Dog Community

My G. Retriever has low confidence...pls help

Emma

Posted : 6/27/2006 3:42:19 AM

Hi Im new to the forum. I'm writing this post about my female golden retriever I've had for about 8 yrs, (she's nearly 10 now, she was around 2yrs when we got her) ever since we got her she was so nervous, always had her head down and cowering. It took her 6 months to bark at something. We feel that she was probably abused before we had her.

Now she barks no problems at people and cars in the backyard, but she still has the head down disposition, don't get me wrong, she's come a long way, she doesn't do it half as much but I would love to know how to put confidence in her that I've never really seen her have. We had another golden retriever, which was her good buddy for about 7 yrs, sadly he passed away, he was 15 yrs old

He was a very confident golden, he always looked so proud. She has become a really old woman since he died, she looks depressed sometimes.

So what I'm asking is, how can I teach her to hold her head up and have more confidence? How can I teach her to play more (as in playing fetch etc) our other retriever just loved balls and toys, he wolud love playing fetch, but Bronte doesn't see the point, sometimes she brings it back (not all the way) and sometimes she doesn't bother with it. I can get her to play with me if I try really really hard (as in on my hands and knees pretending to chase her, but I have to keep it going, if I stop she soon just goes and does something else. That took me ages to get a reaction out of her.

Hope you can help

mudpuppy

Posted : 6/27/2006 8:51:34 AM

confidence comes from successful experience. With a very timid dog, what you need to do is start out with really easy things and make sure she is successful and she knows she's successful. For example, when teaching the retrieve, you should do it backwards and start out by teaching the dog to take the ball in the mouth and then drop it in your hand. Reward and praise like crazy. Once the dog is happily and successfully doing that, then toss the ball one foot away and proceed. Make it easy. Let the dog win.

Has she gone through any kind of training programs? Trick clicker training classes and foundation agility training classes are a great way to build confidence in a dog and help build a relationship between dog and owner.

sillysally

Posted : 6/27/2006 11:23:33 AM

You could try "smart toys" such as hide-a-squirrel or try giving her treat balls.

Mark

Posted : 6/27/2006 11:55:55 AM

WE had Golden Retrievers also,a male and female,Rebel and Abbey and went through this same thing.

they were beautiful together but when Rebel died,Abbey seemed to lose all interest in everything.They were together for 8 years and Rebel was 15 when he passed.

We spent all kinds of time with abbey afterwards and it helped,and bieng she was only a year younger than Rebel,we decided not to get her another companion..

You might consider adapting another companion,maybe from a shelter and an older dog.There are plenty of these that never get a second chance at life,and it may be good for her.

I would spend as much time as i could with her as she goes through her loss...she is a beautiful dog...i have a special place in my heart for these dogs..good luck and please keep us informed on her well bieng.

Amanda R

Posted : 6/27/2006 1:01:52 PM

the truth behind low confidence is most likely abuse or neglect. there are a lot of ways to try to help correct it, but socializing with more confident dogs is extremely helpful. if u can find someone else with an older dog who seems to be a little bit springier to play with it could help. find one she likes and gets along with and start by walking them together on either side of you, then when they seem more comfortable bring them closer... when they arent in their own territory they sometimes get nervous so it may take a while. but try making a play date once they've gotten comfortable and eventually bring the other dog to YOUR backyard or someplace nuetral, where they can be off leash. It takes a lot of time to bring around a timid dog though. as was said on the last post you can get kongs and such and put treats in them and help show the dog theres a reward for tossing it around, hiding favorite toys in obvious places, and walking a lot can help

Sandra TH

Posted : 6/27/2006 3:03:43 PM

I found the book "Help for Your Shy Dog" by Deborah Wood to be very helpful. I especially liked the chapter where she recommends adopting a more confident dog to help your resident dog. I used that as an argument to convince my DH we needed another dog- for Tanker's sake, of course!

Amanda R

Posted : 6/27/2006 3:58:55 PM

some of us cannot get more dogs because of the amount of space we have, its not fair to them when theres not enough room for them all to fit comfortably in the same room, keep that in mind before adopting another dog just in case you consider it