New doggy neighbours are scaring my JRT [sad]

[Handywoman]

I have a very sweet 3yo JRT who is extremely nervous with other dogs (had her since 7 weeks and tried lots of different socialisation classes but they were all too much for her). She is very much a home bird.

Today someone has move into a ground floor flat 2 doors down. The garden backs on to mine. The woman (who is lovely) owns 2 JRTs and they moved in today.

My JRT can hear them barking from time to time and is quite stressed. This evening she is 'hypervigilent' and is currently sitting on my knee, ears back, shaking.

Poor thing!!! I guess she'll get used to them, but when??!! Any experience/advice welcome!

Does she manage to socialise with other dogs at all, Handywoman? Ever?

If you think she can sometimes be comfortable in the company of (say) one quiet dog, then I wonder if she might be the sort of dog that would do better if you had two dogs.

Have you ever considered having a second dog? I'm thinking an older dog, a confident but quiet type. You could talk to some reputable rescues, see what they think, because I can imagine that you would have to take things a little slowly to begin with.

I have met quite a lot of dogs who became much less nervous and more comfortable in their day to day lives, once they had an older 'brother' or 'sister'.

Thanks for your reply I really appreciate it. Must admit I have always thought a second dog would be her worst nightmare. She is a lot better with older, mellow dogs. But even then is at pains to stay away (constantly monitors their whereabouts) and avoid eye contact with them.

I will give that some thought. Would actually love to have two dogs. But I also have two dd so would have to get it absolutely right.

There is a website www.oldies.org.uk/ which lists older dogs from various rescues.

Some of these will inevitably have problems, but others are simply quiet oldsters (seems to be from about 6 or 7 years upwards) who are simply down on their luck. A lot, for example, whose owner has died (a common time for healthy dogs to be pts).

It might be that none of the current dogs would suit you, but with the dogs listings the site lists all the Rescues that handle this sort of thing, and I think several do have behaviorists and other professional advisers, who would (I would hope) help you make the right decision.

Best luck.

Have you tried Adaptil? It used to be DAP (dog appeasing pheremones) and is supposed to be good for calming and reassuring g dogs. We were given a DAP collar when we adopted a dog from Dogs' Teust - to help her settle in to her new home.

You can get it as a collar, a spray and a plug in diffuser, and it might help your poor dog.

Apologies for the rogue 'g'.

There are several things you can try to bring down her anxiety levels.

DAP as SDTG recommended is a great idea. Collar would be ideal, as she would have it on when she has to go outside.

A Thundershirt may work and if it doesn't has a complete money back guarantee. You can get them in Pets At Home and they will take it straight back, no problems if it doesn't help your girl. From the situation you describe with her on your knee shaking - the thundershirt may well help.

Also, you could try something like Zylkene tablets which again, work for some and not for others. They're quite pricey though.

You could also try a few drops of Rescue Remedy in her water bowl.

If one - or a combination of the above help bring down her anxiety levels, I would highly advise then taking her back to a quiet training club, rather than socialisation classes. My pup wouldn't have been able to handle a socialisation class where all the pups were allowed off-lead, but we attended a really good puppy training class, where we were allowed to have a large corner of the hall to ourselves and other owners were told to keep there pups away from mine. After a couple of weeks he really relaxed and after two courses of classes, he passed his foundation and level one training and had even started approaching the other pups to play.

Another dog for your family might help, but it's a risk and would need to be handled extremely carefully, preferably with a behaviourist's input. Don't get another dog just because you think it may help her, unless it's something you really want to do anyway and would have done even if she wasn't having these problems.

Thank you guys, the advice is much appreciated. Might try the thunder shirt actually.