Hi, everyone! I don't have a profile up yet (I wasn't allowed to do that yet, for some reason), but I'm a "newbie" to this forumm, having just joined the site today. And our dog has some behaviors that I'm hoping some members can give me some advice on.

My family (me, husband, two daughters, 7 and 3) adopted Harvey almost 6 months ago from our local pet rescue shelter. He's a gorgeous collie/sheltie mix and around 1 year old. Not much was known about his past - only that he seemingly was a stray living behind a local bakery. The employees fed him for a few days before finally calling the dog catcher to pick him up; enter the Animal Protective League, who put Harvey in a foster home. That's where my family entered the picture.

After contacting the apl about Harvey, we met once with him and his foster mom in a local park just to see how he did with the girls and what his general temperment was. Harvey was friendly, excited (but not overly - no jumping on the kids or anything) and seemed delighted with the girl's attention. His foster mom said they guessed he had been someone's pet at some point because he was well behaved, never jumped on the furniture at her house and also seemed to be house trained. We picked him up the next night and he's been a member of our family ever since.

His first few days at home were a bit rocky - Harvey spent all his time either glued to the front of our couch or underneath someone's chair when they put the footrest up. It was obvious he was scared to death and despite our attempts to coax him, he wouldn't budge. If you wanted to interact with Harvey, you had to get down on the floor where he was and do it like that. He also wasn't eating or drinking or giving signals when he needed to go outside (we just put him out at regular intervals). However, after a week or so Harvey relaxed and bit and started moving around and interacting with his a bit. He gave up being stuck to the couch or under a foot rest and his new place to rest was a big dog pillow my husband bought for him.

Harvey has been a wonderful dog - he'd had only 2 accidents in the house (and those were probably our fault, anyway, for not seeing his signal and letting him out) and he loves the girls to death. He plays and romps with them and doesn't even get snappy or aggressive when our 3 year old is overly affectionate with him! Harvey's main problem seems to be the fact that he is quite timid/shy, especially with my husband. Harvey will come up to me or the girls if we call him, but not Richard. In fact, it's only been recently that Harvey has worked up the courage to actually walk by my husband when he holds the door open to let Harvey in the back yard. Before that, if Richard was standing there holding the door open, Harvey wouldn't go out. If one of the girls or I were letting him out, no problem. You got the definite impression that Harvey was afraid to walk by Richard. When Harvey did finally muster up the courage to go by Richard and out the door, he did it in a flash, running swiftly and staying low to the ground, with his head down and tail tucked between his legs. The past few days, though, we've noticed that Harvey seems to be able to walk past Richard now without acting like he's afraid he's about to be hit, kicked or yelled at. So we've seen some improvement there.

However, Harvey continues to be quite skittish when it comes to other things. Vacuum cleaners, kitchen chairs scraping over the tiled floor, even shaking open a new garbage bag sends him running for his safety place - behind our couch. If Harvey isn't playing with the girls, that's where you always find him. And it's a 50/50 chance that he'll come out if we call him. If my husband casually throws something (like tosses his coat onto a chair), Harvey runs for the hills. Even something like taking his hat off sends Harvey back behind the couch, as if he's afraid that the action of my husband bringing his arm down is going to result in Harvey being hit. Harvey generally seems petrified of Richard, even though my husband has made a point to always be gentle and loving with him and never raising his voice. Sometimes Harvey does great with Richard - Richard will give the command to "Sit" (the only commend he seems to know) and Harvey will, resulting in Harvey being rewarded with a bit of something Richard is eating (like a potato chip). Harvey will do this several times then suddenly stop and refuse to sit anymore. Not even the promise of foot will make him do it - he'll slink away and give up the food. Sometimes Harvey will approach Richard on his own and nuzzle his hand for some petting, which my husband always gives. But all my husband's other efforts to win Harvey over have failed.

We've also noticed that Harvey hardly ever barks - in fact, for a while after we first got him, we wondered if he even could! Even now, the only time he barks is when he's playing with the girls and gets excited. Our doorbell ringing or someone knocking on the door doesn't make him bark. Oddly enough, Harvey isn't afraid of strangers at all and greets all of them enthusiastically, practically begging for their attention, which is confusing and hurtful to my husband.

Harvey doesn't play with toys of any kind and seems not to know how. Richard bought him a rope toy and tries to encourage Harvey to take it in his mouth for some playful tug of war, but Harvey refuses to bite it. If Richard keeps encouraging him to do this, Harvey will slink away behind the couch. This dog won't even chase a ball. If you throw one (and the throwing motion doesn't send him darting behind the couch), Harvey just watches it roll/bounce away and never makes a move to go after it. It's just puzzling.

We've been very patient with Harvey and tried to give him as much space and time as he's needed but things have actually gotten a bit worse. Harvey has now started refusing to come inside after his last bathroom break every night - he's a smart dog and he realizes that once he comes in, he's headed for his kennel for the night. So we have no problem getting him to go outside for his last break, but when Harvey is called to come in, he refuses. This means Richard ends up tromping around in the cold, dark back yard until he can corner Harvey and drag him inside. This leaves my husband muttering in irritation and confusion - not a nice way to end the day. Last night I thought we outsmarted Harvey - I called him in myself and earlier than usual. He came right in and took up his familiar place behind the couch. At bedtime it was the usual routine with Harvey refusing to respond to our calls. When I looked behind the couch, I could see this poor dog physically (and violently) shaking. No amount of gentle coaxing or even bribing with food was met with success and Richard ended up physically dragging him out from behind the couch and carrying him to his kennel.

We're just baffled by Harvey's behavior. We've done nothing but been soothing, encouraging and loving towards him, yet he still acts like he expects us to start screaming and beating him at any moment. After several months of being with us, I guess we thought Harvey would show more improvement. We'd like him to interact with us more, but if he isn't playing with the girls or outside in the back yard, he's hiding behind the couch. It doesn't seem like a very enjoyable existence for Harvey and we don't know what to do or try anymore. We love him to death so the idea of giving him back to the apl and trying another dog isn't an option.

Does anyone have any ideas on why Harvey acts like he does and more importantly, what we can do to help him?

Thanks,
Jennifer

My most recent adoptee has submissive issues as well. A good start would be to spend a lot of time on the floor with Harvey. Standing tall makes them nervous. Lay on the floor and play with him a little every day. Once he starts to feel less intimidated start rewarding him for silly things. If he comes over to you when you lay down to play, tell him "good boy!" and give him a treat. This will start to build his confidence. He's insecure and that is the reason he acts so scared. It's possible that he was abused as well, but that still points back to insecurity. They don't want to displease you... so make sure he knows that you are so proud of him for everything he does. Pretty soon you should notice a boost in his confidence.