Help Please Our Little Amy Is Too Scared To Go Out

[chriskathome]

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Hi,

our little Amy (7months) is a lovely and gentle whippet/greyhound cross. Shes pretty perfect except for the fact that she is petrified to leave our front door.

We live in a very built up area with a nice park only 30 yards away, but we have to carry her there. Even when there she shakes uncontrollably.

If we take her away from the city say to woods or open fields shes fine.

Shes not afraid of people or other dogs and shes never been badly treated.

Shes always been a bit nervy but was frightened by a train passing nearby at about 4 months. We've tried gentle coaxing a few feet at a time from our front door, but we're getting nowhere.

Please help.

 

[~JO~]

Hi

Sounds like Amy has a pretty severe anxiety based problem. To be honest to achieve improvements is going to take quite a bit of hard work. I would personally take her to a behaviourist who will assess her and work out the best way to start training her out of the problem.

If she is only really bad when visiting the park and obviously the noise on the way, I would try using soemthing which will help relieve her anxiety and nervousness and help her feel nice and relaxed. Dorwest product Scullcap & Valerian tablets which a herbal medicine licensed to treat this condition - but it is not a magic pill and needs to be used in conjunction with lots of behavioural work. Eg slowly introducing her to noises etc when she is relaxed by the tablets this should help her feel more comfortable.

This is a very gradual process though.

You also need to be very careful not to postively reinforce this problem by giving her attention when she is acting very nervously - this where a behaviourist would help.

I am sure lots more advice will follow this - good luck :luck:

 

[fallenangel]

If shes ok with other dogs would it be possebl for her to have someone call with there dogs to walk with her. or carrie her to the park and walk just a little way back with other dogs the more the merrie. try to do a bit further every day and reward her for doing well but complitly ignore any negative behavour. if you comfort her your telling her she is right to be scared and reinforcing it. If she sees your not botherd and your quiet happy out there she will be carmer. It will take a long time to get her settels and she never be completly confident near traffic but she can learn to cope. As said before contact a behavourist in you area for one to one help.

we had a foster pup here who had ever been outside till 6 months old was left in a celler and if she whent out she screemed and wet herself it took 6 months but she got used to the outside world and now take pesioners on contry walks with her owner and travels everywere gos near roads no problem. so it can be helped

wendy

 

[jan]

Hi- Sorry to hear of your problems. I had a very nervous whippet for a while who had the same trouble, amongst other things. I took her out frequently to get used to the noises, short bursts at first, and always with treats eg cheese, which she would only have on walks. Try not to make undue fuss of her, as it might exacerbate the problem, but rather just try and walk firmly on, showing her there is no need to fear. It took a few months, but her behaviour on walks changed dramatically.

I'm no expert at all, this is just my experience, but I'm sure there will be words of wisdom from others. Hope things soon improve :thumbsup: Jan

 

[ILoveKettleChips]

All I can add really is that I would stop taking her to the park completely, because she'll just be scared of you if she associates you with somewhere she fears. Go right back to square one - if you get her out into the garden regard that as a major bonus and reward her like she's done something humungously superduper megawonderful. Then work from there by persuading her to take more steps, very slowly, NEVER forcing her out of her comfort zone. SHE needs to learn for herself that the world isn't a scary place, at her own pace.

Try clicker training - the 'box' game where you treat the dog for targeting/putting its paws on/climbing into the box etc - once she's confident at that game you can try it in the hall, then the back step, then the garden etc. Just make absolutely sure you reinforce positively ANY signs of confidence or progress and just ignore her nervousness.

 

[Scooter]

Hi Our Topaz, now 18 months old, were scared of other dogs, walks and attention from strangers, when she was a little puppy. We live in a very quiet part of a city. My husband literally had to drag her out of the house for a couple of weeks, and she only pulled us on the way home. I bought a couple of books on shy dogs (some help), and asked a trainer (no help) and a puppy class (no help). Now she can't wait for walks. She is still sensitive and timid to new things, but she can walk on a busy road even with double deckers, or High street without traffic, but full of people, which used to scare her.

What we did are; my husband took her very early morning around the house, when there were no noise, no matter what. We don't have through traffic, and usually only learners are around. So early morning was dead quiet. Like Jan, During daytime, I took her with a loads of cooked chicken meat. I made her sit, down or anything she could do, first in front of our door, when she got used to it, in the front garden, and then slowly progressed to near the busy road after some weeks. I always stopped just before she started showing apprehension. I think that the key to a success was giving her lots of very short training everyday. When we got the busy road, I noticed that she was scared of water splash from cars, so I didn't go there until she became fine on dry days, and then started again very slowly on rainy days. For some dogs, walking busy road is nothing, but I knew that for Topaz it was a big thing. So I'm very proud of her.

I had some experience of clicker type training although I don’t use a clicker. I have also familiar with positive reinforcement and/or modern training concepts, as I have trained my parrots. You can find a good literature on these topics in Amazon. They might help you to break down the target.

I hope Amy will get used to coming out of the house. I'm sure she will. The shy book advises against carrying fearful dogs, as it would reinforce their fearful behaviours.

Good luck :luck:

 

[alfyn]

You've certainly been given some excellent advice from others,so i won't add anything else other than you could get her one of Doreen Paige's remedies,"apprehension of known things".I have found it an excellent product as an aid to help a dog overcome certain fears.To order,ring 01743 860062.

Best of luck with little Amy,i'm sure you'll eventually help her overcome her fears :thumbsup: