Socializing A Neglected Puppy - Page 1

As some of you may know, I recently rescued a German Shepherd puppy in March. I am having a very hard time of socializing her. I am trying my hardest, but I think I need some advice. I have a current litter of Goldens, so the clients are pouring in, so I try to leave her out when they are here, and she gets nervous, she barks like crazy then runs and hides. I am getting worried, she is almost 6 months old, and I am trying very hard to socialize her, I am taking her EVERYWHERE with me, and she isn't showing improvment. PLEASE, I need some help or suggestions!

She needs a very controlled and executed plan....sorry, I don't recall her history .. can you recap for us old folks?? She probably needs to start in very small steps and being loose while things she is afraid of are round is not gonna help!! Explain what you are doing.. ie, when you take her around.. have you determined her threshold and are working from that??? Also explain her reactions Depending on her history and genetics, you may be fighting a losing battle but you have to approach this with a definite incremental plan and then have the time and energy to stick with it.. There are many good books out there by great dog trainerrs who might help.. Patricia McConnell comes to mind..

Hi DKiah, Well, I rescued her from a breeder, she was very underweight, and EXTREAMLY afraid of anything that moved. I've now gotten her to the point where she adores me, and the other dogs, but is afraid of everything else. I have her on a leash, and when she starts crying or trying to pull away, I don't say anything, and I tell the clients not to coddle her, as I don't want to encourage her fear. Her genetics are solid, its not those, its just the breeder had some problems and only focused on feeding her, he didn't socialize her in the least. I am currently reading a Ceaser Millan book, not sure if I'll get harassed about that or not, but I'm trying.

Put down the book!! HaHa!! Sorry just not a big fan of his. His methods are not practical for most of the peolep who own problem dogs.. although i have to agree that more exercise would help a lot of dogs in this country.... most of us can not exercsie our dogs ALL day long!! Really.... do a search on Patricia McConnell, check out Susan Garrett Ruff Love.. I can't think of any more right now.. like I said, i'm old.... Get out your clicker and the best tasty treats this dog loves.. if you have to cook a pork loin, that's what you do and see if you can get her to offer you behaviors and then reward them.. starting with attention to you and then increase the challenges.. it might mean you have to start 50 -100 feet away from 1 person, but the criteria is she pay attention to you.. she should improve and you will move closer and closer and then back off and add more distraction/challenge.. This is really the short version but you now must start with a plan....

Blue-Skye, I just replied back to your email. I had actually 2 clients, now that I think about it that had puppy's(1 not from me)and the other I had to pull out of an abusive situation. How ever, both of them were acting like you have described. Your clients must not approach her. They need to be on her level(sitting on the floor)with their backs turned to her. Make sure they have her favorite treats on them, and let her make the next move. If she feeds out of their hand that is an excellent move, but I would advise them not to pet her until she is ready. When she is ready to be pet, make sure it's not on top of her head. It should be under her jaw and chest area. You can try as hard as you want to, to get her socialized but in the long run, she is the one to make the ultimate decision when she is ready. I would never push or force anything on a puppy/dog that has gone through what she has, and I'm not saying by any means you are. It just has to be on her terms right now, and no one else's. Sorry it's sooo long, just trying to give you some ideas.

Blue Sky, I had a puppy like that. What I ended up doing is tethering her to me and other family members and socialize her to death. Take her places and let her observe at first and get used to the situations around her. Then once she's comfortable with the areas take her back to same places and carry a lot of goodies. Give them to people to give to her and praise her to death when she takes the treats. After she's comfortable with that then make her sit for those treats and again praise, praise and praise! My girl came out of it and she was a fear biter on top of it. I sold this puppy at 8 weeks old and the people put her in the back yard and did nothing with her. When she first came to me she'd bite and look wild eye at everyone. Even other dogs freaked her out. She's now almost 2 years old and is doing quite well. Good Luck with your puppy. If it's not genetic she should come around but it's up to you and get her out into the world. Birdy...

Birdy is giving good advice but I would add thatI think the key here would be baby steps. I remember the story of your girl and again want to congratulate you on your rescue of her. I would take her places where she could see other people but not get too close or for very long periods of time. Watch her closely and if she starts getting tense calmly move her away from the cause of her distress as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. It is also vital that she not sense that YOU are tense, she sees you as her leader and will take her cues from you as how she should react. It will take some time and she may never become as socialised as you would like but there is a lot you can do to improve the situation. Good Luck and keep us posted!

Since she's so spooky of everything, you might want to try keeping her in a crate while your clients are coming over. Set the crate in the room so that she's exposed to the action, but she should feel some security inside the crate to help ease her into the situation. I hate to say this since I own a dog of the same bloodlines, but even good bloodlines can occasionally produce a fluke. Clearly undersocialization at a young age has hurt her, but it still is a possibility that she was already behind the eight-ball. She's going to have to learn to work through the fear. Have you started obedience training with her? Even if she is afraid she still must be obedient, and the cycle of learning and reward should help her learn how to learn - to learn how to problem solve that is. A kennel dog that never has to do anything to earn his food dish doesn't have to THINK about much at all. Does that make sense to you?

You can never change who or what your puppy is but what you can do is add to his knowledge and this is socialization...Everyone used to think that socialization is every Tom...Dick...and Hairy putting their hands on my dog...Well that isn't it...you need to socialize the puppy in new environments...and expose them to new experiences...these changes don't happen over night and are accumlative...it will add up eventually...When you have new people coming over to the house...even if they're clients...I wouldn't just have your puppy out and running all over the place...I would have her in a crate out where she can see everything that's going on...later she can join in the fun...All you can ever hope to accomplish is to make the puppy better then she was...anything more is just icing on the cake...Good Luck and if I can help you with something pleas don't hesitate to contact me... ~Bob~

I would try the clicker. Start in a very controlled setting where there are no distractions. So that she learns to work for something she likes. Be it your attention, food, toy, whatever. This will help her to get the skills she needs to deal with real life. I find that many times the clicker takes their mind off things we would not even find possible.