[Sylith]

I have two dogs, both shelter mutts. The older dog, Lou, is extremely even tempered, well socialized, puts up with any amount of mauling by small children, barks appropriately at strangers but greets our guests with friendliness, and is generally a great family dog.
The younger dog, Misty, has some issues and I could use some advice on working with her. She is too submissive and easily frightened. We don't know her past; we think she's about two years old and we have had her for a year. She is very sweet and affectionate with the human members of our family, but frequently gets unnerved by DS's noise and chaos and goes to hide in her crate. When unfamiliar people come to visit, she tends to weird them out because she alternates between approaching them in a conciliatory way -- sniffing, licking hands, wagging her tail -- and retreating to hide and growl if they approach. Also, if she is outside she barks like crazy at anybody walking along the street in front of our house, and she'll sometimes turn and redirect her fence aggression onto our other dog (she's never actually harmed him, but he'll yelp.)

Here's what I've done with her so far:
*Crate training. It is her safe space and I make sure DS in particular respects that.
*With a couple of exceptions, I don't allow her to be around other peoples' children.
*I shield her from any social situation I think she'll find overwhelming.
*Some basic obedience stuff... recently I have not had time to work with her as much as she needs on this

: but she knows a half dozen basic commands.
*For several months, I would ask trusted guests to feed her treats. I did think this helped a little.
*I spend time manhandling her: pulling her ears, messing with her tail and feet, sticking my hands in her mouth, hugging her around the neck, stuff kids are likely to do, and I give her tons of praise for taking it in stride.

Obviously I know a fearful dog can be dangerous. I realize that I need to build her confidence, and that I need to avoid putting her into situations where she might feel she has to protect herself. I have never seen her do anything more aggressive toward a human than growl at unfamiliar adults, and if it ever escalated beyond that, I feel I would have to shoulder the blame. I know there are posters here who have tons of experience with dog behavior and I'd love some opinions -- can I eventually shape her into a really stable and reliable pet, or should I be thinking more in terms of accepting her limitations and working within them?

 

[shannon0218]

Can you afford a private trainer? I think what really needs to be done with this dog is to expose her to situations she finds uncomfortable, but I wouldn't do that without an expert who can read her body language and know when she's truley overwelmed, when to push, when to pull back. By avoiding situations, she will never become good with those situations.

 

[Sylith]

Boongirl: Thanks, I'm looking over the website now, and adding the book to my library list.

Shannon: What you're saying makes a lot of sense, but we don't have the money for anything extra right now, unfortunately. If we come into any little windfalls over the next few months, I'll keep it in mind. About how much would I expect to pay a professional?

 

[shannon0218]

Anywhere from $60-$150 an hour depending on where you are and how much experience the professional has. Don't get sucked into doing a long course, go out once with them privately adn see how they assess the dog.

 

[mamamillet]

just throwing it out there that the dog whisperer is actually on (at least here) in ten minutes...my ds loves the show!

 

[EdlynsMom]

National Geographic Channel! If you can catch it, definatly watch it. Ceasar Milan's whole method is about "training" people and rehabilitating the dog. It really makes alot of sense when you get it, dogs are natural followers (calm submissive) and we as people need to be the right kind of leader (calm and assertive) for them. Anything else is a disservice to the dog....

 

[thekimballs]

I REALLY like Cesar, but there's a reason that the book and the show have disclaimers all over the place saying that you should never do what he does without a professional helping you.

Fearful behavior in a dog is one of those things that is misinterpreted incredibly often. What you see and what a trainer sees can be very, very different. Dogs a little worried and dogs at their breaking point and about to attack in fear can look very much the same when you just describe the behavior in print (backing up, looking away, tensing, tail up at the belly). You have to have a real feel for dog body language and as good as I think Cesar is, he'd be the first to say NOT to start using major dominance techniques on a scared dog without help.

What I think you CAN do safely is seed people. Have every strange person pre-prepared with delicious liver or salmon or whatever in their pockets and hands, and reward confident approaches. I would still always give her an "out" of a crate or whatever. And start saving up for a single session with a good trainer.

I HATE it when dogs are aggressive through windows, but it's a totally normal dog thing and when dogs get it in their heads that protecting the front windows is their job it's very hard to break. I can train puppies out of it, but my adult bitch is really bad. I have learned to control it when I am in the room (no dog is allowed to bark at any other dog walking by) and otherwise just crate/confine when I am not around. My fence is set up so there are no direct views of the road, for example, so the dogs don't learn to guard their boundaries from legal road walkers.