Skittish dog

[Labyrinth]

One of my dogs is pretty skittish around the house. I have no idea why, nothing has ever happened to her at home (or anywhere else for that matter). It's to the point that she only wants to come downstairs when it's time to be fed, and when we're upstairs she prefers to spend a good portion of the day wedged underneath our bed (and this is a nearly 70 pound dog). When we spend time downstairs she's clearly nervous and either follows me closely or lays down in a corner, or eats the other dogs food since she's already finished hers. She's not underfed and the vet told me recently that he'd like to see her lose 10 pounds, so I think her eating the other dogs food is a nervous behavior. When we ask her if she needs to go out, she'll often run in the other direction, because it spooks her if the neighbors or their dogs are outside and she automatically assumes that they are. She's pretty at ease when we're all upstairs and the neighborhood is quiet and will hang out with us in the computer room when we're all in there.

Really I just want her to be able to relax in her own home, but I don't know how else to reassure her that she's completely safe. I've heard of rescue remedy to calm down anxious dogs but I think that's supposed to be more for special occasions and this is an all the time thing with her. Is there any type of herbal supplement or something safe to give her long term to help her relax but not leave her spaced out?

 

[twobadfish]

Have you tried any confidence building exercises? One that I can think of off the top of my head is tug-of-war where the dog wins consistently. Here is a better explanation from an article I read a while back:

Building A Submissive Dog's Confidence

 

[Kat09Tails]

I guess my questions are:

Is this a new behavior or has she always been a nerve bag?

Has she been medically evaled? Did they consider medication?

How does she react under pressure if you stop the fleeing? Shut down or reactive (fear biter)?

 

[Labyrinth]

She's a very strong dog, it's nearly impossible for her NOT to win in tug of war. I did take her to some classes to try to help her with her confidence a while back and she did make progress in the class (went from hiding behind the chairs in the first class, to laying in the middle of the floor by the end), But was much the same at home. I don't have time to read the link you posted right this minute, but will definitely look at it later this evening.

She's always been somewhat uneasy outside of the home. She used to be fine with going into the backyard but we never left them out there for more than a potty trip unless we were out there ourselves as well. Her reluctance to go outside is because of one set of neighbors that almost constantly has a handyman over doing yard work, and the other set of neighbors that are no longer there that had a group of obnoxious and loud young boys playing basketball in their driveway (which is on the other side of our fence). The new neighbors are nice and quiet and don't hang out in their front yard, but they have a couple of dogs. Both of their dogs seem to be outside most of the time but are both well behaved aside from some occasional barking. One of their dogs watches my girls through the fence and I can see it wagging it's tail, and a few times Misty (skittish dog) has even responded playfully to it so I don't think that's an issue at all.

The only time I've talked to her vet about it was when she was in for vaccinations and I mentioned I was taking her to classes to help with her socialization. I hadn't considered a medical issue to be honest, because she's always been like this to some degree.

When we have had to catch her from running off she stops and goes along without a struggle as soon as one of us has a hand on her collar.

One other thing I forgot to mention in my OP, is that she won't let us do her nails so we take the dogs to Petsmart to have them done. She's uncooperative and is constantly trying to get away from them. When I am there I ask them to keep her in the front so she can see me. We recently took them down there after a vet visit and I had to run next door with my daughter so my husband took them dogs there to get them started himself. He didn't say anything when they took her into the backroom, and when they brought her back they told me that she was so stressed she peed herself. This has NEVER happened before. I think this is the reason I was thinking about rescue remedy for situations like this (or maybe it would calm her enough to allow me to do her nails myself).

I can see how it could be a confidence issue, so I will definitely research that more. I've been trying to encourage her whenever she acts "brave" but the Petsmart incident just broke my heart. She should never be that scared.

 

[Kat09Tails]

Environmentally unstable dogs (aka Nerve bags) are not just shy dogs, they are beyond shy imo and need to be managed accordingly. Basically these dogs live their lives going from one spot of unease to another even if the demons are all in their head. It's a chronic condition as it is a temperament flaw rather than normally a learned behavior. Spooky dogs are spooky dogs- it is who they are just as much as a mellow dog is a mellow dog, and a bold dog is a bold dog.

I would seriously consider a consult on anti anxiety meds. Right now IMO there is a question of quality of life being that your dog is afraid, within your own home. The fact that she's blowing her bladder out for simple nail trims is a sign that perhaps things within her mind are not in a good spot.