Fostering very scared rescue. Advice/reading?

[scox1313]

I am fostering a dog that was rescued about a week ago. Very sad back story. She is at least six months. We are guessing doberman/saluki mix.

She is very scared and has been all week. For the most part she only cowers and lays in one place. She needs to be carried from place to place. She is very gentle and is tolerating louie, my excited 5 month old terrier/saluki very well.

The lady from the foundation says she wasn't able to walk her. On the way home she was laying in the car and didn't get up to pee. So i'm not even sure if she will get up to go to the bathroom. She just came into heat, about ten minutes after we got her home today.

I was tossing kibble to her, got her to come closer and closer then eating out of my hand. Giving her kibble when she responded to her name. Got her to come a few times. So she has been up and walking/slinking. She eats even faster than louie, which i didn't think was possible. (lou was also a rescue)

What i'm looking for is ideas on how to get her going for walks, the best ways to get her accustomed to.... everything. Everything is scaring her. Just more confident i suppose.

 

[CaliTerp07]

Poor baby Usually in these things it's just time. What scared her about walks? The leash? Being outside? Other people/dogs? With any of these, you can do gradual positive reinforcement, just like you did with her coming to you. You can try putting a super light weight string (shoe lace?) tied to her collar to let her drag around like a leash. You can try taking her out on your front porch and rewarding her like crazy. You can have friends come over and feed her super yummy treats.

Bottom line though, it's not going to be an overnight transformation as I'm sure you know. She's lucky to have you!

 

[ihartgonzo]

I would mostly ignore her, give her tons of treats and calm petting, and go very slowly with her... dogs like that are so sad.

This is a good book about fearful dogs. Welcome to Dogwise.com Click to Calm is always awesome, too!

HUGE props for taking her in!

 

[SisMorphine]

It took me about 2 months before I would do walks with my fearful foster, Venus. Her first week at home was mostly her sitting in her crate in the busiest room in the house so that way she felt safe but could get used to the ruckus on the kitchen/living/dining. She was always fed from my hand. We then worked up to her eating at a bowl that was in between my feet. Once she was doing that I started having her take treats from strangers (at first it was just throwing the food, then from their hand), then I had strangers stand at her food bowl. I did everything slow, didn't throw too much at her. Within 3 or 4 months she was walking with me, Wally, and Halo on hikes (always leashed, of course) at local nature preserves and as if anyone showed interest in her then I would ask them to give her a treat and please don't try to pet her, she's scared. I would bring her to class with me and have other pet owners feed her treats each week. I would do the same in friend's houses. And the day she reached her head out the window at the toll booth to see if the toll taker had any treats for her I burst into tears because it was such a huge step.

So to give my advice concisely: go slow, lots of food.

 

[smkie]

Give her time and space and quiet comfort to adjust and let her come to you. Talk to her but without pressing her for what she is not ready for yet. I use to sing to the scared ones at the kennels that came in. One it took me months before He let me touch him but when he did it meant all the more.

 

[Brattina88]

My foster I had from a hoarding case sounded VERY similar. How I described her when she came home, she was shut down. Absolutely shut down. She would poop and peen on herself because it was too scare to walk or even squat to pee... so sad.

I pretty much did everything Sis suggested It took her about 2mos, too, but she was still a little flighty when she was adopted, but she was like a totally different dog Walks were VERY therapeutic for her, especially our hikes in a more natural setting with trees and grass and no cement or cars Once she could walk on a leash instead of just shutting down, I took her out with me and Maddie every single day... and she really blossomed from that It got out a lot of her nervous energy, too, and she got to the point to where she could watch Maddie and her reaction to things, and although she would hang back, she didn't freak out and hide or climb the curtains at every little noise

Time and patience, food and walks was my formula for success and also, I love the book Click to Calm. She was afraid of the clicker though, so I just had to modify and do without

 

[Brattina88]

Also -- wanted to share one of my favorite links on working with fearful dogs
Fearful Dogs | Positive help for fearful, shy & anxious dogs

 

[smkie]

WHen the time comes you can touch the dog ttouch is a wonderful thing to learn and put into practice. I think it saved my Victor. He not only was terrified of everything, every little sound made him jump out of his skin too. I was able to access calming pressure points at very stressful times and by using calming words I was able to show him he was indeed in a world he could enjoy.

 

[Miakoda]

Time and patience.

When I had a fearful foster that had never been walked on a leash and would cower when trying to take on a walk, I backed up all the way and started from ground zero.

I would put the dog on a leash and just go sit in the front yard. I would have a bag of teensy cut up hot dogs and we would just sit there in the sunshine and I would toss some hot dog pieces every so often. Then we'd go in. I did this for as long as needed. What happened in my experience is that the dog would slowly get up and move a step or two on his own. Once the dog started slowly moving on his own, I just followed. This "dance" probably lasted for a good 2-2 1/2 weeks. At the end of the month, I had a wonderful dog that enjoyed walks and exploring his surroundings. He was always a kind of "nervous nelly", but he learned that the world was a place to explore and not fear.

I wish you the best!

 

[smkie]

^^^perfect.

That is a wonderful link, i love Sunny's story.

 

[scox1313]

thanks for the responses. we've been hand feeding layla kibble for 3 days now. she has been wagging her tail (though still lowered). tons of naps. whenever louie is awake she is trying to get layla to play. it seems to me that layla just wants no part of it.

today i started clicker training with layla, using a soft 'yes' instead of a click. we started targeting and immediately after she pulled an empty toilet paper roll out of a box and chewed it. this was her first normal dog act! i took it from her and replaced it with a chewstick and she started acting like a puppy with it! so we've had our first tiny breakthrough.

i read that the clicker target training helps on the page brattina shared. i'm gonna see if i can get those books as pdfs, since the country i am in obviously doesn't give a **** about dogs and i imagine they are not within a thousand miles of here (seriously).

smkie- could you elaborate on the calming pressure points?

p.s. layla just now initiated play with louie and there are play bows instead of bared teeth

 

[smkie]

top of the head, center of the chest right on the point of the sternum is the one I use to the most, right in front and right behind the shoulder blades. I have used the center chest one on very upset excitable dogs, just very gentle pressure with one hand while accessing the shoulder blades sight too. Was able to get a dog to allow a bath that up to that point bit. I just kept gently rubbing those places. You could feel him relax beneath your hands.

I combined the t touch (tellington touch) techniques that I learned on line and from Patn2paws workshops with knowledge that I gained from a seminar "calming the anxious dog". There I learned the canine acupressure points and a different approach to helping a dog relax. I had a pointer that was petrified, flightly, give you a black eye with flailing legs at the sound of a metal trashcan. I had to do something to reach him and this is what worked. Each night we did an excercise where I went over him in the t touch circle and a quarter, moving only the skin, gently and used it on these sites. Starting out with a few seconds and working our way up to about 10 minutes. I used a calming word while I did this. Then when we were in a stressing situation I could just use the word as a trigger or access certain spots that helped him relax to show him all was not danger.
pressure_points_2 - Dog and Puppy Pictures
I was not sure I could reach this dog which is why I tried things that I had never had to before. I learned a great deal and now have a relaxed, happy dog that has served as a therapy dog. For a hypersensitive pointer it was the best thing I could ever have done for him...kind of works for the person too. Expect to be very relaxed right along with the dog.