It's All Good

          Getting a dog that is scared of everything to become confident and secure takes a lot of time, patience, and repetition. When they are introduced to something new, it's your job to make them realize it is not a bad thing. You have to make sure that every new  experience they have is a good one. 

          Associating something that she already liked with something new is how I got Kai to enjoy new things, and even things that she previously disliked. When I needed to brush her she would always try to run away or turn around, making my job very difficult. I started softly petting her and telling her "good girl", when she was calmed down I also started brushing her. She definitely wasn't thrilled about this, but she let me continue. I did this every time I brushed her until she wasn't anxious about it anymore. (I may have also added a few treats to this routine, treats never hurt!) I did the same thing with her when giving her a bath, she absolutely despised baths and would jump out every chance she got! Usually my husband would have to hold her while I washed her, and it was just a huge hassle. The past few months though, she has been a whole lot better about bath time. She doesn't enjoy it, but she sits there and lets me get her all nice and clean without putting up a fight.

          Dogs love food. Everyone knows this, if your dog has an opportunity to eat, it will not be passed up! So why not use this to your advantage? Every time you do something new with your dog, toss him a treat. If your dog is afraid of something, you should be able to change that thing into something they think is good.

          To Kai just about everything was new and scary. She was unsocialized, untrained and insecure. Just getting her collar and leash on was a huge deal. So I made everything a good thing. She let me put her leash on: "Good girl!" *treat*. She walked down the stairs (which she was extremely afraid of): "Good girl!" *treat*. She simply came up to me: "Good girl!" *treat*. I made a big deal of everything, because I had to, and it worked.

          Never force your dog into doing something they are afraid of. Doing that may be a whole lot quicker, but you're going to have to force them every single time, and they wont make it easy. Use what you know your dog does like, whether it be treats, a toy, or just being pet. These things are the key to a happy and cooperative dog. Just be patient, take your time and make it into a good thing. :)

Exposure

After a while Kai became comfortable with my husband and I. She was fine as long as she was with us, in our apartment. This was great in the sense that she no longer feared us, but that wasn't enough. She needed to be comfortable in other places, and with other people. 

To this day I still try to take her to new places, and have her meet new people as often as I can. To help your dog become more confident around people, one good trick is to always keep a few treats with you, and whenever someone is willing, ask them to give a treat to your dog. This will help them associate people with something good. The more people you can get to do this, the better. Also have your dog sit whenever someone is going to give them a treat, to help reinforce those good manners.

Taking them to new places is also a good idea, it gets them used to different sounds, smells and objects. The more they are exposed to, the less likely they are to be frightened by something new. One place that I like to take Kai is Home Depot. Not only do they allow dogs inside, but most of the workers there carry treats to give their four legged shoppers. There are also a lot of noises, people and moving objects (such as shopping carts and fork lifts). The first time I took Kai there was about four months ago, and she was so scared of the shopping carts that every time one went by she would try to run away. So I got a shopping cart, and had her walk around with me while I pushed it. I praised her when she walked, and kept calling her and giving her treats. She got less and less afraid the more we walked around the store. Now I can take her there and simply tie her to the handle of my cart, and go about my shopping while she walks right next to it.

          Simply walking your dog at the park, or down town is great exposure. Going on hikes or day trips to the river, and beach are also fun ways to get your dog used to different environments.

Teaching the Sit Command

          I will always stress how important training your dog is, a well trained dog equals both a happy pup and a happy owner. So, the more you teach your dog, the better! If for some reason though you were only going to teach your dog one command, that should be sit. Sit is essential for every dog to know, and should be the first thing you teach them. Not only does sit teach your dog good manners, it can keep them safe and makes teaching other commands simpler. 
          Sit is a fairly easy command to teach, but just going up to your dog and saying "sit" will do you absolutely no good. That would be like someone coming up to you and in a foreign language start asking you to do things. You would most likely stand there with a blank stare, wondering what on earth they were saying. This is exactly how your dog will react, so in order for sit to mean something to them, you need to show them what to do, without words. The way to do that is with hand signals, and body language. If you have a medium or large dog you will want to face them and stand directly in front of them. For a small dog you may want to kneel instead of stand, so that you will be more on their level. 
    Now follow these steps:

-have your hand open, palm up.
-place a small treat in between your index and middle finger. 
-hold the treat just above your dogs nose.
-slowly raise your hand up.
          Your dog will look up towards the ceiling, which should cause him to sit. If you have tried this multiple times and your dog just simply wont sit, then (if you are standing) while doing the above steps, also slowly take small steps toward your dog. This should cause him to move backwards and look up, so there is a better chance they will end up sitting. If you have a smaller dog and this just isn't working, do the above steps and very gently push their little bum down into a sitting position. 
          Once your dog is sitting, make sure to make a big deal out of it (especially the first time) Say "Good!" or "Yes!" (Try to pick one word that you use every time they do something right, they will learn that the word is a good thing, and understand that they have done what you are asking correctly.) also give them a treat and a pet! Do this until your dog fully understands what this hand motion means, then you can start adding the word "sit" to the process. Now that your dog understands the hand signal, when you say the word at the same time you motion them to sit, they will make the connection. Eventually your dog will most likely be able to sit on command from you simply saying the word, but not without practice!
          Once your dog knows sit, you can use it for just about everything. Here are a few examples of when you should have your dog sit:
-right before you set down their bowl of food.
-anytime another person wants to pet them or give them a treat.
-when you are putting their leash or collar on.
-while you are opening the door to go outside.
-when they come to the door, right before you let them in. (This is a great one when they are all wet or muddy!)
-before you throw a toy while playing fetch.
-before you cross a crosswalk.
-when a strange dog or person is approaching you / walking by. (This is especially good for dogs that are shy. If you see someone coming and have your dog sit before the person gets close, it is much easier to control your dog when it gets scared.)
          These are just a few examples of when sit can be useful, and how to teach your dog good manners. I'm sure you can think of many more ways to use this command. The reasons to learn sit are endless!

Baby Steps

          Today Kai knows almost 40 commands, and has just started training in agility (which she is picking up extremely fast). She is going up to, licking, and playing with people. Once she has met someone a time or two she is alright with them petting and touching her, as long as they don't try to grab her, or come at her too fast. She absolutely loves all dogs, and tries to play with every single one she sees. She is very loyal, loving, playful and happy. 

          That is where Kai is today, 10 months after being adopted by my husband and I. It wasn't a quick process, but there were little victories every week, and I could tell she was progressing. Kai used to be so afraid that she would barely let us pet her, and we could get no where near her back, without her running away.  

           For the first month and a half when we went to the dog park she would jump onto the bench and shake. When I say shake, I really mean shake, she was literally trembling with fear. So we would sit on the bench with her and pet her, trying to comfort her. We continued to take her though, because she needed the socialization. Being around different people and dogs was very important in helping her become more confident around strangers. 

          Then one cold winter day, Kai suddenly decided to play! She was running around with other dogs, and enjoying it. It took many weeks of her hiding from, running from, and just watching other dogs, but when she was finally ready she joined in on the fun. I was so glad when she started actually enjoying the dog park, and now when we go she can hardly contain herself, she gets so excited.

           An important part of having a dog who is shy, fearful, and unsocialized is patience. Take things slow with them, and celebrate every little victory, whenever they do anything right, make a huge deal of it.....and don't forget the treats!

Kai's first day playing at the park.

Kai

          I started this blog to help people with dogs who are shy, fearful, unsocialized, and all around just plain scared. 

Kai's first night with us.

          Ten months ago, my husband and I adopted a dog that would change everything. She was a 24 pound, 6 month old Belgian Malinois/Basenji mix, with gorgeous eyes. One was bright blue and the other a mix of brown, gold, green and the slightest bit of blue on the bottom.      
          She was hunkered down in her crate along with her siblings, and we just had to go see her. My husband asked the woman who ran the rescue if we could bring her out of her cage. As she went to get the pup out, it cowered down into the corner,  but she finally got her out and handed her to my husband. The instant she was in his hands, she tucked her tail up and peed, all over herself and my husband. Even with that as her first impression, we decided we wanted her.
           My husband had to leave to go to class, so I stayed and filled out the adoption forms. A few minutes later, I was the proud owner of a new puppy. She didn't know how to walk on a leash, and she was so terrified of everything that I decided it was best to just put her in my shopping cart. So then I went around the store and got all of the items necessary for a new puppy, headed to check out, and drove back to my apartment. 
          As I attempted to get her out of the car, she pulled away and slipped out of the harness I had just bought her. She runs off and hides under a truck in the parking spot next to mine. I thought that I was going to lose her, there was no way she would come to me, and I couldn't corner her. Luckily the owner of the truck came out and helped me catch her.  I then had to carry her, along with all of her items up three flights of stairs!
           I finally got her into the apartment, and put her in our large guest bathroom (in case she had an accident) I left her in there for a couple minutes and went to get her some treats. When I came back she had gone into the linen closet and jumped onto the wire shelf inside. After a few minutes I finally was able to get her out, and when I did, she ran to the corner of the room. I tried to give her some of the treats but she wouldn't take them from me, she wanted nothing to do with me. So at that point I decided that I would set her up in the kitchen with a bowl of food, a bowl of water, and a blanket. I let her be, but she hardly moved. She got up a couple of times and walked around for about 30 seconds, then ran right back to her corner.
          She was crate trained, because that was all she had ever known, but she was far from potty trained. For the first few weeks we had her, my husband would sit out side for up to 2 hours at a time, in the rain, to try and get her to go to the bathroom. I don't know how, but she held it for days when we first got her. Since she also didn't know how to walk on a leash, every time we took her out to the bathroom, we had to carry her up and down those three flights of stairs! Even after she walked on leash she wouldn't walk up and down the stairs because they frightened her, I think we probably carried her up and down them for at least a month.
           The first week we had her was extremely stressful, she wouldn't do anything but sit in her corner. We didn't know if we would even be able to keep her, but I refused to give her up, I was determined to get through to her and let her know that she would be safe here. It took us five days to name her, up until then we just kept calling her puppy. I have to mention that she did have a name, but it was a ridiculous one. Her name was Llamas, yep Llamas, so obviously we had to name her something new. 
We decided on Kai.