Excessively Fearful Dogs

Honestly if someone came to me with a dog like this, especially given the sudden change in social behavior, I'd be referring them to a veterinary behaviorist for a full medical workup and hard core behavior mod, possibly with medication to assist.

stardog85

Honestly if someone came to me with a dog like this, especially given the sudden change in social behavior, I'd be referring them to a veterinary behaviorist for a full medical workup and hard core behavior mod, possibly with medication to assist.

That's good advice.  There isn't enough info to even speculate on what has caused this behavior change. 

Anne54

Can the personalities of her owners have affected or exacerbated her behaviors in this way? her owner is kind of a worrier and almost a type A personality whereas I'm definitely more relaxed and calm, and Greta always seems more at peace after I've spent time with her.

This is definitely the issue. In my opinion if she was like that everywhere then the issue would be bigger. But thats not the case. The fact that she is some way relaxes with you is an indication that she does not needs medication The owners maybe promoted the behavior without even know it until it was too much. The owners maybe focused to much on her past and baby her too much making her believe that she needed to be treated that way to feel protected.

I bet that if she could spend a few months with you only she would have an improvement but would go back to the same old behavior if returns to the current owners. You could teach the owners the way you handle things for them to follow up your example and help the dog to be more relaxed

I would definitely wont give her commands or even speak to her (not even necessary) to speed up the process, also i would approach sideways to her instead of full front so she does not feel intimidated by you

Some dogs exhibit superstitious behavior in a given environment because they have encountered a negative experience there.  It's common, for example, for dogs whose owners try to train them to respect "underground" fencing, to become anxious about going into the back yard at all because the fence shocked them when they encountered the boundary.  For those dogs, the whole yard becomes intimidating.  It's possible that if a dog was punished indoors, or heard a very loud noise indoors that scared it, it could be nervous indoors and not outdoors. 

Some dogs are taken everywhere as very young puppies, but then the newness wears off, and the owners start to leave them at home a lot.  In the interim, the dog matures, and because the owners didn't continue to socialize it during that window, it may become wary of novel people, dogs, and situations. 

Not saying that's what's happening with this dog, but it certainly would be interesting to question the owners further...

espencer

The owners maybe promoted the behavior without even know it until it was too much. The owners maybe focused to much on her past and baby her too much making her believe that she needed to be treated that way to feel protected.

I really think this could be the case. The owners do pay a lot of attention to her in order to deal with her behavior, and i think could be enabling her to continue the way she is, rather than pushing her to confront whatever fears of people and "scary" things that she has.

spiritdogs

Some dogs are taken everywhere as very young puppies, but then the newness wears off, and the owners start to leave them at home a lot.  In the interim, the dog matures, and because the owners didn't continue to socialize it during that window, it may become wary of novel people, dogs, and situations. 

She does get out a lot, with daily walks and things, but i don't know if they work on socializing her with other dogs or humans to get her comfortable around more than just her family or people she encounters closely every day.

Anne54

espencer

The owners maybe promoted the behavior without even know it until it was too much. The owners maybe focused to much on her past and baby her too much making her believe that she needed to be treated that way to feel protected.

 

I really think this could be the case. The owners do pay a lot of attention to her in order to deal with her behavior, and i think could be enabling her to continue the way she is, rather than pushing her to confront whatever fears of people and "scary" things that she has.

You don't "push" a fearful dog to "confront" what's scaring her.  You attempt to be nonchalant about it yourself, reinforce any bravery, and attempt to create positive associations with things that scare the dog (from a safe distance, one at which the dog would be willing to consume a treat).

You might want to gift these people with a copy of "Help for Your Shy Dog" at Christmas;-)

spiritdogs

You attempt to be nonchalant about it yourself, reinforce any bravery, and attempt to create positive associations with things that scare the dog

Aka pushing her to confront whatever fears of people and "scary" things that she has. Is the same thing but told differently. Create positive associations is just that, "pushing" the dog from a safe distance to confront the scary thing. Just what Anne54 is trying to accomplish

With my neurotic dog, I've had better luck making the scary thing less scary, no pushing or even positive association involved (so if she is scared of a really big, loud man, instead of trying to lure her into interacting with that man, I will find a small, quiet man and see if she will interact with him).  Sometimes my dog makes positive associations that are *too* positive (ie, she has neurotic responses with that just as she would with something that stresses her out).  For her the key is neutral, neutral, neutral.  All interaction or association must come from the dog.  Anything we try to set up turns into a "one step forward, two steps back" sort of thing.

I would also be getting her checked out by the vet. It's weird to have a dog change in their behaviour so dramatically. I do not think that just because she is a little better with you this indicates she doesn't need medication, or that her problem is definitely behavioural and exacerbated by the owners.

I seriously question whether it's worth trying to socialise a dog that frightened of everything. You have to consider her quality of life and whether it's in her best interests to put her through a program where you are continually scaring her in an attempt to bring her around. Sometimes you have to accept an animal's limitations. My mother had a dog a few years ago that was like this from the day he came home. He became very aggressive towards anything new. It was just so hard to work with, because there was nowhere you could take him that would be just new enough to make him uncomfortable but not new enough to make him start barking. Correcting frightened dogs can make them worse. This dog became a danger to anyone that visited the house and could not be safely taken out of the yard. He was rehomed, I think to someone with no other dogs who rarely got visitors and wouldn't be taking him out of the house much. I still wonder if it would have been better for that dog to have him put to sleep. What kind of life is it when you are afraid of nearly everything? 

espencer

spiritdogs

You attempt to be nonchalant about it yourself, reinforce any bravery, and attempt to create positive associations with things that scare the dog

Aka pushing her to confront whatever fears of people and "scary" things that she has. Is the same thing but told differently. Create positive associations is just that, "pushing" the dog from a safe distance to confront the scary thing. Just what Anne54 is trying to accomplish

Creating a positive association is specifically not pushing (or flooding, if you prefer that terminology), so it is not the "same thing but told differently."  Rather, it is a way of allowing the dog not to feel the anxiety it would feel if it were pushed.  In other words, you work at the dog's speed, not the human's.

spiritdogs

In other words, you work at the dog's speed, not the human's.

Luci (Tch Nascere Bella Nera CDX) at the age of 15 months would freeze and stop in some enviromnents, and ir got worse and worse. I gave up trialling her ,and looked for help form a Vet Behavourist. In the end we establsihed that it was road noise and show noise. 

The prognosis was not that encouraging, so i gave up any idea  of trailling her, and just worked painstakingly slowly on counter condtioning her to those sources of noise. I would approach slowly at her pace and reward for attention to me or a sit or anything other than a freeze . We did this over a span of 8 months. I treated it as a quality of life issue, i just didn't want her to go through life that terrified. I also used noise CD's which were a great help.

I actually rate it as my no one training achievement ever..

I probably counter conditioned her too much. She thinks cars are cool, and Diesel trucks are fascinating. She will search a running Diesel truck no sweat. She obviously trails very well.

 All that i can say is get some professional help. It may work. I am a fairly highly strung Type A personaility, but my dogs aren't falling to bits because of that . I jsut learn to tone it down around them.

I also learnt that a key factor in noise phobias may well be early de-sexing. For any further dogs that i may have , i would prefer not to take the risk and will wait.

...Diesel trucks are fascinating.

A little OT, but your dog and I have a lot in common;-)