My new dog doesn't come to me when called...

Hi all,

This is my first post - my partner (bastetsmum) is often trawling the Cat of the Day forums but since I've always owned dogs I thought I'd check here since I have a small problem...

I've taken on a pure bred Golden Retriever as a rescue (her family divorced and it seems no one wanted to take her)...she was going to be put down but luckily they called the local association who had my number. I've recently had to put my oldest and closest four legged canine friend down so I had room for another dog..

Anyway her name is Goldie and she seems really depressed most of the time and very timid. She hides out in the back yard and won't come to me (most of the time) when called. She starts to bark if I leave her outside and I get the feeling she wants to interact and is trying to get my attention. The problem is I don't want to be too hard on her because she has only been at my place for 5 days and she is 9 years old. She has a rope like lead - she seems to respond to that. Whenever I hook that up to her collar she gets up and walks to the back door or wherever I lead her straight away.

I was thinking of getting a longer rope - letting her run away while I've still got the rope held in my hand and then, when calling her, tugging on the rope gently to see if she comes to me, rewarding her if she does. Does this sound like a good strategy? I'm trying not to coo her too much but she seems out of sorts and I'm wondering how long it will take her to adjust? I have one other dog who isn't giving her too much of a hard time but I think Goldie has always been a 1 dog family so maybe that is something else I have to consider.

Hope to get to know everyone and their favourite pet over the next few months.

Kind regards,


Karamon.

Welcome to pet talk! I have one shih tzu named snuggles. I think you are doing okay in your technique. If her family was divorced there may have been a lot of yelling making her shy. make sure you give her lots of praise when she does come. you might want to consider waiting until she gets settled in with the other dog and you before you start training her. hope this helps. :D

Hello :) I'm soo glad to read that you have rescued her! :) 9yrs old and healthy is not a nice way of saying so long by putting her down :(

its sad that the family could not have taken her with them - it shows real loyalty I guess. I know I wouldn't move anywhere that wouldn't involve Riot - hes my heart and soul!

I think the first thing to do is instead of trying to train her to come right now - work on bonding. Then the coming when called will be much easier.
Spend quality time with the old girl - playing with toys, going for walks(every dog likes to get out beyond their backyard), treating when she is good. Because its only been 5 days with her she will go threw an adjustment period. I am going to guess it make take her around 2 weeks to get comfortable in her new home(possibly more b/c of her age and if the family had her her whole life). Could you imagine leaving your known world and ended up somewhere else where someone was trying to get you to come to them right away. I'd be very confused and sad.
Gain her trust and you will gain her heart back! :)
Even groom her(if she likes it) Most older dogs just LOVE to be patted, groomed and cooed over instead of physical activities as well :) (rainy day stuff I guess for now eh lol).

Have you ever thought of clicker training her to come at all? I clicker trained my old horse to bow,come when she was called etc and she learned SOO quickly!
The basic concept of it is click as SOON as you see the movement you'd like and treat right away.
Use low fat treats that are small though - you end up clicking alot in the end :)
Gradually she will know the command without having to click and you can progress the behaviour. :)

I hope this has helped slightly for you :)

It sounds like she has found a wonderful home!

Spend some time getting to know the sweet old lady and you'll probably be surprised at how she responds. Her world has been turned upside down. Give her some time to get used to you, her new home, her new canine companion, etc. She's been thru a rough ride and needs to get comfortable with you. Patience, I'm sure you will be rewarded.

Thanks for all the advice - I will try and bond with her more - it sounds like a smart plan. I'm sure with time everything will work out - Goldie is such a lovely dog and I don't regret rescuing her.

Take care - will post some photos once I've had a chance to fatten her up a bit and trim and groom her coat.


Karamon.

does he even perk up his ears when you call him? I am just asking, if not he could be deaf or just ignoring you when you call him. You can do basic training with him or take him to obdience classes, that may help, too. :)

I would just give her time to adjust and come out of her shell. :) It may take weeks or even months, it just depends how timid she is.

Goldie does tend to perk her ears up a little - but mainly she is very timid. My other problem at the moment is my heeler / dingo cross (who is normally very placid) seems to be quite hard on the new dog. I know dogs have to sort out the dominance thing etc but I think with Goldie being as timid as she is Charlie (my 12 year old heeler / dingo - also a girl) seems to be taking her time adjusting a new dog (she has always had another dog - had to put her down recently).

Hopefully time will heal - Goldie appears to be more of an inside dog at night too - we had her inside last night and she seemed to be a bit brighter this morning. If Charlie is use to sleeping outside in a shed and Goldie is use to sleeping inside, is it wrong to keep them seperated at night?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SummerRiot

Hello :) I'm soo glad to read that you have rescued her! :) 9yrs old and healthy is not a nice way of saying so long by putting her down :(

its sad that the family could not have taken her with them - it shows real loyalty I guess. I know I wouldn't move anywhere that wouldn't involve Riot - hes my heart and soul!

I think the first thing to do is instead of trying to train her to come right now - work on bonding. Then the coming when called will be much easier.
Spend quality time with the old girl - playing with toys, going for walks(every dog likes to get out beyond their backyard), treating when she is good. Because its only been 5 days with her she will go threw an adjustment period. I am going to guess it make take her around 2 weeks to get comfortable in her new home(possibly more b/c of her age and if the family had her her whole life). Could you imagine leaving your known world and ended up somewhere else where someone was trying to get you to come to them right away. I'd be very confused and sad.
Gain her trust and you will gain her heart back! :)
Even groom her(if she likes it) Most older dogs just LOVE to be patted, groomed and cooed over instead of physical activities as well :) (rainy day stuff I guess for now eh lol).

Have you ever thought of clicker training her to come at all? I clicker trained my old horse to bow,come when she was called etc and she learned SOO quickly!
The basic concept of it is click as SOON as you see the movement you'd like and treat right away.
Use low fat treats that are small though - you end up clicking alot in the end :)
Gradually she will know the command without having to click and you can progress the behaviour. :)

I hope this has helped slightly for you :)

It sounds like she has found a wonderful home!

---

Heh, it may take a little longer than two weeks. My Little Dog (a rescue Yorkie) took almost six months to grow enough to the point where she would even bark.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by karamon

Goldie appears to be more of an inside dog at night too - we had her inside last night and she seemed to be a bit brighter this morning. If Charlie is use to sleeping outside in a shed and Goldie is use to sleeping inside, is it wrong to keep them seperated at night?

---

What a wonderful person you are for rescuing Goldie! I can tell she has a great home already. Most all of my "furkids" are rescued. I can't seem to let them go lol.

I don't think it's wrong to keep them apart at night. I have a Chow/hound dog and a Cocker/Dalmation, both girls. The Chow, Bandit, loves to sleep outside. But Buttons, the Cocker, is an indoor girl. During the day Buttons loves to be outside with Bandit, but at night time Buttons comes inside, I've tried to get Bandit to come in but she would rather be outside. Once in a great while I can get her to come inside, but not often. So I don't see any problem with Goldie being inside at night. Plus this can be your quality time with her to pet her, talk to her and just bond and lavish love on her. Good luck with Goldie. I'm sure she'll come around, just give her time and lots of love.

Give her time.. give her lots of love and attention.. She's basically trying to earn your trust right now... Before you know it?? she won't leave you alone..lol