Gree Gree is spooked. We have houseguests for the week, a first for her. She
likes them, but she isn't used to sounds of other people coming from strange
rooms. And the man whistles a lot. We don't whistle. They have lab, who she
also likes.

But the biggest problem is that Mr. Guest and Hubby just re-screened *her*
porch - she was born here and her litter lived on that porch from about 4 weeks
old, and she still sleeps there. In other words, she's lived on that porch all
her life (all 8 months of it!) and now it's different. It had plastic screen,
then none, and now it's metal screen. I'm sure it sounds different in there to
her. I was at work when they did it, but I'm guessing they didn't notice she
was spooking to the staple gun or hammering/sawing going on. So she was out in
the yard when I got home and acted like a frightened colt when I tried to coax
her onto the porch.

She will come in the porch now (she'll do anything for treats!), she's just
super vigilant, alert to every sound, ears back. Same in the house. Glomms onto
Steve's lap or mine. She loves to play with Boogie, and she'll follow him
around, even on the porch, but she still has that edginess. I clicked erect
ears (confident pose) with yummy treats last night and that helped, and I've
been flinging handfuls of kibble on the floor of the porch and she eagerly
snuffles around for them. We had a thunderstorm last night, and I made sure
thunder was not causing the spookiness - she was uneasy, but it didn't seem to
correlate to the storm - I had her doing tricks and eating treats during the
worst of it.

So anyway, we're doing O.K.,and everyone is under threat of death to coddle
her when she's acting goofy, and we praise and treat her when she forgets and
is acting normal. And it's pretty much "open bar" on the porch. But in case any
of you has a gem of wisdom to add for damage control here, it would be GREATLY
appreciated!!


Susan Fraser, owned and trained by
BeBop a Lu SheBop SH, Shamma Lamma Ding Dong MH,
Semper Choo Choo Ch'Boogie, and Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/chinchuba/AuH2OK9s/

This may sound bad but I've seen it work so I'm going to throw the
suggestion out. Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle. Dogs respond to coddling, don't
get me wrong, but that coddling is just as abnormal as the schedule
disruption/visitors were. Acting like everything is ok, the routine is the
same and that you don't see her being spooked can work better than coddling.
You know your dog better than I do so if you don't think that would work
then take the advice with a grain of salt.

--
Tara

This may sound bad but I've seen it work so I'm going to throw the
suggestion out. Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle. Dogs respond to coddling, don't
get me wrong, but that coddling is just as abnormal as the schedule
disruption/visitors were. Acting like everything is ok, the routine is the
same and that you don't see her being spooked can work better than coddling.
You know your dog better than I do so if you don't think that would work
then take the advice with a grain of salt.

--
Tara

This may sound bad but I've seen it work so I'm going to throw the
suggestion out. Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle. Dogs respond to coddling, don't
get me wrong, but that coddling is just as abnormal as the schedule
disruption/visitors were. Acting like everything is ok, the routine is the
same and that you don't see her being spooked can work better than coddling.
You know your dog better than I do so if you don't think that would work
then take the advice with a grain of salt.

--
Tara

Tee said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle.

I'll second that, but I think that's what Susan is already
doing, though her wording doesn't make this clear: "So anyway,
we're doing O.K.,and everyone is under threat of death to coddle
her when she's acting goofy, and we praise and treat her when
she forgets and is acting normal."

I think that she's threatening everyone if they coddle her when
she's acting goofy.

This seems to be the best course of action, so I have no other
suggestions.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Tee said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle.

I'll second that, but I think that's what Susan is already
doing, though her wording doesn't make this clear: "So anyway,
we're doing O.K.,and everyone is under threat of death to coddle
her when she's acting goofy, and we praise and treat her when
she forgets and is acting normal."

I think that she's threatening everyone if they coddle her when
she's acting goofy.

This seems to be the best course of action, so I have no other
suggestions.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

Tee said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle.

I'll second that, but I think that's what Susan is already
doing, though her wording doesn't make this clear: "So anyway,
we're doing O.K.,and everyone is under threat of death to coddle
her when she's acting goofy, and we praise and treat her when
she forgets and is acting normal."

I think that she's threatening everyone if they coddle her when
she's acting goofy.

This seems to be the best course of action, so I have no other
suggestions.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

"Rocky" wrote in message
...
Tee said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle.

I'll second that, but I think that's what Susan is already
doing, though her wording doesn't make this clear: "So anyway,
we're doing O.K.,and everyone is under threat of death to coddle
her when she's acting goofy, and we praise and treat her when
she forgets and is acting normal."

I think that she's threatening everyone if they coddle her when
she's acting goofy.

This seems to be the best course of action, so I have no other
suggestions.

Ahh, I misread it. Thanks.

--
Tara

"Rocky" wrote in message
...
Tee said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle.

I'll second that, but I think that's what Susan is already
doing, though her wording doesn't make this clear: "So anyway,
we're doing O.K.,and everyone is under threat of death to coddle
her when she's acting goofy, and we praise and treat her when
she forgets and is acting normal."

I think that she's threatening everyone if they coddle her when
she's acting goofy.

This seems to be the best course of action, so I have no other
suggestions.

Ahh, I misread it. Thanks.

--
Tara

"Rocky" wrote in message
...
Tee said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Sometimes the best cure for spookiness is to act like
nothing has happened vs choosing to coddle.

I'll second that, but I think that's what Susan is already
doing, though her wording doesn't make this clear: "So anyway,
we're doing O.K.,and everyone is under threat of death to coddle
her when she's acting goofy, and we praise and treat her when
she forgets and is acting normal."

I think that she's threatening everyone if they coddle her when
she's acting goofy.

This seems to be the best course of action, so I have no other
suggestions.

Ahh, I misread it. Thanks.

--
Tara