nervous dog, pee problem?

lg123

hi all, i lost my job a while back and am spending more and more time at home home (parents place). they have a dog there, she is approx 1.5 years old and is neutered. no one knows her breed, at a guess i would say a pointer x a terrier of some kind.

anyways, this dog is very very nervous, like a dog that got serious abuse before but they have had her since a pup and is spoilt rotten tbh. when i go home and walk up to her to give her a rub, she cowwers onto the ground as if i was going to kick the crap out of her and wets herself, not a full blown wee, just kindof dribbles some. often this is in the house. she often turns on her back as if for me to rub her chest but still wets her self after i have shown i am no threat.
when i spend a few days there she gets used to me and it dosnt happen really but if i go for a week and come back again we are back to square one. as far as i kow this happens with any strangers.

anyone else any experience of this?

kassie

Sounds like your dog has low self esteem, you may laugh at the thought of that but its true. She wees and shows her tummy to you to show you that she's completely submissive and no threat to you.

Can i ask was/is the dog socialised much? If a dog is not socialised much it can develop a fear of the unknown such as cars, strange ppl, bikes, loud noises etc If i were in your position i would try to introduce the dog to as many new things as possible but at a slow pace, show her that the outside world is not a scary place, don't force her if she gets frightened, its ok just to go as far as the front gate and let her sit and watch the world go by, make all experiences a happy experience for her or else she will assoicate it with terror. Bring nice treats in your pocket to encourage her and let her know that its all ok. You have to build up a trust/bond between you and the dog

lg123

she came with her brother but he disappeared a good while back, thats all the socialising she would have got. he was a much better looking dog, think he was stolen.
anyways, she rarely gets walked as we have plenty of land for her to be running around. i tried to bring her for a walk last week but she went mental when i put the lead on her, wouldn't accept it at all.

Noopti

lg123 wrote: »

she came with her brother but he disappeared a good while back, thats all the socialising she would have got. he was a much better looking dog, think he was stolen.
anyways, she rarely gets walked as we have plenty of land for her to be running around. i tried to bring her for a walk last week but she went mental when i put the lead on her, wouldn't accept it at all.

Ok, this dog is just poorly trained and socialised.

1. Just because she has a lot of land to run around on doesn't mean you don't have to walk her. Walking the dog introduces her to new surroundings/other dogs and also builds the bond with the owner
2. If she isn't even trained on a lead, then I presume she hasn't received much training at all. Believe it or not, but a trained dog is a more confident dog.
3. Her brother "disappeared" you "think" he was stolen. How much was done to actually try and find him/secure him in the first place

I suggest enlisting the help of a trainer, or appropriate training classes as by the sounds of it the poor thing has no idea of how to react to anybody, and is scared because she has no guidance from her owners. I regimented training schedule/classes would allow her to gain confidence whilst also introducing her to other people/dogs.

Basically, she hasn't had a great start in life with regards training and socialisation and she won't change unless you/your parents start putting the effort in that is required.

lg123

i know, our king charles gets all the above and is a totally different dog to the parents one but my parents are not fit to be doing much with her.
she has very little training except house training. regarding the brother, i have no idea what was done to find him, i wasn't around much at the time. anyways, our number was on his collar so if anyone came across him they could have given us a call.

when i made the original post i thought maybe there may be a quick fix to the way the dog is behaving there doesn't seem to be, i'll just spend time with the dog and do all the points made in the earlier posts. its going to be difficult as my time at home is sporadic at best.

Noopti

lg123 wrote: »

i know, our king charles gets all the above and is a totally different dog to the parents one but my parents are not fit to be doing much with her.
she has very little training except house training. regarding the brother, i have no idea what was done to find him, i wasn't around much at the time. anyways, our number was on his collar so if anyone came across him they could have given us a call.

when i made the original post i thought maybe there may be a quick fix to the way the dog is behaving there doesn't seem to be, i'll just spend time with the dog and do all the points made in the earlier posts. its going to be difficult as my time at home is sporadic at best.

Hopefully you even just spending time with her, bringing her for walks and doing some training sessions will help her.

Crafty-Chel

Iv had this same problem with two of my dogs, both female, one iv had since she was about 2 months old and the other since she was born so i know they havent been abused... there walked regular enough but what worked for me was taking them away from my other dogs one at a time (i have 4 altogether) bringing them inside, giving lots of attention and treats so that your building there trust, try not to shout around them, i found raising my voice at someone else around them scares them...

hope this helps

kassie

lg123, when your at your parents next, put the collar and lead on her and bring her to the fields where she's used to running on her own and just follow her around whereever she wants to go so she gets used to the feel of a collar and the slight tugging sensation of a lead... she's just freaked at not being used to a collar and lead... as you say its gonna take a while to recitfy and even if your visits are sporadic, she'll be glad to see you coming if you are doing good things with her! Best of luck, hope things go well for ye both!