This is my dog Tom. He is 18 months old and weve been struggling with him since he was a pup. Hes always been incredibly nervous despite being in puppy classes since he was 8 weeks old with a credible trainer. He seemed to be great until he hit adolescence. Whats working for us has been a lot of patience, determination and a good trainer. Hes now mainly only reactive when hes on a lead or around rude and unsociable dogs. His fear of people is also improving. He isnt comfortable with guests in the house. We have a new visitor routine set by our trainer which works but it means that all guests have to ignore Tom untill he is calm and settled on his mat with his chew etc... but family are reluctant to follow. We now have various signs and stickers all over the house and have decided that if people wont do as we ask, then they simply cannot meet Tom and he goes into his safe space. We have a safe space set up for him in our bedroom. Its basically his bed in a crate with a blanket draped over it... It has some cushions and a couple of toys and a chew. If he goes in it.... We arent allowed to disturb him.... Its his space. Using this has really worked too and it keeps him away from unruly visitors. I find the most challenging thing is taking him on walks through towns or round the village. Everyone wants to stop and pet him because hes small and cute... They dont understand that the arent allowed to pet him and get upset when you tell them to leave the dog alone because hes incredibly scared. They even get offended when hes stood there grumbling at them. They just say oh I have a nervous dog at home, its ok. I wont hurt you, I know what its like if they really had a nervous dog theyd give us space.... Grr!!!!
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 19:13:13 +0000
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