How to fix my fearful dog....UPDATE!
Franklin has been going through a bit of a personality change in the last few months and I hadn't noticed how bad it was until I took him to the dog park on Wed. He has become incredibly fearful of other dogs big or small. He used to be a very social and playful dog but he got attacked by 2 great danes over a year ago and hasn't been the same since. I quit taking him to dog parks about 6 months ago because they are just too unpredictable. I had noticed he has slowly become more fearful of people and other dogs since I quit taking him out so much, so Wed. I decided to begin getting him out more. Anyway, I went during a quiet time and there were 2 small dogs at the park and Franklin literally hid behind me when they came to sniff him, then he got in a defensive pose and would nip at them anytime one came near him. I'm going to try to arrange one on one interactions with friends and fellow corgi owners, but is there anything else I can do to help him get over this new fear? I was also thinking of taking him into the park to play when there were no other dogs or just one other dog to try to build his confidence, is this a good idea? Need help! I really want my happy friendly corgi back!
UPDATE: So I have been working with Franklin a lot these past few weeks. Trying to arrange doggie dates with dogs he knows in new places and with responsible dog owners. He has been doing great with the one on one dog interactions so today we stepped it up a notch. I met my friend and her dog, who is one of Franklin's good buddies, at her house and we walked to her neighborhood dog park. Now it's not really a dog park, but rather a big people park that the local dog owners take their dogs to play. I told my friend I didn't really want to go if there were going to be lots of dogs there because I didn't think Frank was ready for that so she drove by the park on her way home from work and said there weren't any dogs. Well by the time we walked there 4 big dogs had arrived. I was a bit nervous because Franklin has been so fearful lately around strange dogs and I didn't really want to go over to the big dogs. My friend assured me the owners were quite responsible and explained how the 4 dogs usually acted. It turned out SO GREAT. Two of the dogs were border collies who were just completely obsessed with chasing the ball so didn't bother Franklin at all, one was an aussie who was a bit pushy on introduction but once Frank told him to back off, he backed off, and they were fine, and then one was a lab and Franklin loves any and all labs no matter what. The dogs ran around as a pack with the border collies chasing the ball and the other 3 dogs chasing the border collies. It was such a good experience for Franklin. At one point another small terrier dog came to play and also another lab. Franklin actually ran up to the lab and initiated play with him. Such a great day! I look forward to more play sessions at that park to allow Franklin to build his confidence around a group of dogs.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Melissa, I know how tough it can be and I went through this with Livvy...she could have been a great agility dog but was always too worried about what the other dogs were doing. I also just brought our new rescue Ottis home last night and I know he's scared but right now he is being very aggressive:( With Livvy I took her to Pet Expo and she was able to meet/greet people with other dogs at a distance ... Setting up some meet and gretst with thefocus being on him giving you the eye contact and him getting a treat may be helpful. Wynn always would growl and the big dogs when we were at pet expo and I would make him sit/lay and the other dogs would walk past at a distance. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Gail Hanson-Hefley on
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I have had some real success using BAT. I'm attaching a link for you. http://functionalrewards.com/
I would also suggest joining the Yahoo User Group: Click to Calm
Hope this helps.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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thank you for the link. This is actually quite similar to what we use when we are training our rescues in the vet tech program I'm in. I didn't know it had a name though! Very interesting stuff.
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Permalink Reply by Di, Pazu, and Mochi the Bunny on
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I don't want to give redundant advice because all the posters here wrote great feedback!
Pazu (when he was 8 months old) also similarly got charged by a bigger black dog. He did not break his foot (thankfully) but he was limping on it for days and I ended up getting an Xray and gave him pain meds. And we stayed away from the dog park for a week or two. After that, he's been a little reserved around bigger dogs at the offleash dog park. I give him a treat for nice sniffs and greetings.
Also I adopted a 7 year old black female lab/border collie mix named Lilo. Pazu liked her immediately because she was not fixated on him. They play together and I suspect that her influence has helped Pazu grow more and more comfortable around big dogs because she will lie down and let Pazu jump over her. Together they've learned to adapt to each other's sizes. He's learned to not generalize about all dogs and play with some big respectful dogs and hold his ground!
If you have any friends who own corgis and big dog with the corgi, it'll probably help Franklin outgrow his fear and you'll get your happy friendly corgi back!
If you lived closer, I'd let Franklin meet Lilo. :) She's very good with smaller dogs.
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I actually had another member of this site meet me yesterday for a playdate. Frank did SO well I was so happy with him. He didn't really pay much attention to her at first but after 15-20 minutes they ran around together quite a bit. I think I will just need to be really careful around bigger dogs. My parents have a big black lab that is Franklin's best friend in the whole world and they love to play together. The lab does the same thing your dog does, and lays down to let Franklin climb all over him. I think I'm going to try to plan corgi, or similar sized dog, play dates as much as I can so Frank isn't at risk of getting hurt by a bigger dog and will learn to play and have fun again. He did so well yesterday I have hope it will be a fixable issue.
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Permalink Reply by Jessie & Alwyn on
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It's funny you mention this Melissa because Alwyn has been going through similar issues. We took him on a massive road trip with us last year when he was only 4 months old. We were so proud of him because he did FANTASTIC in the crate and overall behavior was exceptional. However, we went to an off-leash dog park in San Franscico which was an excellent experience - except for one major issue. A pack of nearly 20 large dogs came and rushed him into a corner. They weren't looking to harm him, just say "hello" in dogspeak but it frightened him to the point where you would have thought they killed him. That was nearly a year and a half ago and no matter WHAT we do to socialize him with other dogs, he'll bark and/or growl at them. He's never snapped at another dog, just "protect" my fiance and I from the other dog. We have tried introducing him to other dogs in a small dog park, beach setting, large dog park, neighbors, friendly dogs we know all with positive intentions using treats and/or verbal prompts/praises. Much to our hard work and dedication to get him over this fear, he just won't respond. We do not baby him or remove him from situations where positive interactions may occur. It's funny, he'll be fearful of all other dogs with the exception of Labs. He'll look at another corgi like, "Whoaaaa, you look funny!" but shy away from them. He's such a sweet, super friendly guy with people (especially kids) and cats/other animals so it's frustrating to see how he can go from zero to Def Con 5 with the anxiety around other dogs. Also, Gail posted a link to the BAT - great source and we have tried it with little success. Alwyn is so thick headed in some ways it's tough to get him to see outside of his own box.
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its so funny bc Franklin LOVES labs too! They are the only breed of large dog that he will play rough with and not get scared. Doesn't matter if he's ever met the dog before or not he just LOOOOOOVES them. I'm sure my parents' dog has a lot to do with his love of labs and it has helped a lot because he automatically trusts them so at least he isn't fearful of ALL large dogs!
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Lol, it's something about their personality I guess. Alwyn will be the same way - he'll bark and be fearful of other dogs but a lab could walk by and he's like, "What's up buddy??" Funny because we don't have labs near where we live unless we go to a rail trail or recreational area.
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such a successful play date today! See update! Yay!
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Permalink Reply by Zigward & Kimberly on
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Congratulations and good job to Franklin!:D
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