BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Dogs Rehab of abused dog

My DH and I are fostering our first dog (picking him up Thursday). Any tips beyond love and patience on helping him become a 'normal' dog?

At the shelter, which I realize is a highly stressful sitch for him, he cowers in his igloo in the tightest ball possible pressed up to the side of the house, as if he is trying to disappear. He is also unresponsive to him name, treats, or "submissive" (neck and chest) petting.

We currently have 3 dogs that are poster children for Caesar Milans training style and fully plan to keep this Corgi mix separated from our pack for a few days to allow him to relax.

From what we have been told, he was physically abused by a previous owner and he and his 3 siblings are considered feral. He also has attacked his litter/pen mate; again probably from stress.

I have a shy Sheltie, she was not truly "abused" but rather never socialized, which your new foster dog is probably suffering from as well.

My advice would be to take everything with this dog VERY slowly. Try hand-feeding him, it will help him learn to trust you. At the start he may not take food or treats from you, but if you can toss them toward him and he eats them, that's a good starting place. Slowly try to entice him to come to you. Let him know all good things come from humans. Don't MAKE him do anything. Let him come along at his pace, which may be a very slow one. Keeping him separated from your current dogs at first is a good idea. He's going to be very stressed in the new situation and it may be weeks before you see any improvements, especially if he is feral and not used to humans.

There's a great Yahoo! group for shy dog owners, do a search on shy dog or shy K9 and it should come up. Join the group, and read the archives and files for some great advice.

Above all, just be very patient, and be appreciative of any baby steps he takes toward trusting you. Don't get discouraged. It will take a while, but when he shows improvement, it will be so rewarding!

Cindy

You didn't mention how old the dog is. I adopted a shy Australian Shephard from a shelter where I volunteered. She was 3 months old at that time and had hardly any socialization. She was food aggressive and early on she would growl at my husband if she had a chew treat and he came near. She really liked her "space" too, didn't like anyone hugging her or getting too close.

I spent a lot of time with her, trying to get her to snuggle with me, hand feeding her, and if she growled at my husband, the treat went away. I had him feed her treats too. She's still kind of possessive of me but I've promoted a relationship between her and my husband (which took a couple years!) but now she lets him hug her too and get close.

I have no idea how she was treated before she came to the shelter but I know she had to fight for her food and she was probably hit or something by the way she acts.

It does take lots and lots of patience! My dog is 3 now and altho I am always on alert to diffuse situations between her and my other 2 dogs or any humans who come around, she is now a very sweet dog. She just has her "moments" but all in all we managed to overcome her bad start.

Cindy, thanks for the mention of the shy dog yahoo group. I will look into that!

He is still a puppy...but probably close to a year old.

I have been reading advice columns all over the internet since 8 am this morning.

I have also decided to keep a blog on our progress.

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Here is the link to the shy K-9's group on yahoo

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I have two Cattle Dogs too. They were both rescued from shelters. Luckily they both like my husband and myself, but tend to prefer me a little more, probably because I'm home with them more. They give him tongue facials though! LOL! They're great dogs, very smart. We are doing flyball classes with our younger one. It's a great outlet for his energy. That reminds me, low-key obedience classes and agility can be a great way to boost a shy dog's confidence. When they're ready for it, of course.

Cindy

I know Australian Shephards are really smart! I did take my dog to puppy classes for 6 months and it really helped her a lot-but she did growl at the other puppies! The obedience trainer said some dogs need a little more space than others. I think she would have really taken to agility classes but i just didn't have time to commit to that.

She was 12 weeks when I got her and I've read if puppies aren't around children in the first 12 weeks, it's hard for them to get used to kids. When our grandchildren moved nearby I was a little worried about her but over time, she's adjusted pretty well to them. I wouldn't leave her alone with them, for everyone's safety, but she doesn't seem afraid of them now after a little coaching on everyone's part.

Wendy, thanks for the link to the forum.

So granted it is has barely been 24 hrs, but Colbert just seems to have a severe case of the skits. He doesn't like to be cornered, seems to be more skittish of DH than me, and won't even slow down for peanut butter treats, while the other 3 dogs are circling me for more. But all is well, turns out he is 6 days younger than our other puppy, so they are both 10 months old. He reminds me of a blonde bear cub.

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Wendy, I'd give way more than 24 hours before even making guesses about personality. Also, you may find this article useful:
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Please remember, if it hasn't been said already, that you are NOT attempting to integrate your dog into your family. What you're doing, is actually accepting a new member into a Pack. we can't expect dogs to think like humans. It is WE humans, who have to adopt the psychology of the Dog.
Every time.
All the time.
24/7.
For every dog we own.

Hope this helps.