I've had my dog for 2-1/2 years now. When I first bought her she had a
few problems, paricularly with chewing, jumping up on the counter, and
urinating a little (submissively) when my wife or I would come home.
We never hit her or were extremely angry with her... simply telling
her 'no' ended up being all that was needed. The submissive urinating
was the only problem that continued, but it was rare.

Over the last year, she seems to be getting extremely timid. She saw
an umbrella open once, and now she's scare to death of them. She saw a
balloon pop, and she's now afraid of anything that resembles a
balloon. Over the past few months it has gotten even worst. Any item
that's unfamiliar to her seems to scare her... a hammer brought in
from the garage, a garden hose nozzle by itself, etc.

Now it's getting much worse... for the past week she's afraid to leave
the house without me. I now have to walk outside with her or she won't
go out. She also acts as if she did something bad whenever I return
home... she hides in the corner and urinates a little on the floor.
She'll then run up next to me, bow her head and urinate some more. It
only gets worse if I point and simply say 'no'. I love the dog, but
I'm getting fed up with the situation. Every week it seems to be a new
ordeal.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

On Thu, 7 Aug 2003 wrote:

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

it's impossible to tell what's going on without witnessing it
first-hand. dogs can act weirdly for all sorts of reasons, so
whenever there's a sudden change in behavior it's a good thing
to *first* rule out a medical cause. have you taken your dog
to the vet and discussed the problem with him/her? if this
change in behavior does stem from a medical problem, all the
behavioral advice in the world won't help and could, in fact,
ultimately harm your dog.

--
shelly (foul wench) and elliott and harriet
http://home.bluemarble.net/~scouvrette

wrote:

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you've ruled out any medical problems, here are a few things to try.
This is based on my experience with my own scared dog, who has
thankfully become much better over time. First of all, no coddling is
allowed when the dog panics over nothing. When Khan'd jump out of his
skin over noises (dropped pan, closing door, etc.), we would basically
laugh, be all happy, say 'what a silly dog', but otherwise pay no
attention to this response. Over time, he would startle, but recover
quickly. His specific trigger was hands coming towards his head, which
caused him to slink down and brace himself, so we worked on it so that
he knew that the only thing that was coming at him were scritches. Now,
I can make slapping and hitting motions towards him, and have him look
at me like 'Hey man, are you gonna rub my ears or what?'. He still
isn't as comfortable with similar hand movements from strangers, but
we're working on that.

Then, we socialized him, took him to as many new places as possible,
introduced him to as many new people or things. Wherever we were, and
whatever we were doing, he was right there with us, so that he got used
to ordinary day to day happenings. Everything was kept upbeat and
happy, he was rewarded for being good (treats in this case), and rarely
reprimanded and never with anything more than an 'uh-uh'. We never got
mad or overly concerned, just never gave him the opportunity to think
that anything other than the ordinary was going on. He is still not
altogether comfortable in new surroundings, but won't panic like he used
to. Oh, and we did a reasonable amount of obedience training to bring
up his confidence levels.

Most importantly, we didn't expect miracles. This has taken a lot of
time and a lot of effort on our part. He is an extraordinarily good
dog, and to most people who don't know the whole story, appears to be as
normal as any other.

Now, a couple of things to consider. There is most likely a genetic
basis for shyness, so your dog may never become a social butterfly.
And, this is an ongoing effort, and any 'bad experience' can cause a
setback. Just never stop working on it, and take baby steps, depending
on the comfort level of your dog. One thing we've never had to go
through was submissive urination. But, you can find some really good
information on it he http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/submissive.htm
This book might be of great use to you: "The Cautious Canine: How to
Help Dogs Conquer Their Fears" by Patricia McConnell More help he
http://www.goof.com/~pmurphy/shy-k9s-faq.html

Good luck,
Suja

wrote in message
...
I've had my dog for 2-1/2 years now. When I first bought her she had
a
few problems, paricularly with chewing, jumping up on the counter,
and
urinating a little (submissively) when my wife or I would come home.
We never hit her or were extremely angry with her... simply telling
her 'no' ended up being all that was needed. The submissive
urinating
was the only problem that continued, but it was rare.

Over the last year, she seems to be getting extremely timid. She saw
an umbrella open once, and now she's scare to death of them. She saw
a
balloon pop, and she's now afraid of anything that resembles a
balloon. Over the past few months it has gotten even worst. Any item
that's unfamiliar to her seems to scare her... a hammer brought in
from the garage, a garden hose nozzle by itself, etc.

Now it's getting much worse... for the past week she's afraid to
leave
the house without me. I now have to walk outside with her or she
won't
go out. She also acts as if she did something bad whenever I return
home... she hides in the corner and urinates a little on the floor.
She'll then run up next to me, bow her head and urinate some more.
It
only gets worse if I point and simply say 'no'. I love the dog, but
I'm getting fed up with the situation. Every week it seems to be a
new
ordeal.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi ,
The problem could be that your dog senses you are getting fed up .
The more fed up you get the more submissive and appeasive your dogs
gets.
For a dog like this, even just saying no is just *devasting* for
it . Saying no is pointless , she can't help weeing . She's hiding
from you because she doesn't know what your reaction will be . She
must be waiting in anticipation and dread of your return, will you be
angry or will you be happy ? Just imagine going through that every day
... You'd be a nervous wreck, which is what your dog is.
I have recently adopted a little dog like this and he is coming on
leaps and bounds but it has not been easy and I appreciate it can be
irritating.

First , no matter how annoying you find her , please stay calm and
relaxed. You'll have to win her confidence .. Dogs read your body
language and know when you are uptight. Ignore her when you come in
and go out and don't give her direct eye contact . With Diddy , I just
ignore any loud noises and he follows my lead. Don't try to reassure
her or you will make her think there is something to be scared of. .
If there is an object like the lawn mower she is scared of, you can
put it out on the lawn with out starting it and throw treats near it ,
talk cheerfully , she should become less scared the more you do it .

I don't see why going outside with your dog is a problem , most
people do to keep an eye on their dogs . Maybe when she is more
confident , you can stay by the door . If my dogs were ever outside I
would leave the back door open . I think most house dogs don't like
the sense of being shut out .
Try to have some fun with her , play with a favourite toy and praise
her and stroke her when she does something good and always , always
ignore what you consider *bad* behaviour. I used ask Diddy for a
simple sit for a biscuit. He used to be so unsure , I would wait about
two minutes and he would do a half sit , so he got a good boy and the
treat. He's become so confident he sits before I ask him .
Once you have rebuilt your relationship and she trusts you again ,
she will be more able to cope with the fears and noises.
Alison