Callie Is Frightened

[pollyanna]

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It is now 10 day since we got our rescue girl, Callie. We were told she was 'semi' toilet trained, so didn't worry about the odd accidents. BUT she is terrified of going outside, and once we take her out on her lead (no other way of persuading her to go outside the door) she just wants to get back in again. She is too frightened to do anything, once out there.

Well with loads of praise and careful watching, we now manage to get her to wee outside most of the time, but she will not pooh! In fact she holds it so long she then gets a series of very loose motions. We think she has been punished in the past (possibly by rubbing her nose in it as she hates her neck touched) and is too frightened to 'go' in front of us.

She is also very frightened if she hears a baby cry (on TV - we don't have any!!! (w00t) ) and tries to hide and gets very agitated. We wondered if she'd been chucked out if there was a baby or toddler in her previous home.

We thought we'd just go back to basics with toilet training, but of course, as she is so frightened just to go outside, it isn't working. Her reward if she does 'go' is to get back in ASAP!! Even on walks, she rarely does anything. Once or twice she has performed in the woods, but never in the fields where we take her. Outside she tries to get right under bushes, but seems to get spooked and once she is like that, there is no point in continuing to encourage her -she gets more and more wound up.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as she is such a sweetie, It goes without saying that we never punish her, just say sadly, Oh Callie, if we actually catch her when she's just 'been' indoors, but we rarely catch her -usually find a present, well hidden long after the event. If she sees we have found it, she looks very worried and sad. We gently reassure her and then just ignore her for a short time , but don't want her to think it is OK to go inside. HELP!!

 

[jinnyfizz]

Oh bless, poor little Callie

It does sound as though you're slowly getting there though - at least the weeing part, anyway :thumbsup: I'm sure the pooing will follow in time, once she feels secure with you. It's early days yet and she's obviously been traumatised in the past by some heartless cretin :rant:

All I can suggest is tremendous patience and a huge amount of praise and cuddles when she does the right thing :thumbsup:

I'd be wary about sounding disappointed or ignoring her at any stage if she poos in the house, as she will pick up on your feelings and this may make matters worse. Best to just carry on as normal, clear up and don't even let her see you doing it. She won't think it's OK to do it but she might feel safer and begin to trust you if she gets zero reaction from you.

This should be the quickest way to break the bad association she has with the pooing action :thumbsup:

She's very young still, and with your encouragement and love she'll learn how to enjoy her life - it's just going to take a little while

:luck: :luck: Lots of luck and please keep us updated! :huggles: :huggles: for Callie xx

 

[Hilary & Hounds]

I agree with Jane. If you see her doing it, just ignore her and quietly clear it up when she walks away. Over the top praise when she does the right thing is excellent! :huggles: :huggles: If you imagine that for however old she is (2.5 years? 18 months? Can't remember. :b ) she's been abused for being a dog, then it's possibly going to take that long for her to get over it. Will hopefully be less but could be more, poor little love. At least she's with the right people now! :thumbsup: :huggles:

 

[Strike Whippets]

Oh how sad ...... I would personally start giving Callie Rescue remedy and Aspen from the Bach flower remedies ........ I'd gently desensitise her fear of having her neck touched by gently stroking her whilst being sat lower than her and not giving her eye contact, then just a softly spoken "good lass" then ignore her .... I have one that likes going in hedges or hidden in woodland .....I'd just keep walking her in these areas so she sometimes does something and as sad as it sounds when Callie does do a wee or poo out side I'd give her a gentle command like (don't laugh as I say this to mine :b ) ....quickie wees and as said before a gentle neck touch or stroke ....soon you'll see when she wants to go and by giving her the gentle command often the penny drops and hey presto she'll start going on command as she understands what you are asking her to do and as she will be being gently rewarded with a kind touch, she'll actually start wanting this reward more .... :luck: :luck: Hannah ..

 

[J.T.]

When we first got our Rafferty at about 5 months we thought the same as you, that he had been told off for pooing. He wasn't as bad as Callie but if in the garden he would squash himself under a bush or squeeze behind the bench etc before he would go.

If in the park, he'd go into a big clump of bushes or right down a steep slope out of sight.

We didn't really do anything to try to remedy it as it wasn't a major problem, in fact it was quite good really as we hardly ever found anything to clear up.

But as he started to feel more secure, he relaxed & will now perform in public :lol:

My young lurcher, Scrumpy has had a lot of problems with her nerves & I have found that clicker training has really helped with her therapy. It may be worth a try with Callie, I've found it gives the dog something to focus on & she knows when she has done something right.

At first just click & treat without asking for anything from her, then ask for something easy like a sit, then click/treat. Build this pattern up so she always associates a click with a treat. (if you click accidentally, she must still get the treat)

Then build up to clicking if she takes a step towards going outside, then when she goes over the doorstep, then when she's outside. And obviously loads of clicks/treats if she actually does wee/poo outside.

This is a very long tedious process but it has worked with my Scrumpy. She's not had the same problem with house training but she's scared of traffic(and by association, going out of the front of the house )

It has taken me since last August to get her to the stage where she will willingly come out of the front door with me.

It all sounds a bit daunting to think of but given time & lots of patience you'll get there I'm sure.

Sometimes it's been like 1 step forwards & 10 steps back but then all of a sudden she'll do a great big leap forward & really come on again.

I also put a few drops of Rescue Remedy in her food every day & she has a scoop of something called "Calm Down" herbs from a company called CSJ (Sorry, I don't have the details but they do have a website, just put in CSJ)

I hope this makes some sense to you, if you want any more info just ask.

Good Luck with Callie :luck:

Julie.

 

[wild whippies]

Just an observation I've noticed with puppies, initially when they start going on walks they will hold themselves until they get back from their walks. I think it's an insecurity thing associated with attracting predators and relying on mother to clean up after them in the nest.

I'd hope that as walks become more routine for Callie and she associates leaving the 'nest' as a nice experience she'll improve. I'd also look at giving rescue remedy and just keep on with the praise and what your doing as she's improved already. :thumbsup:

 

[FeeFee]

I'd totally agree about just quietly clearing up any indoor accidents without saying anything. I think her problem is being scared of outside, rather than soiling indoors if that makes sense.

J.T.'s suggestion of starting to use a clicker with her is good. I've had a few very nervous rescue dogs over the years, and they respond really well to clicker training. Once they are 'primed' to associating the click with a treat, you can use it to mark the exact moment when she's doing what you want (ie peeing in the garden) and the treat can follow soon after.

Another possibility is to start to feed her just outside the back door if she'd tolerate it, so 'outside' starts to have some good associations. If she's very food oriented, throwing a handful of food or tasty treats outside might tempt her to go out, too.

Wishing you loads of luck, it sounds as though she's going to need some time and patience, but I bet she'll be worth every moment of it :wub:

 

[Janimal]

Aww poor little Callie... wonder what sort of a home she was in previously... :angry: .....

anyway Janet you have her now so different story now... :huggles:

I would just take her out for very short spells 5-10 minutes...lots of praise and treats....lots of playtime and maybe a bit of fuss from friends or neighbours...lots of praise and treats again. :huggles: then introduce slightly longer walks ...

I agree with wild whippies here too, mine all held themselves in till they were back in the safety of our garden, but all grew out of it eventually.

Honestly dosnt bear thinking about what shes afraid of, I do hope you can overcome her problems Janet, but Im sure you will.. :thumbsup: :luck: :luck:

Give her a big hug from us here...wish I could meet her...

 

[Rae]

Poor Callie

Agree with everything said and just to add that I also think clicker training will help her confidence. It also removes any emotion so if you see her doing her business when out walking you can 'click' and she should get the hang of it.

I'd definately give the Aspen a go too - how about another DAP collar for Callie?

:luck:

 

[pollyanna]

Thanks so much for all the advice. We did have a clicker for Polly (who never got on with it, but as a pup, was not so hard to train) so will find those, so we have one in each house (Bea's and mine). I think it might well work for Callie. Will also get her the rescue remedy as she is like a cat on hot bricks sometimes.

She always gets loads of praise when she 'goes' in any way, outside - but she races in and stands by the treats cupboard!! She seeems to know she only gets a treat if she's done something.

We are improving with the neck touching -she lets us fondle her and seems to like it - we just can't apply any pressure yet. I tried turning her head slightly to look at something and just stopped in time as I realised she was about to freak out. She was soon happy again and got a reward for being good.

So we'll ignore the mistakes (which funnily enough, Lily tells us about!!) and contiue the rewards, with clicker associated, plus add rescue remedy to her food. have already got a DAP collar ordered.

She was to have started dog training today, but Bea has pulled a muscle in her chest and I can't do the standing etc any more, so we will try again next week.

Thanks again for all the help. Will report back in a week or three to let you all know how we are getting on. I have a few more photos to upload too. :thumbsup:

 

[~Sarah~]

Poor little Callie. She really must have had some awful experiences previously. I can't offer any further advice to the good suggestions already given, but I do hope things improve for her and you soon. :luck: :luck:

I have used Clicker training with my girls (although let it slip a bit lately :- " ) and found they were very responsive to it and seemed to really enjoy the training sessions, so I am sure it is worthwhile trying it with Callie. :wub: :huggles: :wub: