Rescue Dog - Terrified, Advice Needed.

border_collie

That was too long in the crate when she was not crate trained.

Have you got any kitchen chairs to lie down on the worktop?


Have you had dogs before? Is there another room she can go in instead of being left in the kitchen?

gizmo1409

Bravo.....
I too have a rescue dog, although she didn't come from a centre, she was abdoned just before xmas 8 years ago now, and my sister took her in, put notices everywhere, just in case she was lost, but by the way she reacted you could tell she wasn't lost.. You could see all her ribs, and she is a mongrel, with terrier in her, this shows in her features.....

My sister took her in, and called me to say what had happened, with my sister then having 2 small children, I said I would take her in, and if anybody did come forward then she would have to go back... I collected her the next day, took her straight to the Vets, and they confirmed that she had been badly missed treated by her condition...

She too was very nervous, and frightened, and slowly I managed to get the weight on her, it was horrible seeing her ribs, they told me she was about 18months old, and should not of been the weight that she was...

She wolfed everything dowm like she did not know when her next meal was going to come, and her toileting habits improved, although she still wets when excited or nervous.....

It was alot of patience, and I'm glad that I perserved, there are still times now when she cowers when out walking in the park, when certain people try to fuss her, and when she goes the parlour, but she knows that she can trust me, and I wouldn't let anything happen to her...

So all I can say is be patient and in time it will get better, I think she may just need to settle into a routine, and learn to trust you..

Well done for having a resue dog!!!

It is a great feeling when they give you such a big fuss...

Gizmo1409 - yes that's my woofers name

:-)

foreign_correspondent

I agee with 'border collie' - I think you pushed the crate too much fast to be honest - she needs to see it as a secure retreat, not a scary place to be. It sounds like she has really panicked in there.

Having got locked into a toilet cubicle in a restaurant yesterday I can sympathise - after five minutes of shouting and banging with no response, a real sense of panic and fear set in - and as a human I was able to rationalise that sooner or later someone would come looking for me, or hear me calling - but your dog does not know this yet, as far as she was concerned you may never have come back for her, so she tried to free herself - sensible in the circumstances really, of you look at it from the dogs point of view.

Does the rescue you got her from offer suport from a behaviouralist? (mine does) - I would ring them for some advice asap.

Is there another room (without worktops in) that she could sleep in temporarily - bathroom maybe?? This would set her up to suceed, not to fail, by not giving her the option to get onto worktops.

I would also be working on finding out what motivates her, perhaps a toy, game, treats, or praise and a fuss - you say she is not very bothered about treats -my mums dog is like this but will come running for anything that squeaks or a bit of cheese - even less food motivated dogs can often be tempted by a sliver of cheese! (as always my answer to any dog training probs... try cheese!! lol)

I would also be focussing on making her bed feel like a great place to be - teaching 'to your bed' and giving fuss, treats and praise every time she gets into it - but not tryng to get her to stay there at the moment, just building lots and lots of positive associations with it so that she starts to believe it is a safe and happy place to go to.

It sounds like she may have some negative associations with sleeping on the floor from past experiences, so you need to replace these associations with happy ones.

Mutter_2

Hi Icanandwillsavemoney, this is one strange habit, a dog on a worktop, one I've never heard of before.
This looks a good site with plenty of advice for cage training
http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/ccp51/cc/dog-training/dog-crate.shtml

I know that you have more on your mind at the moment with the present problem, but please do consider taking doggie to a training class in the future.
There she can socialise with other dogs and get used to strangers all under the watchful eye of the experts.

Border Collies are super intelligent and their brains need stimulus, an excellent activity being agility or/and flyball, which your local club may offer. She'll be so dog tired that jumping onto work surface will be far from her mind.

I wish you and your rescue dog much happiness for the future.

Mutter_2

Just edit to add, another plus to joining your local dog training club is that there will be lots of Border Collie owners there who will love to share their knowledge.

Icanandwillsavemoney

Thanks everyone for your advice. The cage has gone, I didn't much like it and misty definitely hated it so .... I called a dog behavioural therapist who had never heard of a dog snoozing on the worktops either!! He is going to come round and get to know wispy a bit and work out a plan of action for us all.

In the grand scheme of things, it takes me less than 5 minutes to clean the surfaces in the morning and when I get home from work at 2.30pm so I am just going to get on with doing that for now.

I did think about another room but the bathroom is a bit tight on space and the down stairs loo again I think is maybe too small (new build property with crap sized rooms!!) so I would like to persevere with the kitchen.

I think it may just be the time thing and getting used to her bed etc. We are almost 2 weeks in and there have been no other problems so I am not going to let this be of too great a concern.

Thanks again evryone.

foreign_correspondent

Good for you - so glad to see that you are persevering wit her as she sounds like a lovely dog who has just learnt to sleep off the floor - I wonder why?

I hope the behaviouralist can help.

In the meantime I would be taching her 'go to your bed' and giving her treats and praise when she hops in it, but not trying to keep her there yet.