we just adopted maggie - a three year old all american mutt - almost four months ago from the local spca. she's an australian shepherd, chow-chow, retriever mix.

since she's been home, we haven't had one accident in the house, not one chew, not even a bark. in fact it's been the opposite. maggie likes to sit in her crate (we never shut it) ALL the time. she'll go out to do her business, and loves to walk with us (we go everyday), but other than that, she sits in her crate.

there are days i think she still needs time to adjust to her new home, but she's still having a hard time even approaching us to stay hello while in the house. she's very avoidant. we'll throw a ball around with her or give her a tug toy and she's not interested at all! she's not motivated by food or treats.

help! how can we get our well-behaved baby to relax and enjoy life a bit more with us? how can we get her to just be a dog?

oh that's reminds me of my dogs...which is so lazy...they preferred to sleep rather than to play with me...and that's hurt me a bit...but watching them while sleeping makes me feel comfortable and relax...oh I really love then despite the fact that they are lazy...

[lil mutt]

Just show her how much you love her. Dont forget to praise her whenever she do something good... and you can also introduce her to other dogs in your area.

we have definitely praised her a lot - and she's getting used the idea of praise. at first, it freaked her out. now, especially when she's on walks, the praise really seems to brighten her spirit.

i don't think she's lazy - well, at least at first glance. she's quite athletic and LOVES to run with us. i just think she's very timid and maybe even afraid to approach us.

any tips?

I had the exact same situation with my adopted mutt. She was a stray for the first 2 years of her life, and could only be caught after she became pregnant so she had zero human contact. When she goes for walks, she's the queen of the prom, but once she got home ,she completely clammed up. What we did do was allow her to spend more time alone with our other three dogs,this helped her develop her playing skills.Then we slowly started adding human family members to the play group and now she knows it's cool to have fun with us. We also took advantage of every doggie dash, doggie 5K, and dog related event in our community. This jump started her confidence, and since she was on a leash, she was in direct contact with me all the time and equates having fun with being with me. Good luck. Mutts rule.

great idea with socializing at dog runs 5ks, etc. that is fabulous. we don't have any other dogs at home (yet!!) but maybe a dog park? i'm worried she'll learn bad habits there. what do you thinK?

"Shyness" shows lack of leadership in the household. Four months is plenty long enough for the dog to adjust.

Avoidence means lack of respect for you and the rest of the family/pack.

Make "Maggie" work for food, affection, and everything. Do not feel bad for the dog, do not pamper the dog, be sure to treat her like... a dog.

At least one - two hours of exercise and play time interaction with you per day will create an everlasting bond.

The joy, and difference, between dog and wolf is the dog will always "look to the human" for the next move/event. You want "Maggie" to bring out her genetic instincts: pack, co-depedence, drive.

Sleeping in the crate, resting in the crate, hanging out in the crate should be desire behavior. Dogs do enjoy their space (especially females), which is why crate training is such a wonderful thing.

Avoidence of human, bad recall, and lack of interest are the concerns.

Formal Obedience Classes are fun, cost effective, and promote proper balance. Dog Parks can be "new and scary" at first for shy dogs but wonderful once they make friends with the pre-existing pack.

If she is part Aussie, give her a job! That's what they live for!

Best of luck and looking forward to hearing about your progress.

daleigh, we are definitely of the same mindset that we need to treat maggie like a dog, and not a human. we DO NOT feel bad for her or pity her in any way, as we know that feeds the behavior. we absolutely exercise with her at least an hour everyday but she does not understand how to play. we'll throw a ball, squeak a toy, tug a rope and she just looks at us like we're crazy.

we spoke with a behaviorist a few weeks ago, and she seemed to think that maggie needed more time before we put her in a class. (that was our first instinct as well [in order to build her confidence].) she was a stray and it could be that she's never been in a home ever before (she's estimated at three years old). do you know if it's typical that a dog should adjust that quickly after never being in a house?

the last thing i want to do is force her to do anything she finds fearful, as it might encourage aggressive behavior. so how do we encourage playhful, confident behavior without forcing it?

Strays need consistant training and exposure. In my opinion, working to rehabilitate the behavior is tricky compared to socialization due to the risk of regression. So I can feel for you there.

Depending on the class environment I can see a Behaviorist saying that. Forcing the dog into a situation (guiding with lead into a pack of dogs or people) is one major risk of regression.

What you do is... attend puppy play dates, off-leash dog parks, etc and observe your dogs behavior. Don't push her, force her, encourage her to join in. In time (maybe even days) she will join in the fun. *Remember, warning signs like showing teeth, head low, this is okay. She may be nervious at first and claiming her space. Never correct warning signs. Just like a human wouldn't correct avoidence, you don't correct assertiveness.

I like to have the owner stand in the center of "fun" to see if the dog will then follow. This allows exposure to the smells so the rest of the dogs can then encourage her to join in.

How about trying Active Instinctive Behaviors such as "nose" games. And I'm not talking about those silly little liver treats at the store, real cooked/boiled garlic salted liver or beef! MMMmmmMMM yum! haha! Hide them in some cups or in her toys. Praise her when she finds the food. (Put that nose to work!) There are a lot of cool "scent/nose" games to play to build confidence. Once "Maggie" notices "cup=praise/fun" then make "toy=praise/fun" etc etc etc... you'll soon have a dog that instinctively now loves to be around your once crazy looking rope toy.

Always think like her "hmm well why should I come to you? why should I play with that ball?" she's right! Make it worth it. Spoil her taste buds with fresh cooked/flavored meat and teach her how wonderful our human world of toys and fun really is.

Strays will be more independent, yes... but dogs are dogs and look to leader for everything. Continue practicing leadership (i.e. sitting before eating, sitting before walks, low downs, etc etc) show her that YOU are the reason she survives. In a wild pack or domestic pack everyone wants to be around the leader, they flock to the leader.

Aggression, ah yes agression. Common misused term. True aggression is very rare; shocking yes I know, but true! ASSERTIVENESS well yes this happens.

ASSERTIVE

• Showing Teeth
• Low Vibrating Growl
• Stare Down
• Forward Barking
• Warning Bite

DOMINANCE

• Mounting Dogs/People
• Pushing Dogs/Peopele to the Ground
• Jumping
• Excessive Barking/Whinning
• Stare Down & Pounce

Remember... you control when these things happen. Of course when it comes to the leader NONE of the above should happen. But if a strange dog approaches "Maggie" sniffing her faces to face well then yes I expect her to show some teeth, turn, growl, or bark... those are warning signs like "hey who told you to come sniff my face right now?" Don't ever correct those, you will cause regression that way too.

You can bring on aggression when forcing her in a situation, which I don't think you'll ever do. Always take a step back, let dogs be dogs, observe the behavior...

Red Flags? Bites that break the skin, Pulling & Launching at other Dogs & People... that's beginning stages of Aggression.

But honestly I think she justs needs more exposure! Grab a book on Dog Body Language it may help you! If you can think like a dog... you'll know how to get "Maggie" motivated.

Let me know if you ever need some cool tips on games, etc.

maybe you should take her to see some other dogs to play around