We got her at 5 months. She has a great bond with me, but not with my husband. She is very scared of him and just runs and hide or cowards down. We also have a 10 year old standard poodle who seems to come around a little everyday. I almost believe that she was abused mentally by the people who had her before. She eats and drinks like someone is about to get her food, she gets really meek if someone tries to pet her, but she really is scared of my husband the most. HELP because I love her already and am trying everything to make her feel at home.
Answers:
Good lord - Why would someone take a great dog like an Aussie and cross breed it into a MUTT?!
She's obviously had a bad experience with a man before you got her. He needs to give her special attention (Maybe walks with just the 2 of them?) and create the bond. She may never forget though...
It sounds as if she was abused, and it may be that your husband "reminds" her of the abuser. (she was probably abused by a man). Work with her, it may take quite a bit of time. Show her lots of love and attention, and she should come around. Make sure that your husband offers a lot of attention as well, try having him give her treats, when he goes to pet her, don't reach over her head, but under it, and have him get down on all fours, "on her level", when he goes to pet her.
Be patient with her, but don't coddle and coo over when she exhibits signs of fear. This is only telling her that this behavior is okay. Be firm but CONFIDENT with her, she will feel your confidence and look to you for her reaction. Speak to her in a confident tone and don't make a big fuss. Once she realizes that there isn't a disaster and that YOU aren't afraid, she will start to lose her fear. For some dogs it may take awhile, and for others just once or twice. Good Luck
I agree with the person above,, it sounds as if maybe the dog was abused..
It could also be the breed though, you know the temperment of the dog. You never know what you get when you cross breed different breeds.
It does sound like she has been abused. My dog ran away one time and was gone for several months and when I finally found him and got him back he was kind of like that , he clinged to me and was wary of everyone else, he's very jumpy with loud noises and sudden movements, and sometimes acts like he has to hide his food if he doesn't finish it all, he's gotten better over time.you just have to be patient with them, be very gentle, affectionate and loving, don't make any sudden movements with her, try to keep your voice calm, loving and steady...eventually she will realize that you and your husband are different than her previous owners and will come around but she will probably always be little jumpy.
It likely can be contributed to bad breeding. People who breed for ' designer breeds ' tend to forget entirely about temperament, concentrating only on the money they make..
Dogs that act afraid aren't always abused.. Dogs that aren't socialized well, act the same way.. Try socializing her more, don't put a lot of pressure on her, and allow her to realize that you aren't going to hurt her.. Once she meets people, and has some experience under her belt, she'll realize that she has nothing to fear.. Don't coddle her tho when she acts afraid, or you'll never help her.. By sucking her up or telling her it's okay, you are telling her that acting fearful is okay. Ignore the fear and praise the courage.
Tell people when they approach her to ignore her. When she isn't acting nervous, pet her only from under the chin, never over top of her head. Don't allow others to stand over her or dominate her in any way.
It could also be a fear period, Dogs go thru a couple of fear periods as they mature.. Suddenly fearing things that they are very used to.. Ignore this too, it goes away and they will be fine.
Recently, my parents adopted a young female dog who likes women, but freaks out when she sees men with beards. Mom thinks that the dog either had a traumatic experience with a vet or with a previous owner who fit that description. Because my parents have some family friends who fit the description of Scary Bearded White Man, they had to do quite a bit of work with the dog to make her feel comfortable around these friends. Here is what they did, and it eventually worked. You and your husband can probably try the same thing.
1. Make sure that the scary person (your husband) is sitting in the floor so that he doesn't stand too tall above the puppy.
2. Have him put treats in his pockets and then show them to the dog.
3. If the dog won't take the treats out of his hand, he can put the treat on the floor near him and let her take the treat from the floor.
4. do this many times.
5. Eventually, she will begin to take the treat (or toy) from his hand.
6. While the dog is taking the treat, he can pet her gently and tell her what a good girl she is.
7. Be Patient!
Over the course of a couple of months, she will associate good things like treats and toys with your husband and will stop being afraid of him. You just have to give it time. If she was neglected or abused before you adopted her, it may take a while to show her that she is safe and well cared for. The best thing you can do is make sure that your little girl has lots of happy and positive experiences with each of her new humans. If the suggestion I gave you does not work, you can ask your veterinarian to recommend a dog trainer who can help your dog become more comforable in her new home.
Best of luck to all of you!!
Five to 6 months of age can be difficult times for some puppies. While a quick reaction may be to suspect abuse from a former owner, there are other rather normal things that may be playing into this situation.
1. Teething typically occurs at this age. It often causes change of behavior--especially fear to a lot of things. Some puppies get so scared because of a sore mouth from teething that they will become fearful of everything. Sounds crazy, but true.
2. Women tend to be caregivers by nature and are more likely to be around puppies for often than not. If this puppy came from a household without a husband or one who was away a great deal, it may not be comfortable around men and just needs to develop trust.
3. Puppies become fearful of things like a hat, a beard, glasses, even jewelry--anything that is different from their experience.
I suggest two things to try:
First your husband needs to get on the floor--even laying on the floor-- to spend some quality time with the puppy nearby. He probably needs to soften his demeanor a little to encourage the puppy to just check him out. A friendly voice of encouragement will bring quicker results that just picking him up and trying to hold him. It may take a few days, but getting eye level with the puppy will likely increase the trust level.
Second, most puppies learn to eat food with their littermates in a group. Once they are fully weaned at reach 10 weeks of age, a breeder should start to separate them during feeding time with each dog having its own dish. Otherwise, puppies will begin to show dominance over one another at feeding time. Your puppy is acting like it is fearful of the dish because it still feels threatened--possibly even by your standard poodle, which is larger and very intimidating. If you are doing crate training, feed them in their crates to create a better sense of safety. If you are not using a crate, feed the puppy only when the other dog has no access to the puppy. Make sure the puppy is already comfortable with the flooring of the room used for feeding and not a new floor that he spends little time one as that can also cause this behavior.
I have given you a few things to consider. I suspect teething is behind a lot of the behavior. The front teeth change to adults first, but the back teeth take longer and are often painful. You might want your vet to do a quick look at his mouth when you take him in for his rabies shot.
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