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Four months ago, my family adopted a 2-year-old Puggle rescued from a puppy mill. She was not potty trained, and she was also chewing on everything she could get her paws on.
After her first week with us, we realized that a kennel might help these problems. We found a metal kennel that is meant for larger dogs so she would have lots of space, and as soon as it was set up, she was a different dog – much happier, in fact! She was even comfortable enough after a couple months to leave the kennel and curl up in the corner with our other dog.
What I’m concerned about is that for about a week now, she has been extra skittish. Before, if there was a noise like a door closing, she would flinch but otherwise be okay with it. But now she jumps and goes to hide at the back of her kennel and starts shaking, like she did the first few weeks we had her. She refuses to come out of her kennel to go to the bathroom unless we take her out on leash. If she is off leash in the yard, when it’s time to come in, she hides and won’t come in without a lot of coaxing.
Is there a method I can use to help her get past her fear of noises? I’m not sure what spooked her, but I would like to know what to do to reassure her nothing bad is going to happen. Our other dog gives her comfort, and she won’t go anywhere without him, but even he seems to be startling her for no reason.
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
– Val
Hi Val,
Your new addition has sure been through a lot in her life! The first thing I always suggest in cases like this is to get a complete veterinary workup to rule out any possible physical base for her recent decline in adapting to her new life. There could even be cognitive problems stemming from her past life and her breeding. This is most important in moving forward with her.
If she gets a clean bill of health, I suggest using your other dog to “model” what happens when a loud noise or sudden occurrence happens.
1. Have some really tasty treats handy. Clap your hands a few times, then immediately toss your other dog a treat. Use a very upbeat, fun voice to “celebrate” the noise and subsequent treat.
2. Also throw your Puggle a treat, but avoid looking at her; it would be too stressful for her at this point. But she does get the benefit of the noise or startling movement with the treat.
3. Do this as many times a day as you can; it just takes a few seconds. Keep it as fun and upbeat as possible. Your male dog will be really glad you’re making noises! Just be sure not to make the volume too loud at first – you just want your Puggle to start to be counter-conditioned to a mildly loud noise like a hand-clap.
4. Once you see her start to wag her tail when she hears the clap and encouragement, you can up the volume just a bit until you get the tail-wagging again. Remember, this activity is seemingly directed only at your other dog, so your Puggle doesn’t think she’s in trouble. She just gets the goodies!
5. Avoid eye contact with her until you feel she’s up to having a bit of the activity be about her. If at any point she regresses, go back a few steps and build her back up.
6. Generalize the idea of things not being about her for a while, as much as possible. Communication with her in her past life was most likely all negative, so give her an emotional break from a perceived threat by not engaging with her until she feels more trusting. I know it’s difficult; you want to comfort and reassure her, but think about it from her point of view: any time a person engaged her, bad stuff happened.
7. When you see her exhibiting fear, go over to your other dog, and pet and comfort him. He doesn’t need it, of course, but your soothing tone and petting will eventually show her that being approached and interacted with is actually a good thing.
8. Give your Puggle food, water, toys, etc. without looking at her for right now. You can certainly say, “Here you go, baby girl” in a soothing voice – just keep it subtle. Remember as she progresses that you’ll need to keep your voice calm and soothing, even when you’re excited that she wasn’t afraid of something, so she doesn’t get startled.
The really awesome thing about this is once she’s relaxed and trusting, it’s such a wonderful thing to see that you’ll be very glad you were patient with her. It will take some time, Val, so don’t get discouraged.
I very strongly recommend you have a trainer come out at least once to give further suggestions; a great place to start looking for positive-based trainers in your area is the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.
Good luck,
Eugenia
PHOTO: David Smith
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