Boarding dog has shut down

TooManyDogs

I have a new boarding dog with me for 4 days, first time I've had her and first time she's been anywhere away from her family. Owner told me she was a nervous dog of other dogs so though home boarding would be better for her than kennels, and my dogs are so used to dogs coming and going that they are very easy going and beyond a first sniff pretty much ignore the dogs that come into the house.

She's a gorgeous dog but isn't so much nervous as phobic of other dogs, and completely shuts down. She avoids them with head turns if they happen to walk past her but literally doesn't move for hours. The dog doesn't have to look/sniff/move in her direction but her seeing them is enough to totally shut her down.

My question is for the properly qualified behaviourists here, how do I make her stay here as comfortable as possible given I only have 4 days so very little behaviour modification possible in that time. I don't want to flood her but at the same time I don't want her isolated either. At the moment she's on her bed beside me and the others are snoring in beds scattered around the room and her head is stuffed into the wall and the eyes flying around the room if there's any movement or sound but her body doesn't move.

DBB

This is a real toughie, and without wanting to make it sound like a cop out, and assuming she's not so phobic of other dogs out on walks/outside a home environment (is she?), I don't know if I'd do anything with her, for now, other than a controlled sort of isolation? Would she chill out with a Kong or somesuch in another room? I know, I know, it means you'll have to practise the art of bilocation, but for the length of time she's going to be with you, do you think she'd trade being with a person a lot but this means also having to be around dogs, for more time alone but without the other dogs?
I do empathise with you! But I generally keep visiting dogs totally separate from my own just because in the bigger picture, it reduces stress for all concerned, I don't see the point in doing all the intros when the dog will be gone in a few days. I do walk them together though.
Is her dog phobia something that her owners have to deal with day to day? Or is this purely an up-close-with-no-escape thing? It's no wonder she doesn't like kennels! But if it's not something that affects her hugely in her "normal life", I don't think there's much you need to do, or at least, not much you can do in the short time frame you have.
How is she if you bring her out for walks with your dogs? Even one or two of your own? Any better than when inside?
Longer term, is it a runner for you and her owner to go for walks together outside of the dog-sitting environment? Also, the usual stress reducing tools like DAP, maybe Kalm-Aid or Zylkene. A thundershirt may help too. And perhaps a gradual merging with your own crew when she comes to stay again. It sounds like she's very overwhelmed, which is rare enough, though you see it in very traumatised rescue dogs from time to time.

TooManyDogs

Thanks for the reply. I did bring her on a walk to day with my lot as a gentle way of introducing them, and as long as they were as far away from her as possible she was ok but extremely watchful, if they happened to step in her direction she'd fly to the end of her lead and and have a moment, the fact that mine didn't so much as look at her while she was having her moment didn't calm her at all. In the house she's the very same, will creep along until she sees a dog and then freeze and avoid, she still doesn't move if the dog goes near her or tries to interact (after I saw her reaction I haven't let mine approach her since).

I only take in a boarding dog/s from 1 family at a time so normally mix them in with mine so they can have the full 'home from home' thing and normally works a treat, it's not a full time job, it kind of crept up from doing people favours. The dogs I have end up being frequent flyers so the integrating works well normally. I also foster for a local charity and don't mix the 2 so have seen nervous dogs before but this is a huge step beyond.

She's local to me, her history is that she wandered into the owners house, they'd only had outdoor dogs, not fully fenced (country area mindset). She stuck around and eventually she became their dog rather than the stray dog. She follows her owner's horse to the beach and because she's never been wild on the road (very quiet village road ending in a harbour) she's never been put on the lead. She was only in a car to be brought to and from the vet for spaying, has never been to any kind of obedience class cos she's a very well behaved dog even if she has no commands. The owners absolutely adore her but they and the dog kind of blended lifestyles rather than the owners deciding that they'd get a dog and do the usual obedience, driving to parks to walk etc, there's massive scope for all kinds of walks locally so no need to drive the dog to a dog walking area. When she comes across dogs on the road she will normally see them a large distance away and hop into the ditch or field and pop back out on the road once her owner has passed the dog so while she does have this fear of dogs there's no real incentive for her owner to do anything about it because the dog very easily and happily avoids the meeting.

This is the first time she's ever needed to be minded because by coincidence the adult kids are all away the same time as the parents, the owner thought kennels would be far too stressful and while she's very stressed here I can only imagine what a kennel environment would be like for her. I think I might move her into the kitchen where she is only a room away from me but also a room away from the dogs. I'll suggest doing a walking plan with the owner to help desensitize her but there's a large part of me wondering if I should suggest to the owner that being minded by someone with dogs is not a good option for the dog and maybe a family member/friend with no animals might be a happier solution for the rare times she needs mindng?

DBB

She sounds like a real sweetie, and you know, from your description of things it sounds like with a bit of time and taking things really steady with her, she just might come round. I'd be very tempted to get her a thundershirt too. But the fact that she's not using aggression is nice, and she sounds like one of those dogs that might actually try out a bit of a play with another dog after having a bit of time to get used to the other dog.
I think your plan, for now, to keep her separate but not too separate is a great starting point. But you know yourself, a fearful dog needs time and plenty of it. You don't have that right now, but there's no reason why you can't structure it so that she gets loads of time to habituate to your dogs without having to be too close to them for the first while.

TooManyDogs

Well progress, I moved her into the kitchen and she got a whiff of my rabbit who lives there, came out of her shut down, took a treat but kept giving it back to me until I held it while she nibbled it all! So she's more relaxed in the kitchen and we do spend quite a lot of time there so maybe the best comprimise is to keep her seperate altogether. We have a sliding gate between kitchen and sitting room so she can see and hear my lot but there's a physical barrier too.

DBB

Good stuff! I just hope she doesn't try to nibble on the bunny :-o
But finding a spot where she can relax is vital to get started, so this is great progress indeed!

TooManyDogs

DBB wrote: »

Good stuff! I just hope she doesn't try to nibble on the bunny :-o

Bunny is safely locked into her dog crate for the moment, completely disgusted but that's just a little tough for the minute