2yr old Lab suddenly terrified of family members...

[catdjbats]

Hi all,

I'm hoping for some help in understanding how to handle this situation that has recently developed between our 2 year old chocolate lab, Sierra, and my husbands parents. Sierra is very friendly with every person she has ever met and she used to love my in laws as well and enjoyed their company. Recently she has come to be terrified of them for some reason. She will bark non-stop whenever they visit but she won't come near them. She will pace/walk around in loops and circles barking and growling from over 20 meters away, outside and even from another room she won't stop. She is so scared/worried/freaked that she is urinating all over the place as well. This has happened each time they have visited over the last 2 months (about 3 or 4 visits in total) and if anything she seems to be getting worse with each new visit.
About 2 and a half months ago, my husband and I were out when we got a call from his parents asking if we were going to be long as they had just arrived at our house. As we were only a few minutes from home we said for them to use the spare key and make themselves at home and we'd be home in a few minutes. My husband and I had no problem with this as the family is very close and they knew Sierra as well as our other 2 dogs very well.
When we got home we were told that Sierra barked a lot initially but soon settled down and by the time we got home not long later all certainly seemed well. The dogs had all been let out into the yard by the in laws and were absolutely fine. Ever since that day though, Sierra has acted the way I have described when around them so this is the only thing I have that 'may' explain the 'why' - how to fix this problem is another story

So far we have tried to remove her from the situation until she has settled down but she will not stop barking and growling AT ALL until after they have left. (even afterwards she is still a bit 'on edge' - woofing at every little thing...) We have asked both parents to please ignore her, which they have done, but as soon as either of them speak to us or move even slightly, Sierra gets even more upset. I have put her on her leash to try and reassure her that way and have walked around the house with her during the visits, talking to her, giving her praise/treats for even the smallest sign of calming down but to no avail so far as we cannot get closer without further barking etc. She loves food and will take treats etc of anyone, but wouldn't accept any put in front of her on the ground by them. After todays visit I am now at a loss as to what to do??? She is getting worse and we need to find a way to help her get over whatever has caused this fear.

Just to re-cap, she is happy and playful with ALL other people.
She is pretty well socialized and used to people coming and going.
This behavior has started after my In-laws visited our home without us being home. They came in, let the dogs out of their crates and opened the door to the garden for them - Sierra and Delta (my Chihuahua) barked initially then stopped when they realized who it was. Jess, my collie x never barks and was also happy to see them. We got home about 10 minutes later and all seemed well. The next time they came to visit this new behavior started with my Lab.

I would really appreciate any suggestions that will help us with my little Lab girl - she's such a sweetie and we all love her dearly and hate to see her so distressed :cry:

Many thanks from Sierra and Family

 

[lizzybeth727]

I wouldn't worry about trying to explain why this sort of thing happens, or how it starts. Just try to keep looking forward and fix it for the future.

It's also difficult to say how to fix this sort of problem without having seen the dog in person. It's concerning that you've been working on it and have made the problem worse... that might mean that a quick and easy solution won't work for this situation. So I'd suggest finding a trainer who can help you out with this problem. A good trainer should be able to work with you in your home and give you a training plan that you can work on for homework. You can do a trainer search on Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers.

 

[Doberluv]

What I would do in your shoes is to try to set up as many meetings with them as possible, but NOT at your house. Meet them on neutral territory at first. See if you all can take a walk together, or just one parent, you and your dog. Pop tiny treats as you walk along. Go someplace that is really fun and interesting, but not too overly stimulating for her. Keep other stressful things in the environment to a minimum. If new places upset her, go on a path she's familiar with.

See how she does at your parents' house. It may be that she made an association between your house, your parents and being freaked out that you were gone. Maybe in different locations, she may view them a little differently. But don't over whelm her. No one should make any overt moves toward her...just drop little treats or hand them to her if she's okay with that. Use small, high value treats...something fantastic that she can build good associations with.

Don't move too fast....just short visits if they live close enough, but frequent visits. Whenever she seems stressed out, remove her from the situation far enough that she's less anxious. Try starting out with some distance between so she is less apt to become too scared in the first place.

When and if she gets so she isn't afraid of them in other locations, ( be sure to vary them as time goes on...after the first few times) then try her at your home with them...maybe out in the yard or street first, a walk first. When everyone walks together, sometimes that puts dogs at ease.

If your parents come over and spend some time, let them be the ones to feed her. You can break up her daily ration into several tiny meals. Let them fix her bowl and put it down for her.

If she improves in this context, if you want to condition her to being alone with them in your house, go out on the porch and immediately come right back in. Go out on the porch for 5 seconds and come back in. Gradually increase the duration she's alone and don't go too fast too soon. Don't do this until she's absolutely comfortable with them in your house with you. Give that some time to settle in first.

Don't make a fuss over her when she gets freaked. Just act like everything is fine. If you get anxious about it, she will totally feed off your nervousness and you'll prove her "right"...that she was right to be afraid. After all....you're "afraid." (that's how she may read it) Be sure to not let anyone make a fuss when she displays behavior that you don't want. Now, dropping little treats for her in their presence doesn't have to be only when she's calm or unafraid. You want to pair those with their presence, regardless of her behavior. Just keep her at a "safe" (from her point of view) distance so she's less apt to become anxious.

Anyhow, take it slowly, gradually increasing pressure only as she becomes comfortable with a previous accomplishment. Baby steps. See how that works. It may take weeks or months. And it depends too, on how frequently your folks and you can get together. Too much space in between visits won't get you very far with her. You'll have to go out of your way to desensatize and counter condition this view point of hers.

 

[Doberluv]

Oh, and just to p.s.....I agree with Lizzybeth about getting a good positive reinforcement type trainer or behaviorist. I know they're expensive so I thought you could try the desensatizing process I summarized for you first. If that doesn't help, then by all means, the next step would be to call in some professional help.

I agree too, that it's important to not dwell on why this happened. It could be like you thought....she panicked when you were gone and paired that feeling with the presence of your parents. But it could be something else. Something else frightening could have happened to her at the same time. We can speculate till the cows come home but the treatement is still going to be about the same....a desensatizing and counter-conditioning protocal. A GOOD trainer would be nice to have....to be able to evaluate frequently and let you know when to move ahead with things, could watch how you're all interacting with her and give you advice etc. But if you're careful and don't push through too fast with things that may contribute to her unease, if you're not inadvertantly interacting in a way that exasperates the situation etc, then you may well make some good headway. But again....without being able to practice say...3 or 4 times a week minimum, it will be hard to work the process.

 

[catdjbats]

Thanks for the responses so far

I know the 'why' isn't really important and speculating won't fix the problem but thought it better to provide as much info as possible. I appreciate the advice and I agree with a lot of the suggestions. I don't want to make things worse for her, which is why I have asked for other opinions and ideas. I do believe that going on short walks with the parents and Sierra will be of benefit and help her get used to their presence on neutral territory so we will start with that the next time we meet. So far, all the visits have been quick, 10-30mins at most and the last time they left quickly as well as they were in a rush, so we haven't really been able to spend a lot of time on fixing the problem and have mainly tried to ignore her behavior and I have walked around with her (inside & outside) on leash to keep her busy/distracted and to try to get her attention (with treats/calm voice/touch etc) as she is so distressed and won't easily come near any of us during that time. We live not too far from each other though which does help a lot. We see each other once every two weeks on average, sometimes more, sometimes less. My husbands parents aren't really 'dog' people, so I'm not sure how much they will be willing to work on this with us but we'll have a good talk with them explaining how important this is and take it from there. I think we all agree that it can't keep on like this!
I have contact with other dog trainers as well so I will find out about a good behaviorist in case this situation doesn't resolve with our work/input alone and am not worried about the cost at all. My dogs and family are worth every penny!

Again thanks so much for your thoughtful reply - with time and patience we will get there I'm sure!

Any more ideas are also more than welcome and I'll keep you updated

 

[catdjbats]

Hi again,

I just wanted to post an update on Sierra.
We had a busy couple of weeks and not much time to work on the problem with her. However, we had a big family BBQ for my son's 8th Birthday on Saturday. There were lots of people and because I thought Sierra was going to be all focused on her fear etc I asked everyone to ignore her if she did bark, explained what we were trying to achieve and handed out treat bags to everybody to give to her when she was near. With other family members also bringing their dogs along there was 8 canines in total When my MIL & FIL arrived Sierra again started to bark at them, we ignore her, carried on with our conversation etc and randomly placed treats on the ground for her. When the other guests arrived with their dogs Sierra got distracted (which is what I'd hoped for ) and went off playing and socializing with the other people and dogs. Everything went really well and she seemed a lot more at ease. She didn't make any actual contact with the parents but that's ok and will no doubt get better over time.

All in all, she only barked and showed fear for about 10 minutes over the 5 hour period. A great improvement I feel. She also barked once or twice at my son's great granddad and my mums husband, each time this happened when she was near them and they spoke loudly. I am actually starting to wonder if it is certain types of voices (rough/low pitch,) that set her off? I have read somewhere that certain voice frequencies can be unpleasant to some animals, dogs in particular..

I think our girl will be just fine over time and I'm very thankful for the great advise I have received on this forum.

Many Thanks!

Sierra & Family

 

[Doberluv]

It can be from an impovershed socialization during the early, critical period and/or her individual temperament....she may have sort of weak nerves that she is so sensitive. At any rate, it sounds like things went quite well with everyone. Hopefully, you can practice frequently in a low-stimulation environment. Keep up the good work, don't be passive and just wait for situations to work with her. It's extra work, but being pro-active and setting up situations is the way to fly. Anyhow, things are looking up. Keep us posted. Hope you stick around and join in!

 

[catdjbats]

Thanks Doberluv

Really appreciate your input and yeah, I'd love to join in, finding the time is a different story We will definitely keep working on this with Sierra and also work in low stimulation situations with her and our parents.
If anything Sierra may have been over-socialized from a young age (if there is such a thing?). I don't know, but you are right, she is a very sensitive dog. I run a Homestay for dogs from our property (for those who prefer their dogs to stay in a home environment when the owners go on holidays etc) we uphold each dogs individual routine and work on training issues if needed so I'm very aware that each dog is an individual, just like people Most of the time, I have 1-4 extra dogs staying here with me, which keeps me busy and the dogs socialized as they are used to others coming and going and we go on joint walks etc. This is why this behavior was really kind out unusual for my Lab..but we're working on it.

Thanks again!