We have a great dane who is 16 months old. We've had her since she was 10 weeks. She is extremely skittish, nervous of sounds around her, cowers easily, etc. It's very odd...we've socialized her fully, she's comfortable around people, dogs, cats, birds, etc IN THE HOUSE, but outside she's a completely different dog. I understand caution, especially in surroundings she's not familiar with, but I really expected it to ease by now!! We can (and do) take her out of the house frequently, and it's not every time that she shies or cowers, but it is frequent.
Just tonight we had an incident inside the house...she was laying on the couch sleeping (I think) and a magnetic dry-erase board fell off the fridge in the kitchen, startling all of us. She leaped off the couch in a complete panic, tripped over the ottoman overturning it, which of course made more noise, which scared her more, then she started peeing everywhere on the hardwood floors which meant she coudln't get her footing (like she was on ice) and through all her struggling she knocked over two barstools, shoved the loveseat out of the way, etc before I could get to her to restrain her. And to restrain her I had to basically lay all of my weight on her to physically STOP her from panicking. Then I led her outside, sat with her for a while, petting her soothingly trying to calm her.
The living room was a MESS. Pee everywhere, things overturned, knocked ajar, etc. Thankfully, the boys were already in bed, so no one little was in her path while she was panicking.
HOW can I get her to be less reactive??? We know she was never beaten or treated badly, she came from a breeder (was sold because she's non-desirable colors) where she was treated well. We have another dog, a cat, and two little boys. We take her to the bark park for exercise and socialization. She plays with the neighbor kids and the neighbor dog. We've done it all "right" yet she still panics like this!!
The problem is her size...she's very tall for a female dane, measuring 34 inches at the shoulders. But she's still pretty underweight, three months ago she was only 92 pounds. So she's lanky and awkward still, has a lot of physical maturing to do (hopefully no more height growth though!!) In day-to-day the only problem we have with her is her tail (the thing is a serious WEAPON, like a whip, and she doesn't seem to know that she owns it, and unfortunately it's right at face level of our younger son!).
She's such a great dog, but we're lucky that the boys weren't around when she panicked tonight, because she really could have hurt them. Fully unintentional, and I know that accidental injuries are part of having pets, but isn't there a way to get this behavior to ease up a little???? Poor thing, I hate seeing her so scared like that!!!
Just tonight we had an incident inside the house...she was laying on the couch sleeping (I think) and a magnetic dry-erase board fell off the fridge in the kitchen, startling all of us. She leaped off the couch in a complete panic, tripped over the ottoman overturning it, which of course made more noise, which scared her more, then she started peeing everywhere on the hardwood floors which meant she coudln't get her footing (like she was on ice) and through all her struggling she knocked over two barstools, shoved the loveseat out of the way, etc before I could get to her to restrain her. And to restrain her I had to basically lay all of my weight on her to physically STOP her from panicking. Then I led her outside, sat with her for a while, petting her soothingly trying to calm her.
The living room was a MESS. Pee everywhere, things overturned, knocked ajar, etc. Thankfully, the boys were already in bed, so no one little was in her path while she was panicking.
HOW can I get her to be less reactive??? We know she was never beaten or treated badly, she came from a breeder (was sold because she's non-desirable colors) where she was treated well. We have another dog, a cat, and two little boys. We take her to the bark park for exercise and socialization. She plays with the neighbor kids and the neighbor dog. We've done it all "right" yet she still panics like this!!
The problem is her size...she's very tall for a female dane, measuring 34 inches at the shoulders. But she's still pretty underweight, three months ago she was only 92 pounds. So she's lanky and awkward still, has a lot of physical maturing to do (hopefully no more height growth though!!) In day-to-day the only problem we have with her is her tail (the thing is a serious WEAPON, like a whip, and she doesn't seem to know that she owns it, and unfortunately it's right at face level of our younger son!).
She's such a great dog, but we're lucky that the boys weren't around when she panicked tonight, because she really could have hurt them. Fully unintentional, and I know that accidental injuries are part of having pets, but isn't there a way to get this behavior to ease up a little???? Poor thing, I hate seeing her so scared like that!!!
