us, and we'd like to sort out for her - I suspect they might be down to insecurity, but we are not sure how best to help her.

She is a very barky dog - whenever someone comes to the door, or walks past the end of the drive, or, in the case of our neighbours, has the unutterable cheek to walk or drive up their own drives, and she barks and goes nuts when we get home from anywhere, especially when dh gets home - she is most attached to him, and can be a bit jealous when he gives attention to other dogs, including ours. She isn't aggressive with it, but glares, or barks, or tries to push her way in, so she's getting the attention.

Today dh tried to take her on the ferry to Cumbrae (something he has done with ddog 1 before, but not with Mia), and when the point came to walk onto the ferry, she literally shat herself - with fear, dh thinks. He cleared up, and waited until everyone else was on board, and tried again, and she had another bout of diarrhoea, so he abandoned the ferry, and took them on the train along the coast, so they could play on the beach, and swim - and she was absolutely fine - no more digestive upsets at all, which does reinforce that it was a fear reaction.

We don't let her get away with jealous behaviour - we reassure her, but other dogs, especially our other dog, get plenty of attention, and she does have to wait her turn.

I've tried using gravy bones, and the command 'quiet' to get her not to bark or to stop barking when people come to the house or walk past, but although she is a very bright dog in other areas, this lesson doesn't seem to be sinking in. The barking seems to be excitement, and if she gets to the person, she doesn't jump up or act aggressively, and will stop barking and be her friendly self when she has greeted them. She only jumps up to dh or me, for a cuddle, and will get down when asked.

She does occasionally do a sort of grumbling growl, if she doesn't like something that his happening - eg ds1 trying to put her lead on and take her off the couch for a walk (she wanted to stay with me because I had a fish finger sandwich and to a lab cross, that was more immediately appealing than a walk) - but we did enforce the behaviour we wanted, and she stopped growling and went for a perfectly happy and well behaved walk with ds1.

So, dear doghouse experts, does this sound like insecurity, or is it something else? And what can we do to help her settle down and become a happy, secure member of the family - we love her very much, and it worries us that she may not be as happy as she should be.

Could she still be worrying that she will get taken back to the shelter, as her previous home only lasted 4 months or so?

Any help or advice would be gratefully received - we have considered consulting a local dog trainer/behavioural expert.

Apologies for the essay, and congratulations if you have read this far! BlushThanks

OP posts:
Nigglenaggle · 12/08/2012 11:48

Will the Dogs Trust offer you post-adoption support? I think their shelters normally have behaviourists for the dogs which live there... Might just be our local one though

SDTGisAnOlympicWolefGenius · 12/08/2012 12:14

The Dogs Trust was at the top of my list to call, Nigglenaggle - I am sure that they will offer post adoption support, though I don't know if our local one has a behaviourist on staff. I'm going to ring them during the week, when the house is a bit quieter.

OP posts:
pimmsgalore · 12/08/2012 18:23

have you got her insured? if so then you may be able to get behavioural help through your insurance, I know we made sure we had that included in ours as the rescue told us we were getting a totally untrainable dog with lots of hang up (he is totally the opposite and has been the most easily trained dog ever)

NaturalNature · 14/08/2012 02:37

Labs aren't my dog of experience so won't be much help but, along with the support Dogs Trust should be providing, have you considered working her?

Labs are very intelligent dogs and like a lot of mental stimulation, hence the excitability. Working her could just be a half hour a day training session I really am clueless about labs and each family member could do it?

Sad about the ferry, poor Mia, a good behaviourist should be able to work through the issues with you

NaturalNature · 14/08/2012 02:37

Labs aren't my dog of experience so won't be much help but, along with the support Dogs Trust should be providing, have you considered working her?

Labs are very intelligent dogs and like a lot of mental stimulation, hence the excitability. Working her could just be a half hour a day training session I really am clueless about labs and each family member could do it?

Sad about the ferry, poor Mia, a good behaviourist should be able to work through the issues with you

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 14/08/2012 11:53

I will check with our insurers to see if we can get behavioural help through them, and ring the Dogs Trust too. She is a very bright dog, NaturalNature, so you might well be right about the training.

NaturalNature · 14/08/2012 14:16

I know working collies and the other working dogs I've met are usually labs and springers, they get a lot out of it and tend to have less behavioural issues than the labs and springers I know which are kept solely as companions.

Outside of working them there's agility or dogs for the blind usually labs or dogs for disabled or eveb local shows so there are a few things she could do.

Hope Dogs Trust help. Is there a local lab group aswell? they might have specific lab behaviourists.

anchovies · 15/08/2012 11:11

Our rescue lab was very insecure and severely lacking in confidence. The main improvement we've seen is with time but some of the other things we have done are:

  • Lots and lots of training, we have trained lots of desirable behaviours that we use when he is obviously stressed but positive reinforcement on it's own has massively increased his confidence. Touch, look, sit and down are the most basic. A lot of the time when he is barking or worried about something we don't reassure him but instead get him to do something else constructive. We have to use much more high value treats than gravy bones though - hotdog never fails to get his attention!
  • DAP collars and diffusers worked really well, we still take them on holiday etc
  • Reinforcing good behaviour and ignoring bad behaviour. Being very consistent helped as well so he knew exactly what was expected of him
  • Encouraging independence; he would still happily follow me round all day every day and get as close to me as possible. I don't let him do this and regularly close doors behind me.

Hope you get some good advice from a behaviourist as well, Mia sounds lucky to have found you :)

anchovies · 15/08/2012 11:12

Sorry wrote that on my phone, it seems to have abandoned the formatting!

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 15/08/2012 12:58

That is all a great help, Anchovies. Mia had a DAP collar when we first got her - I think I will get her another one. High value treats are a good idea too - so hotdogs on the shopping list. Many thanks! Thanks

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