Help - rescue dog problems

[Catzeyess]

We have recently rehomed a gorgeous mongrel dog and he is really hard work. We feel a bit duped by the rescue as they told us he was a sweet boy who's only issue was pulling a bit on the lead and had no special requirements (we made it clear we were novice dog owners and didn't want a dog with too many issues).

Once we had taken him on it transpired he was a Romanian stray who has most definitely never been in a home. He is jumpy and terrified of everything, not used to being in a house and normal home noises are stressing him out. He likes being stroked and is gentle and friendly to everyone he meets but whines if left to sit on his own for a bit. He is not housetrained. He knows absolutely no commands at all. He doesn't understand toys and is not interested in food (tried to bury it) and so we are struggling to teach him anything apart from come.

Help! What do we do! We are close to just sending him back but don't want to let him down. Has anyone else had a dog like this and did they turn into a good family pet with a bit of training! What do we do!

Thank you for the articles! Although I think it will be an uphill struggle convincing DH as he really likes ceasar Milan.

Bless him the dog seems ok this morning, is acting normally around us approaching us waggy tail and excited to go for a walk so we have not completely traumatised him with our stupid argument last night! Thanks goodness. (Although BIL is not out of bed yet so will be interesting to see how he is then)

Me and DH had a chat and we both agreed that I have been far to anxious about this situation (as I'm sure is coming across in my posts!) and that I need to relax. And he agrees that we shouldn't tell him off for fear growling. We are going to continue with the treat desentisisation when the dog is calmer.

However we still have a bit of a sticking point DH still thinks we need to snap him out of his state of mind when he is in 'fight' mode and I said can you do it by removing the threat (I.e. BIL) and try to calm him down like that but DH is not budging and thinks we need to make a noise like clapping or distract him like that (thankfully he has agreed not to do the ceasar Milan 'touch' to snap him out of it because frankly I think that is a recipe for a bite) so we will see how that goes. If I'm honest I'm not completely happy with that but hey ho will be have to see how it goes.

BIL woke up and the dog was in high alert instantly following him around and growling quietly. We told BIL to ignore him and he started sniffing his leg (which we thought was a good sign) then he slowly opened his mouth and went to mouth/bite BIL's leg, it wasn't a snap and it was slow and he didn't actually bite down just had his mouth on his leg. DH clapped loudly and he jumped and retreated. He then tried it again and we did the same thing. At this point BIL said he was going so left and as soon as BIL left he was mostly back to normal if not a bit down. Me and DH are really concerned and unfortunately (because we really have started to bond with him and hate to think this) if we cannot easily solve this problem I think he is going to have to go. I am devastated as he so so sweet natured and happy around us.

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? We have friends with small children - do you think he will be a risk to them more than any more chilled dog.

The rescue finally got back to us and said he was found in a cage with 20 other dogs and showed signs of being picked on by the others. (They didn't offer us any advice or assistance) I am so cross they let him come to us with these issues without warning and am starting to think that we perhaps should think about getting a better socialised dog/properly assessed dog from a different rescue or a puppy.

It is certain that you have a challenging dog and the road ahead will not be short or easy. Whether the dog is dangerous now to your children and visitors, or what might be needed to change his behaviour is not something anyone on the Internet can advise you on. Potentially aggressive dogs must be assessed on an individual basis, face to face by qualified, experienced behaviourists. The APDT or the APBC are good places to start to find someone who can come to you and advise you on the risk the dog presents now and what needs to be done to re-train him.

I would agree that you need a properly qualified behaviourist to assess your dog and give you effective, evidence-based techniques to use with him. The consequences of just muddling through using a mix of dominance-type training and reward-based stuff are too potentially serious for both you and the dog

Please get in touch with the organisations booboo linked to and in the mean time step right back and don't expose the dog to any more challenging situations

Agree with Wizard you're DH is going to be the problem here if he doesn't ditch his Ceasar Milan ideas.

The man (Milan) is aggressive and misguided and if your DH persists in following his awful 'training' methods this potentially lovely dog will be ruined and you will end up having to rehome him.

Why can't your DH see how well you were doing with your gentler method of training and how it's all gone wrong since he started with the dominance nonsense? Please have more faith in yourself. Just because he was brought up with dogs and they treated them a certain way, doesn't make him an expert.

I do hope you get this sorted out OP. Sounds like this poor dog's suffered enough already.

The rescue were very much at fault in my opinion in not giving you the dog's full background.

Sorry no links

Try APBC

And

APDT

Awww... Seriously, 24 hours for a rescue is way too soon to expect him to settle/be a 'normal' dog. (define 'normal'!), And he has 'come' down which is an achievement already. Feed him little bits of something tasty by hand? He is burying it because he thinks he needs it for later bless him.

Take him out hourly re the house training. He will get there but honestly, a month minimum for a timid dog is more like it. And slowly socialise him with other dogs with the park when its not too manic (Sat pm in our park is mayhem with kids/dogs/footie matches). He WIILL get better, its TIME he needs. If he is sleeping by your feet he already feels you are trustworthy and what a compliment, look for small triumphs and take baby steps and good luck. Our local dogs home has a behavourist specialist to call re any glitches - might be worth asking their advice.

Ahh. Missed the aggression bit. The way to to do it is to defuse and distract. You take him instantly away from the source without making a fuss and focus him back on you and reward for paying you attention. If off lead either take hold of his collar or with a clicker/voice command as well or if on lead , you turn him round and walk on and away the minute his ears go back and he sights what's setting him off.

Head lowered, ears back, tail down are 'red flags' before the growl. You have to watch and get in there as soon as you see the first 3 signs/preferably before the growl so it doesnt escalate. Victoria Stillwell still has a webpage and i like her better than Cesar Milan as people mistake his approach for dominance related- its not. I think he uses the word wrongly when he actually means assertive (English is not his first language). If you watch its about assertiveness and rewarding.

Really Sazzle? Assertiveness and rewarding? And into which of those categories would you put punching a dog?

He sounds like he has the potential to be a nice, family dog from what you have said as he sounds quite eager to please you. He will not understand a home environment nor be sure of your expectations.

Dogs are hard work, and from what you say of his background, he has had a rough time of it. Puppies from reputable breeders are like babies at first and perhaps as novice owners you have underestimated the task in hand.

You sound kind and you have had some good advice here. Try to stick with it for a while as it has the potential to have a rewarding outcome for you both. You will both make mistakes but 24 hours is no time at all.

We have contacted an APDT trainer/behaviourist who comes very highly recommended. We are very much hoping she can help us get him back on track! Me and DH are going to give him more time, we really don't want to give him up, but definitely need a strategy moving forward.

Hope the trainer works out well for you, Catz. Hopefully he / she will be able to convince your DH to ditch the dominance theory.

Behaviourist booked for Friday, she said don't expose him to anything stressful this week like visitors etc

Bless him he is a little subdued today - think the weekend stressed him out a bit

Fingers cross for Friday Catz.

I hope Friday goes well!

Another milestone today me and DH were sort of teasing him with a bit of chicken and he was being all bouncy and then we got treated to a full on play bow

Recall is really coming along, he has started bounding up to us playfully when we call him outside when no-one else is about. He has also had no more incidents with other dogs and is being polite when he meets dogs and humans on walks (although he still won't let strangers touch him on top of the head without cowering). I'm hoping in a few weeks we will be able to let him off lead.

We had some people pop over today to our house and he barked to let us know there was someone there and generally ignored them but there was no growling (so it just seems to be BIL he properly doesn't like at the mo) he took some ham out of one of the (male!) strangers hand too - and then ran away to his bed with it.

Great update!

Coming along great by the sound of it.

His not liking to be touched on the top of his head is not unusual. Although many people seem to want to greet dogs that way most dogs don't like a hand going over their head. I always discourage people from greeting my dog that way and she's the easiest dog imaginable when it comes to be petted.

Better for the dog to have a good sniff when meeting people and then if dog is showing an interest most parts of him are better than the top of his head.

Good to know pigs

He seems happy to let me and DH touch the top of his head no prob, but his favourite place by far seems his chin and neck - that's when he goes all gooey eyes and Nudges you for more if you stop

Yes the chin and neck and gently rubbing the ears from tip to base and back is good for most dogs.

My Ddog loves to lie on her back while I scratch her neck and chin and somehow get both hands round to her back and give a scratch/massage - small dog.

Seeing her lying there with all four legs throw out, eyes closed and a look of total bliss on her face just makes me feel all awww :)

Marking place

OP, you've done so well with this and your tales of your huge milestones have brought tears to my eyes. Your Ddog is gorgeous and sounds like he'll make a lovely family pet in time.

Your DH is wrong in his approach and let's hope the trainer can convince him of that. As someone else said, can't he see how brilliantly your softly softly approach has been working?!

We rescued an ex-fighting dog a few years back. He was very very nervous around all people and very aggressive around other dogs. It took us about six months for him to be completely relaxed around me and DH and another couple of months for him to trust others, although he still doesn't fully. He'll always be aggressive towards other dogs if he perceives a threat because of his experiences but we divert his attention immediately and reward him for being good. He also wears a muzzle in public just in case. Although he has made friends with a mangy Old English sheepdog who can jump all over him the way no other dog can and he doesn't seem to mind

Behaviourist came, she was very nice and gave us lots of useful tips (a lot of which you guys had already suggested!). From watching his behaviour she said something along the lines of this dog is a project and it is going to take effort, but he seems to be learning quickly. She told us not to use a clicker as he is sensitive to noises but to use a work like 'good' instead. We are going to try and keep him below threshold and do another session with BIL to do counter conditioning.

DH and the dog had a bit of an unfortunate incident because a door accidently closed on his foot when DH was looking after him yesterday. He is now a lot more jumpy with DH and I think this is making DH a little frustrated. He is saying a lot that he feels this is too much work and he did not sign up for this (which is true) he also has half-heartedly accepted the positive method of training, but I can tell he is not 100% sure. He keeps saying Ceasar Milans methods work but it's just a different method of training.

We have a bit of a difficult conversation as I'm now quite attached to the dog and want to give it a go, but I can tell DH's enthusiasm is waning. It's a lot harder for DH though as he has to watch what he does in his own home so as to not spook the dog, whereas the dog doesn't ever seem to be spooked by me and I'm just getting on as normal, so I guess it is harder for him. He still wants to give him up.

The other issue is the poor boy had a broken tooth that seems to be causing pain so we took him to the vet (he was fine with that) and they have told us he needs his tooth out so it is booked for next Thursday.

We called the rescue and they have offered to pay for the treatment (the insurance won't pay as its a pre-existing condition) which is really good (and a lot more than I was expecting!)

Anyway for now me and DH have agreed that the pain is prob not helping his anxiety so to see how he gets on when the tooth is out.

Ah this is so so difficult

that sounds positive

it will be interesting to see what he's like once the tooth is out - the pain from that can't be helping his frame of mind at all - even the most settled, trauma-free dog would be feeling less than chirpy with severe toothache!

keep working on your dh - once he sees tangible results it will all make more sense for him, I hope

Well done for persevering.

The pain will have made everything worse, I'd wait until after the operation to re-evaluate his long term future. I can appreciate your DH's frustration but on the other hand the dog is coming on so quickly it may be a manageable project.