Nervous Rescue Dog

ROS123

We have a collie cross, we have her for over a year now. She is devoted to my wife. She is exceptional in all ways except she is extremely nervous. We are very restricted in where we can bring her for a walk because she shys away from most people especialy men. We have seen ads for 'dog whisperers' has anyone any experience of these, are they any good. Anyone else any ideas on how to help this nervous dog. WE think she is about 3 years of age, she is speyed.

~Thalia~

Firstly, she is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

I had this problem with my rescue bitch also and I asked the vet about it and he said the best way to overcome nervouseness is exposure to what it is she is nervous about and in that situation YOU remain perfectly normal and calm and do not reassure her or mollycoddle her (as aparently this will confirm her need to be nervous).

I'd start off small with this method so as to not frighten her too much.

Best of luck and again she is just FAB and well done for adopting a rescue esp a collie as they are SO hard to home in this country but they are just FANTASTIC dogs!

Toulouse

Had the same problem with my girl. If you weren't young and female then she'd crawl under the nearest furniture and growl and quiver. She hated older females, kids and men.

As we had lots of visitors it was something that she'd have to get used to. After a while she had no problem with regular visitors and she even had her favourites among those. We didn't ever force her, visitors were instructed to come in calmly and not to pay her any attention until she came up to them, which she would eventually, especially if they had food Only then would they pet her. Having another dog who loved everyone helped as well I think as she could see the confidence he had and the great time he had with people.

I started to take her to agility/obidience. Not only was it a good way to show her how other dogs acted around their people but it helped us to bond and she loved racing around the course and it gave her confidence. She was still wary of the trainers but after a few classes she actually approached one of the trainers, a big man no less and sniffed his hand and gave him a lick!

You have to get her out there gently and show her there's more to life than fear. The more this is positively reinforced then the more she starts to trust. My girl will still head under the table sometimes but she comes around pretty quickly and this is after 2 years of working on her so it's not going to be fixed overnight.

Again, fair play for taking in a rescue, sometimes it can be alot of work but nothing can replace the feeling you get for having given a dog a second chance at life.

Sigma Force

Go to irishanimals.ie they have a list of dog trainers some good ones on there.

Collies can be nervous esp. if they havent had the best start in life. Mine is a nervous dog but give her a tennis ball and free run in the garden and she becomes a totally different dog. Building up a strong bond between you and the dog will help the dogs confindence by building a bond I dont mean lots of cuddles and walks (although these are important) I mean by training things like clicker training and agility are great for collies gives them a distraction and they really enjoy it and pick it up fast.

artieanna

Wow shes beautiful!!

I got my girl when she was about eight months old and she was soo nervous I didn't see her tail for three days!!

She was frightened of well almost everything, even a plastic bag, but with lots of encouragement (like 'go on you can do it' and then 'well done') and praise she is less so now.

I think they are natural worriers the poor collies