Very Timid Dog

Senna

We have two pet dogs, we've had both since they were around 8/10 weeks, the older is almost two (Charlie) and the younger is 6 months (Millie). The problem is Millie, she is very timid. It takes her about 3 days to get used to a new person and will cower at loud noises or even someone rushing by her.
i just put it down to her being timid and its not a real problem.
Last week we were playing together, i was standing up and i called her over (normally comes straight away) she started wagging her tail but didn't move, so i just went over to her, she tried to hide under the kitchen table, i raised my voice to call her name and went to pick her up she pee'd a tiny bit (shes fully house trained). This happened again last night but this time it was the wife she done it too. Its like she though she was going to be hurt by us, but she has never had a hand raised to her. (she was born in a nice family home, no kids and nothing to indicate a problem)

Millie is very affectionate, she jump up and down when she sees us coming home, she likes nothing more than being petted. She gets on great with the other dog, they play together all the time and Charile, although bigger, really takes it easy on her when their playing, she's normally on top of him playing and he just lets her play (he's strong enough to send her flying if he wanted).

I always knew she was timid, but i thought she would grow out of it, it wouldn't bother me if she didn't. But two times she has cowered and pee'd has me worried. If it was months ago when she was being trained, i'd understand. But she pee'd because she was frighten.

Anyone any advice?

seanybiker

Don't raise your voice if she doesn't come over the first time.
She obviously likes you because she wagged her tail but is still a little unsure since she didn't come over to you.

liquoriceall

Its very hard my sister had a dog like that who if you raised your voice at all assumed you were shouting at her! It might be worth doing recall training with food etc to build up the trust and associate being called with good things happening?

Sassy58

We have a dog like this and have been living with it for close to 3 years now - basically ignore her if she is acting scared etc and just carry on like everything is normal - if you go to her reassure her you are just reinforcing her behaviour.

I know it can be hard - thankfully our dog never weed if frightened but she would cower and shy away but we have gotten use to her quirky ways. She would never go near new people if they came into the house she would sit on the landing until they went - now she is very social but it was bascially through having something she really liked at the front door and when someone called giving it to them to get them to give her it so that she associated people coming into the house with something nice...in our case she loves her food so it would be small pieces of ham or cheese something tastie she got.