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by clee27 on 19 July 2012 - 10:07
Thank you, sometimes you read something and you know you are not able to fully understand what someone meant. I'm not trying to apply the information to any dog, although I would not have a clue how to work with a dog who had these issues. When I asked our trainer, she said that sometimes it's hard to interpret what someone else means because everyone has different experiences and that words can have different meanings, depending on who you're talking to
by brynjulf on 19 July 2012 - 13:07
Nan can you explain this a bit better? I'm not sure what you mean? Sometimes the written word doesnt translate well. this is the sentence I don't understand "That can be true brynjulf but we are trying to explain how to train that." Explain the word spook? or Explain how to train a spook. Its only 6 am and that monster lab has kept me awake for almost a week now so things are a bit fuzzy.
by Sunsilver on 19 July 2012 - 15:07
I have experience with a shy, fearful dog, which I have now rehomed.
The fearfulness developed quite suddenly when she about 6 or 7 months old. I was living in N. Ontario at the time, and there were very few opportunities for socialization during the winter. We did attend a few kid's road hockey games, and I did have guest over to the house during the winter, and though a bit hesitant to approach them, she was okay. With the road hockey games, she wanted to CHASE THAT BALL, and let the kids pet her.
Then, spring arrived, and people came out of hibernation. Suddenly, she was terrified of EVERYTHING! Whem my best friend and her kids came walking towards me along the main street, she freaked out, and tried to run away. When that didn't work, she hid behind me.
We spent a lot of time over the next few months sitting at a sidewalk cafe on the main street. I would not let people pet her, because she would immediately dive underneath the table if they approached. We worked a lot on basic on-leash obedience too, but often her fears were so great that she'd be too distracted to listen to me. She was definitely too terrified to take treats from anyone other than me.
At the end of May, I moved south, and was able to enroll her in classes. She was so terrified that I couldn't do much of anything with her for the first few classes. We practised heeling, and the reinforcement was LOTS of praise and petting for doing things correctly. Gradually, she got used to it enough to take treats, but ONLY in her 'safe zone': when I was sitting in a chair on the sidelines, with her plastered against my shins!
I spent HUNDREDS of dollars on classes. We did basic OB, intermediate OB, rally, fungility, dogs sports, attention and focus, and maybe a few more I can't remember. She was a quick learner, and especially loved fungility, but the fear did not go away. She would shy away from strangers, and when I had company over, she'd hide from them. She was particularily afraid of men and children, as she'd never been exposed to them very much.
Eventually, I accepted that she was never going to be the calm, confident dog I'd hoped for, and rehomed her to a pet home. The new owner is a single lady who lives a quiet life, and has a female lab to keep my dog company while she is away at work.
The difference between a confident dog and a shy dog is the confident dog overcomes fears of something new very quickly, after only a couple of (positive) exposures to it. A shy dog takes much more time and exposure, and even then, the fear does not completely go away.
I have never really thought that a spooky dog could have good nerves. That's news to me, and until I read the post about it here, would have said shy and spooky were one and the same thing.
The fearfulness developed quite suddenly when she about 6 or 7 months old. I was living in N. Ontario at the time, and there were very few opportunities for socialization during the winter. We did attend a few kid's road hockey games, and I did have guest over to the house during the winter, and though a bit hesitant to approach them, she was okay. With the road hockey games, she wanted to CHASE THAT BALL, and let the kids pet her.
Then, spring arrived, and people came out of hibernation. Suddenly, she was terrified of EVERYTHING! Whem my best friend and her kids came walking towards me along the main street, she freaked out, and tried to run away. When that didn't work, she hid behind me.
We spent a lot of time over the next few months sitting at a sidewalk cafe on the main street. I would not let people pet her, because she would immediately dive underneath the table if they approached. We worked a lot on basic on-leash obedience too, but often her fears were so great that she'd be too distracted to listen to me. She was definitely too terrified to take treats from anyone other than me.
At the end of May, I moved south, and was able to enroll her in classes. She was so terrified that I couldn't do much of anything with her for the first few classes. We practised heeling, and the reinforcement was LOTS of praise and petting for doing things correctly. Gradually, she got used to it enough to take treats, but ONLY in her 'safe zone': when I was sitting in a chair on the sidelines, with her plastered against my shins!
I spent HUNDREDS of dollars on classes. We did basic OB, intermediate OB, rally, fungility, dogs sports, attention and focus, and maybe a few more I can't remember. She was a quick learner, and especially loved fungility, but the fear did not go away. She would shy away from strangers, and when I had company over, she'd hide from them. She was particularily afraid of men and children, as she'd never been exposed to them very much.
Eventually, I accepted that she was never going to be the calm, confident dog I'd hoped for, and rehomed her to a pet home. The new owner is a single lady who lives a quiet life, and has a female lab to keep my dog company while she is away at work.
The difference between a confident dog and a shy dog is the confident dog overcomes fears of something new very quickly, after only a couple of (positive) exposures to it. A shy dog takes much more time and exposure, and even then, the fear does not completely go away.
I have never really thought that a spooky dog could have good nerves. That's news to me, and until I read the post about it here, would have said shy and spooky were one and the same thing.
by Nans gsd on 19 July 2012 - 19:07
Yes Sun I have to agree with you that shy and spooky go hand in hand. My girl that I most recently (past 10 years) am referring to was shy/spooky/fearful from day one. I bred the litter, I also kept her sister who was very confident and loved everyone and everything in life and I now have her litter brother (12 years old today in fact) a finished champion that also loves everyone and everything (even tried to revive a dead lizzard) and goes on his walks just to TRY to find someone to just pet him. A very sweet, intact male. The most confident dog you would ever want to meet, no fear at all with this litter sister of his "Cookie" that was afraid or fearful of her own shadow. Thought by keeping the two litter sisters together that some of the confidence would rub off on Cookie, but NO; absolutely NOT. So I placed litter sister (ended up having bad hips) and acquired back the litter brother at 5 years old, both became best friends, thought that some of brothers confidence and love for people/other dogs might rub off on Cookie; NO, absolutely not and their mother was the most confident bitch after 1 year old; not a very confident puppy but a very, very friendly fun loving smart bitch. Now Cookie was definitely smart but did not want to exhibit her intelligence to anyone but myself or her daddy (person) and some friends of ours that she knew from birth. GO FIGURE. Cookie died at 8 l/2 with mammary cancer but to this day that bitch still has me scratching my head for answers as to why she was so fearful/spooky/shy. She was all of those in one. YEP, my training nightmare. Food for thought. N
Brynjulf; just am trying to figure out what the best approach is to shy/spooky/fearful training and also your statement about using your body language and the dogs just seem to understand without saying a word. ?? That is what I meant how to learn that body language?? Thx Nan
Brynjulf; just am trying to figure out what the best approach is to shy/spooky/fearful training and also your statement about using your body language and the dogs just seem to understand without saying a word. ?? That is what I meant how to learn that body language?? Thx Nan
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