I just got a Very Very head shy fearful [ to adult males only ] Rotty about 18 months old from the shelter, We have had her for about a week and a 1/2 so far...,, she was a stray,, then someone tried her for about 2 months but brought her back because of house training inssues [ among other reasons,, [ chewing ]

The chewing was a breeze,, We keep her with something to chew and reasonable supervised and the furnature has been no issue,,

The house training is proving to be complex,, I THINK we are starting to understand her BUT we dont know how to get her to the next level,,

We crate her during the day [ about 7 hours ] I have a nany cam and she sleeps most if not all the time...

In the morning and at fter work I put her on a runner in the back yard and tell her to "do it" over and over a few times,, she just stares at u, no ground sniffing at her previus poops or pee spots UNTIL YOU LEAVE..
HERE IS THE ISSUE..!! This dog will NOT poop or pee until you leave her for a few minutes,, if you watch her out the window she will poop and pee after about 15 minutes or so,, If you try to then approach her to praise her, give her a snack at the place where she "do it" she crouches and shakes, acts very fearful still,, even after a week and a half with no lightening up in site,, she is scared you will beat her for going...
I think she has associated pooping and peeing ANYWHERE as a bad thing as oviously someone has wiped her for it repeatedly,,,

Its REALLY inconvient to clip her out there and we just dont have 20 minutes or so each morning,, after work we have to put the light on outside and watch her,, if we stay with her she will NOT "do it",, and its very hard to praise her also cause she shuts down when you approach her after she has done it,,

The GOOD:
she knows that on the runner means to do it cause she will go,, even if it wakes that long,,
and she has had ZERO accidents in her crate..

The bad:
When in the house she will in no way try to let you know she needs to go out,, to the contrary, if she has to pee or poop she will sneek off and do it,,

I think she assiciates poop and pee with beating and she will only do it alone,,

HELP !!!!!!!! :-) we love her and want to get it to where we can clip her on the runner and tell her to do it or walk her and have her do it loke our many dogs before her but someone has tramatized her "i think"...

Is there hope???

Any Help appreciated... :-))

Hi That is a very said story. I can offer my advice for what it is worth. We have a dog (Daisy) that we got from the pound a year ago. She too was very timid and shy and very scared of everything. She would no way go to the loo if you were watching. Even now she has to poo away from prying eyes.
Praise goes a long way. If you see her peeing then praise her lots. Try keeping a window open so if you are watching you can tell her god girl from in the house and she will hear you.
I know it may be difficult but you WILL have to find the time to get her used to a new environment, even if it means getting up earlier to let her have her time outside.

The main thing I would say is not to despair. She is very new to the household and it will take more than afew weeks for her to get attuned to her new environment. Be patient. We found that if we just praise the dog as often as possible for everything she will get more confident. Daisy didn't lift her tail from between her legs ONCE for over 3 weeks and she was very young. It took over a month before she would even step in front of me on a walk as she was so submissive.

Give it time and be very generous with her and I am sure she will get more confident and not associate going to the loo with something bad.

I hope this is of a little help to you.

[wishbone]

I think your dog needs more exercise and bonding/socialization.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but I wonder... I know that it is harmful to scold a dog after the fact for going in the wrong place, but I wonder if the opposite would work? What I mean is, what if, after she gets done, you take her back to the spot, show it to her, and then act delighted and praise her. Then make sure she sees you pick it up (like a treasure) if it is poo. I don't really know, this is definitely an extraordinary case. What do y'all think? Is it worth a try?