Living with a submissive, anxious dog

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Living with a submissive, anxious dog

Posted : 9/24/2013 5:05:16 PM

I am the owner of two sighthounds. One, Rose, I have had from a puppy. She is unflappable. I socialized her obsessively when she was a puppy and now she's obedient and has a very solid, if somewhat aloof, temperament. Nothing rattles her.

My second sighthound, Janey, I have had for about 2 months. She is a little over a year old and lived with her breeder until she finished her AKC championship, and then came to live with me. While living with her breeder, she lived with about 10 other dogs and regularly went to shows and performance events, so she's not unsocialized, but she's not nearly as stable as Rose.

Today, I went for a walk with the two of them and Rose got quite dirty so I gave her a bath in my tub. Janey lost it, crying and pacing around the house while we were in the bathroom. She is always incredibly clingy and jumpy. Rose is affectionate and sweet, Janey is velcro and lives for human contact. She is always on my lap on the couch and in my bed, and lives to please. The only problem is, she doesn't always know what it is I want and when I get frustrated she has a meltdown.

She will literally jump up in the air, all four feet, backward if I make fast movements when she's excited. She is the cower-tail wag-lick your face type, can you picture the personality I'm describing? I think everyone has met high strung submissive dogs like this before! She is pretty good when we're together with Rose and has gotten a lot more confident in general since I've had her, but yesterday I took her to the pet store by herself and she was very nervous again. Not so much that she was shaking, but she was not too happy being out without her "sister."

So, my question for the experts here is, what can I do to raise her confidence and help stabilize her to generally reduce her anxiety and help her cope with new situations? She's a year and a few months old.

I plan to show her more, and she is the type that needs to arrive at the show extra early to relax for a few hours before she goes in the ring. I don't mind her being so clingy, but she needs to not be so obsessive over me and Rose, and I'd like to generally reduce her anxiety.

Thanks!

-LS

Elizabeth R

Posted : 9/25/2013 12:44:39 PM

Weird as thought I responded to this but then didnt see it. I am battling a cold so who knows where my mind is ... . In any event, what I was writing was that I just read an interesting article about how Mentor dogs are being used to help rehab puppy mill survivor dogs and having a confident and calm mentor dog really does loads for the anxious dogs.... So, I think having Janey spend a lot of time with Rose will be helpful but probably not solve the whole problem. From what you describe (multiple situations in which Janey is nervous), it sounds like the best bet is to get a good (positive reinforcement, counter conditioning and NO CESAR MILAN tactics) trainer or behaviorist for Janey so you all can work together to help Janey feel calmer. As a stop gap measure, have you tried either Thundershirts or DAP calming phermone sprays. I know some owners swear by these ..... Also, I am thinking that is probably best not to show Janey more until her anxiety is addressed. The worst thing would be for her anxiety to grow or find new things to be sparked by until you can get handle on the problem..... Just my two cents here

JackieG

Posted : 9/25/2013 4:21:50 PM

I agree with Elizabeth on consulting a behaviorist. Desensitizing and counter conditioning are very effective for changing a dog's emotional response. It's so much easier if you have someone with the education, experience and skills to get you started. Exposing a dog to fearful situations usually increases the fear. Flooding doesn't work well with dogs because we can't explain why their fears are irrational.

Another factor to keep in mind is a possible genetic factor. Shyness/fearfulness is a trait that has been shown to be genetic. Scott and Fuller did a large study in the '60s and there have been others since then. All the socializing and counter conditioning in the world will not completely change a timid dog into a bold dog.

If you are in the US you can look for a behaviorist here:

avsabonline.org/.../find-consult

Good luck.