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Poor scaredy puppy

9 replies

Whippoorwhill · 01/02/2013 13:35

My 5 month old Curly Coated Retriever is ridiculouly timid and nervous. She is fine with us and in the house, pretty normal crazy puppy, reasonably ok in our garden and utterly terrified of everything else. She can just about cope on walks with our very elderly dog but Old Dog is getting more and more doddery and doesn't manage walks very well, so Pupiranha is having to be walked on her own. She is scared of all noises so even though I steer well clear of other people and dogs just being outside makes her nervous.

I've been working hard to make being outside less scary for her and things had been getting better. She liked the snow and actually relaxed enough to play when we went to the park and a few times since then she has splashed in puddles or paddled in the river and although she doesn't like the noise the crows make she did enjoy chasing a big group of them.

We've had a few nice meetings with strange dogs too. She's ok with calm adult dogs that approach slowly, sniff briefly and then amble away ignoring her. She will start to follow them and frisk slightly behind them as long as they don't try to play.

Today however was an utter disaster. Just as we left home a chap shot past us on a bike that made a weird clattering noise, puppy dives back through the gate and won't come out. After lots of treats and playing clicker games she calms enough to get to the car. She has just put her feet on the edge to be lifted in when the German Shepherd a few doors down starts barking and barking. More puppy panicking so I lift her into the car and we head off. On the walk we encounter two border terriers across the field who are shrieking and snarling, a very zoomy lurcher puppy that will not stop jumping at her, cows in a field bellowing, noisy birds, chainsaws in the distance, some kind of bird scarer making bangs at irregular intervals, lots of dogs at a distance, the sound of kids in a playground somewhere, a brindle bullet that I think must have been a staffy who hurtled out of nowhere, knocked her flying and shot off, horses, sheep and a low flying helicopter. Any one of these is enough to send her into melt down on its own. She was a wreck and when she gets really scared she jumps up at me so I was covered in mud from head to toe. I think she'd like me to pick her up, handbag dog style but she's a big girl and that's not possible.

I decided that we'd better head for home as it really wasn't fair on her to continue but to get back to the car we have to go along a very quiet road. There is rarely any traffic on it but of course today there were three cars, a very loud motorbike and finally a bloody tractor. She crammed herself into someone's gateway and just hid. She was too scared to take treat by now so I ended up crouched in front of her to block the tractor and once it had passed half dragging her along to get back to the fields before something else came along.

She very nearly jumped into the car by herself in her eagerness to get away. Sad

She is now curled up on the bed next to me, pressed as tight as she can get, with her head in my armpit and I feel like such a useless owner.

Any advice on how to help her cope would be greatly appreciated but most of all I needed to rant. It is so sad that she isn't out there enjoying life like everyone else puppies.

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YouveCatToBeKittenMe · 01/02/2013 13:49

I had a spaniel cross like this. It took me almost a week to just get him to the end of the drive!
I got him from a backyard breeder and i should have known better but he turned into a lovely, fantastic natured dog although he sadly died very young.

I just took him everywhere with me. Wherever I went in the first few months he came too. He was terrified when i took him to my agility club. Although he was always nervous of things like the vacuum cleaner he learnt to be ok around most everyday things, and wasn't nervous of loud noises. He used to chase helicopters and tractors Hmm

Just act normal. Don't fuss or over praise her when she is nervous of something or you will be reinforcing that she should be nervous. I know it must be difficult with a big dog, but playing games and acting normal should eventually make her realise that these things are ok. if you act differently around her when ever she is scared she will think that there is a reason to be scared and it will make it worse.

Whippoorwhill · 01/02/2013 20:02

The worst thing with her is that she isn't from a Backyard Breeder or a mistreated rescue. She was from a carefully planned litter of champion hopefuls. Parents chosen for looks and temperament. Mum has a great show record and is an adored pet and wonderful puppy Mum, calm, confident and friendly. Dad has an even better showing history and is utterly bomb proof as a working gun dog. The puppies were socialised by the breeder and exposed to all sorts of novel things, this was continued by us until it became very clear that far from getting used to things she was getting more and more scared.

On paper she should be a confident, well rounded and outgoing dog.

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Baffledandbewildered · 03/02/2013 14:23

We have a nervy gordon setter. We bred her, mum is a champion show dog very outgoing and bossy her dad is also a champion show dog outgoing and sweet natured. Her litter mates are all outgoing and confident but this one little girl is much less outgoing :( she lives with all her doggy family here. No idea if its nature or nuture that makes them like this, her sister lives her too and is SO outgoing

digerd · 03/02/2013 16:46

I bred Westie puppies and at 6-8 weeks you could see the difference in their personalities. Another breeder had 4 pups and only one was very timid and nervous at 8 weeks. The breeder must have noticed. Even if she thought she was a just more shy than the others. Of course it's nature, unless something dreadful happened to her. But have seen terrible things happen to some dogs who remain loving, non-aggressive and bounce back quickly, while others are far more traumatised for less.

Just like people.

Whippoorwhill · 03/02/2013 19:01

I think the breeder did notice a bit because she commented the she was quite quiet and tended to tag on at the back when the rest were investigating. She is quite small, although not the smallest and she mainly had big brothers and cousin who was about a month older.

It took us a little while to realise because she was very confident with our Old Dog and cuddly, playful and happy with us.

Today we had a great walk. Met a friendly labrador who sniffed her and then went off to sniff in the bushes and gave her chance to follow him for a while. There were lots of puddles to splash in and she remembered the bench that used to be terrifying and now is for racing up to and putting her feet on to get a treat. She really perked up when she saw it and dashed over and jumped up without any hesitation.

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digerd · 04/02/2013 09:27

Wonderful news and so quick. Well done.

Whippoorwhill · 04/02/2013 12:56

We are only walking in the park by the river for the time being. It's a long way from the road and it's pretty quiet. Huge dramatic production of getting into the car today. She could hear the men taking scaffolding down and was spooking. We did lots of forward and retreat stuff in the front garden until she calmed down enough to cross the pavement to the car. Just as we got there a group of teenagers came over the bridge on skateboards. They were very fast and loud and she dived under the car and wouldn't come out. If I pulled on the lead she lay down and whined. It took about 20 minutes to persuade her close enough to get her. Must admit I grabbed her, popped her in the car and closed the door quickly. The walk went fine though. She was so pleased with herself running to the bench to put her feet on it and did it on all the benches we passed. :) We sucessfully avoided everyone except the chap with the friendly lab who let her play with it's toy for a while. She didn't seem to want to get into the car to go home and I worried for a second that she was getting scared of the car too and then I realised... she was enjoying herself and didn't want to stop. Amazing. So we stayed a bit longer and she found a dead mole under a bush which was s great prize. Did the retriever swagger, holding it high, all the way back to the car. Grin

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digerd · 04/02/2013 20:47

Nervousness of unknown loud sounds is not unusual - dogs have a keen hearing. Try to keep calm - I know it's difficult- but if you panic she will sense it . Those dratted skate boarders and 3 of them. She'll get used to them, though eventually. Some dogs are very aggressive to loud noises so that is worse.
Lovely to know she is enjoying herself at the park, and what a nice man and his labdog.
And the retrieving proudly of the dead mole made her < and your> day.
You're making good progress. So pleased for you both.

Whippoorwhill · 04/02/2013 23:13

Thanks Digerd. Walks like today's and yesterday's give me hope that we can work through her fears.

A friend has given me a couple of CD's. One is all sorts of sounds that might worry a dog and the other is some sort of calming music to soothe your dog. I shall try them out on her tomorrow.

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