[Strangeonee]

Hello everyone,

I have just recently adopted a beautiful 1 and a half German Shepherd name Bear. She is wonderful, extremely friendly even to small children. She originally belonged to someone who left her in a backyard almost her entire life and only seeing humans once every few months. I have prepped myself for years for a dog and I felt that this was the right time. So I decided to take her in.

Let me tell you a little about her behavior because this is the part that I am in need of help of. She has a hard time and will refuse to enter any premise, whether it is a house, a gate, garage, or any stores. I have encouraged her and pushed her lightly and was finally able to get her into my backyard. It took her a day to get used to stepping up and down the patio and in and out of my backyard. She refused to enter my house and that is why I bought her a temporary dog house. It has been 3 days and I have attempted numerous times encouraging her to step inside the house. I tried leaving the door open a crack overnight and it failed. She stays outside the door and whimpers and goes back into her dog house.

I took her to PetCo and she would not go inside. My boyfriend helped by carrying her in and out the front door and so after 3 trips to PetCo, she has successfully been able to go in and out of PetCo. However, she is still frightened of everything inside and just cowers into the ground even digging her nails into it. It is heartbreaking because I do not want her to get hurt out of any of these ordeals.

There is one other problem I am having. Fortunately, she was trained to sit...not perfectly but with constant nudging and treats, she would sit. However, she would not come to me when I call her name.

I know there requires a lot of patience and I definitely that that patience with her. I love her company and I would love for her to stay inside the house with me. It saddens me to have to leave her outside...even though I have a dog house for her, it feels a little cold to be outdoor. I am having separation anxiety actually because I am having a hard time being away from her lol. I also signed up for a training class next week. I want to know if I am doing all the right things and if I would be able to eventually turn her into a more social dog that is not scared of everything.

Thank you for listening to my story. By the way, my name is Amy and I live in Milpitas, CA. I am a college student majoring in Psychology. I am very new at having any pets and hopefully you can all give me a few tips. Thanks!

[reeskujo]

Poor,poor baby!..She is definitely going to require lots of love,time and patience..I would suggest to be very careful about over stimulating her as that is going to cause her more stress and anxiety..Before you even think about trying to get her used to people,stores or even taking her to training classes you need to work simply on getting her adjusted to you and her new surroundings.She's going to need a lot of reassurance that her life is not meant to left outside with no human interaction..This is definitely something she's going to have to accept on her own time.

If you try and introduce her to to many situations,people and places she's going to have so much anxiety she may just shut down..If she's food motivated try getting her to come in the house or walk on new surfaces by offering her a treat and then rewarding her when she's accomplished it.She's never known anything but being left outside alone and as much as we as dog lovers know it's not right and would much prefer her to be inside it is what's comfortable to her and being she's already over a year old it's a lot of time to undo.

As a trainer I would really recommend getting her acclamated and adjusted to her new home and wait until she's progressed to sleeping inside before taken her on outings or training classes..It's simply asking her to get adjusted to to many things at one time that are very unknown and uncomfortable to her.

[piratekitty]

Welcome, this is a great dog forum with lots of dog owners that love to help and have great knowledge on many subjects about dogs. I think its wonderful you have given this GSD such a wonderful home and new chance to have a wonderful life. I would start by just working with your new dog in your back yard and working on getting your dog to trust you that you will keep her safe. Constant praise, touching and stroking your dogs face, introduce a toy and make it fun. Might be a few things to try. Once your dog starts buildling trust, enters in to your house and relaxes. Move your training to the front yard, then for short walks out. Trainning Classes are great, but your dog might not be ready for that yet until you build some trust and she looks to you as the leader who is going to keep her safe. Remember lots of praise.

[lange]

I agree w/all the above!
Ree is right w/baby steps and build trust/bond/acclamation first.


As for calling her to you. Have a smelly treat it hand and walk by her. Then walk only a couple feet away. Turn to your side (face away from her/no eye contact) then squat down with treat in hand and call her with a happy pitched "Come". Reward and "good girl". Do this and progress to further and further distance slowly. If she stops responding to you when you are far away do closer "comes" until she's more confident working up to it. Once she responds really well to 'come', work your way to calling her towards your door...then doorway...then one step/paw inside house...and on. Again, do this all in baby steps going only as far as her comfort level allows that given day.

Good luck.

[rikku2122]

It sounds to me she sounds not very socialized, especially with humans and other animals. It's a long process. you're going to have to be extremely patient with her, but you are doing everything you can so just keep it up, be consistent and just show her alot of love and that it's ok for her to come inside. Do you know if the former owners maybe punished her whenever she tried to go inside house? Cause it seems like she thinks she's going to get into trouble if she even steps foot indoors. It's almost like being hand shy. If you adopt an animal that has been physically abused, he's going to be extremely aggressive and try to bite at your hand. Fortunately German Shepherds are pretty intelligent dogs, so just keep trying and be consistent. She just needs to break out of the old habits the former owners put on her.

Good luck!

[dogs rule]

I agree with everyones replies. Go slowly, when Bear start to show uneasiness, take a break. This will take some time.
Remember, baby steps (or should I say puppy steps)
All the best and enjoy the forum!!

[Strangeonee]

Thank you everyone soo much for the great tips. Bear made another amazing improvement today by stepping inside the house!! I have placed her bed next to the door and she has managed to come in and laid on her bed. She is learning quick and I am beginning to see that she trust me. Thanks once again everyone!

[dogs rule]

Awesome news!!!
Lots of love to Bear

[reeskujo]

Originally Posted by Strangeonee

Thank you everyone soo much for the great tips. Bear made another amazing improvement today by stepping inside the house!! I have placed her bed next to the door and she has managed to come in and laid on her bed. She is learning quick and I am beginning to see that she trust me. Thanks once again everyone!

That's awesome!!..I'm so happy to hear that...Keep up the good work!