Rescued Dog Wont Play

We got a 1½ -to 2-year-old female mixed-breed dog from our local shelter a few days ago. She was found as a stray and our best guess is that she is a German Shepherd-Labrador mix. She has near perfect behavior, comes when called, is housebroken and doesn’t chew. The only problem is we cannot get her to play.

She only wants to be petted and always flops on her back. She will slowly paw you with one foot to get you to pet her, and occasionally will slowly put both feet up on you when she really wants your attention. She also makes a moaning whine when we come home and when we go outside. I do not know if this is a happy or sad moan.

She will not tug on a rope or chase a ball. Though sometimes there is a spark of interest but then she walks away into a corner. It is hard to work on any training to build up her self-esteem because she is not interested in any food or treats and when you give her praise, she flops on her back, tail between her legs. Any ideas on how to get her to come out of her shell?

First of all, give her time. You and your home are new to her. She's had the upheaval of leaving her litter, leaving her family, going into kennels and finally coming to you so it will take time for her to realise that you are not going to give up on her.

Don't try to force her. If you want her to play, I would suggest you and your partner throwing a ball to each other. Don't try to encourage your dog to join in, just throw and catch and don't say anything or even look at your dog. If, after a while, you see a glimmer of interest, accidentally on purpose let the ball fall to the floor and see what she does.

Hopefully, she will decide that playing with you is an OK thing to do, but the key is that it will be her own decision.

Good luck with her and well done for giving her a loving home x

Good tips.

Get her out of the house, take her to the park and the beach and let her get on some animal trails, you have to find what she wants to do in order to love her. Unfortunately she does not have to do what you want her to do, but again if you love her find what she wants to do. If there is Lab in there find a river or lake. Good luck

Well done for adopting a rescue dog .

I would second what Chris says and let her come round in her own time.