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Paul G.
Dogsey Junior
Paul G. is offline  
Location: West Hertfordshire
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 170
Male 
 
17-03-2006, 05:09 PM

Timid Border Collie - "A one man dog" Any ideas to help her overcome this?

My 4 year old Border Collie bitch came from a rescue center 6 months ago with no known history. Back then she was very frightened of the world. Now she is wonderful in nearly every way, healthy, bright, active, inqisitive, obedient, quick to learn, confident with and totally dedicated to me (too much ?), follows me everywhere. In fact she can hardly bear to be away from me. I have had several other Collie types before but have never come across such complete devotion. This attachment to me was almost instant from day 1, I didn't have to work at it in any way. The great difficulty is that she is still very timid and anxious with all other people, even ( but to a slightly lesser extent ) my wife, who in an effort to get round the problem feeds her, takes her for walks, talks to her, gives her titbits etc. and has endless patience.
It is a complete mystery. I am reasonably experienced with dogs but have no special skills or tricks up my sleeve, and yet this dog wants me and no-one else. She seems to have no other hang-ups, no fear of traffic, loves going in the car, enjoys being out and about ( but doesn't like crowds ). She appears to have no agression but hides from visitors, cowers from any approach, even quivers in front of stangers. There has been a slight improvement with time but it is extremely limited. I have run out of ideas and am in real need of help. Does anyone understand this behaviour please and is there anything more that we can do ?

Thanks, Paul
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Ashlady
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Location: UK
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,772
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17-03-2006, 05:45 PM
Hi Paul, welcome to DW :smt039 . I have a Border too, but cannot shed any light on your problem. Someone will be along, don't worry
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Radar Ears
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Location: Essex
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 506
Female 
 
17-03-2006, 07:14 PM
Originally Posted by Paul G.
My 4 year old Border Collie bitch came from a rescue center 6 months ago with no known history. Back then she was very frightened of the world. Now she is wonderful in nearly every way, healthy, bright, active, inqisitive, obedient, quick to learn, confident with and totally dedicated to me (too much ?), follows me everywhere. In fact she can hardly bear to be away from me. I have had several other Collie types before but have never come across such complete devotion. This attachment to me was almost instant from day 1, I didn't have to work at it in any way. The great difficulty is that she is still very timid and anxious with all other people, even ( but to a slightly lesser extent ) my wife, who in an effort to get round the problem feeds her, takes her for walks, talks to her, gives her titbits etc. and has endless patience.
It is a complete mystery. I am reasonably experienced with dogs but have no special skills or tricks up my sleeve, and yet this dog wants me and no-one else. She seems to have no other hang-ups, no fear of traffic, loves going in the car, enjoys being out and about ( but doesn't like crowds ). She appears to have no agression but hides from visitors, cowers from any approach, even quivers in front of stangers. There has been a slight improvement with time but it is extremely limited. I have run out of ideas and am in real need of help. Does anyone understand this behaviour please and is there anything more that we can do ?

Thanks, Paul
Paul,

One of our dogs is a Collie Cross, he's 10 now, my "other half" got him from Battersea when he was about 1 year/18 months old.

(Just to put you in the picture, John and I were neighbours, we were both widowed and after a few years we got together and we all live together with my Labrador Mick and Benji, John's Collie)

Now, when John and Brenda went to get Benji, Benji took to them instantly too, he apparantly sat down beside John and never moved.

He was supposed to have been in Battersea because his old owners had an asthmatic in the house, but we're not so sure, because for one thing, although we are not drinkers, John likes an occasional Woods Rum and Benji always runs away and hides from this dark bottle, so we wonder whether the house was full of drunkards and maybe he was hit (accidentally or not) with a bottle.

Also he is very protective of women, so whether that stems from a dodgy family, we don't know.

I think that maybe at 4 years old, yours still possibly vividly remembers her previous history and I reckon that you are doing all the right things, except that it will take longer with her, than it did with Benji because he was really still just a pup when he was "rescued".

I know this doesn't help you much, but at least you know it's not just your girl that behaves this way.

Please keep us updated on her progress.

Kind regards

Jill
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Meg
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Location: Dogsey and Worcestershire
Joined: May 2004
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17-03-2006, 07:50 PM
Hi Paul I will venture to tell you your dogs history, I would guess as a puppy in that important first few weeks she did not meet and was not socialised with women ,and she was probably raised by a man.

You are doing the right thing getting your wife to feed and walk your dog, your wife should praise and reward her whenever possible to boost her confidence, get your wife to wear a jumper you have worn when you are not around, the scent will reassure your dog .
Your dog may never be really at ease with women but I would say your best solution is to sensitise her to as many woman as possible, she needs to do this in her own time at her own pace.

That means every woman that comes near her should offer her high value treats (something tasty and strong smelling/liver/cheese/ chicken) they should crouch down and try to get her to approach rather than they approach her, if she does not come put the treat on the floor by the woman and ignore the dog, she may take the treat. This is teaching your dog women are ok, they lead to a pleasant experience .
There is an article here by Shadowboxer that may also help .

http://www.dogweb.co.uk/talkdogs/des...dogs_8050.html
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PONlady
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Location: Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 426
Female 
 
17-03-2006, 08:42 PM
It sounds to me as if this is a nervous little lass, who has latched on to you as her 'pack leader' - her protector and hero! That's all well and good but you are right to be concerned - you can't be with her 24 hours a day, and she's obviously very nervous and in fear, not a nice way to live your life, no matter how dependable her 'pack-leader' may be.

My advice is to get in touch with a professional behaviourist - your vet might be able to recommend one or your local dog-training club. I don't think this is something you should handle on your own - someone needs to witness what she does and work out an individual training programme for her. Nervous dogs need careful handling - a professional is the best bet.

Best of luck, I really hope you manage to teach her that people are fun!
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sez
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Location: stockport
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 454
Female 
 
17-03-2006, 11:01 PM
i have taken on a mastiff the same,i have found its best to ignore any behaviour thats through fear,when he flees upstairs we leave him,dont try and coax,dont reasure,this makes it worse,ignore her,then when she does come down dont look directley at her.i kept my back turned and gently gave a stroke,get on her level.dont talk and try to coax when on the floor,let her come and investigate,she will,henry has come on in leaps and bounds,this dog was so terrified he lay in his bed at the kennels in his own poo,good luck,its hard,frustrating but totally rewarding(but he is for me,not my oh)
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Jules1
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Location: Warwickshire
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17-03-2006, 11:03 PM
My little Fenn is exactly the same. She a working sheep dog. The best advice i can give you is to ignore her when she does it. If she starts being all shy & silly....don't go saying to her its alright etc. Only praise the good brave behaviour.
Its really hard. I had to leave my little Fenn at the vets all day as she was being spayed today. She spent all day hidying in the corner of her cage.
I have to be really careful not to flap anything near Fenn. She is a nervous wreck. But praising her when shes beig brave has really helped her.
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Anne-Marie
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Location: Cumbria, UK
Joined: Feb 2005
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Female 
 
18-03-2006, 01:10 PM
Cannot offer any advice having no experience of this but just wanted to say that you and your wife are doing a wonderful job by the sounds of it.

I am so glad she has found such a good home at last poor lamb
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Thorn+BenjysMum
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 25
Female 
 
18-03-2006, 06:23 PM
Our dog Thorn is like this, but is particularly scared of men. Unfortunately, he is so frightened from whatever happened in his past that sometimes he shows aggression, so we tend to muzzle him when we have visitors (so that we can relax as much as anything, as he picks up on it if I am nervous and this makes him worse) and the guests are told to completely ignore him and to make no eye contact and then, if he feels secure enough to come into the same room (sometimes, like your dog, her prefers to run away and be in another room), they may or may not be able to throw him treats. We have only had him for a few months, and we've made a little progress with females and certain family members, but not much with male friends.... Like your dog, he adores only me (he is a greyhound/alsatian x), but we think this is because of his fear of men - it took him a good month to trust my partner enough to let him have a good stroke of his head without cowering.

We are keeping at it, but it is really hard, as we used to have friends over to visit for the weekend quite regularly, but he's not going to be ready for that for a while yet - we did try, but he got so stressed he retreated upstairs and didn't want to leave my bedroom at all - we have now slowed it right down again. I do a lot of taking him to the park and sitting with him to watch children, other people and dogs playing - he is scared of male dogs, which can also come out in aggression, and he is scared of football and men in baseball caps, and groups of young men, and he used to be scared of cars. It seems to be helping. He used to bark a lot and feign aggression when he was scared, but now he can look, look away and obeys the 'quiet' command. He does still try to pull away from things, which is a lot better than when he was trying to attack them and barking, but we are slowly tackling his fears one by one.

I don't think Thorn will ever be 100% - he was 4 when he was rescued - but I am sure that time and love will heal.

Good luck.
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Olly
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Location: worthing sussex
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18-03-2006, 06:28 PM
Originally Posted by Ozzysmom
Cannot offer any advice having no experience of this but just wanted to say that you and your wife are doing a wonderful job by the sounds of it.

I am so glad she has found such a good home at last poor lamb

hear hear to that ozzymum couldnt agree more
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