Cowering

[Tonya]

As I mentioned before, Roxy is a super sensitive dog. I got her from a sleddog rescue and she'd spent most of her life in a small kennel. I have to be very delicate when I discipline her. Last week, she chewed up my cable to my dish TV for the second time within a few days. I'm normally really gentle with her, but this time I caught her in the act and I kind of lost my temper. I DIDN'T do anything physically, but I took her by the collar and yelled at her. Now, everytime I am with her, she has her ears back like shes afraid of me and she keeps rolling submissivly onto her back. Even yesterday, when we were playing fetch, she'd put her ears back everytime she brought the ball back to me. I feel so horrible! I knew she was sensitive, but I didn't realize she was this bad. I don't want her to fear me. She is acting like an abused dog. We're going camping today, and I hope the time away together will help her to trust me again. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[aly]

You're just going to have to start back from square one. Its going to take a long time and you'll have to slowly earn her trust back. I would recommend redirecting her into a desired behavior rather than yelling at her next time. Since she's spent her life in a small kennel, there are so many things she's never been exposed to and the world can be a scary place. She needs time, patience, love, and consistency.

[lizbud]

The fact that an already timid dog was yelled at is unfortunate,
but holding her by the collar when you did it, makes it worse
for the dog. The natural response of a scared dog is "flight or
fight" She wouldn't & couldn't do either. Everyone loses their
patience in training/correcting their dogs once in a while, me
included. I hope the time away camping helps in re-connecting
and earning her trust. Would it be possible to "gate" the dog
off from tempting chew things until she learns to ignore them?
Maybe give her more safe chewable toys to occupy her time.
Good luck to you both.

[Tonya]

We just got back from camping. Just that one nite I think did alot of good. She doesn't seem scared of me now. We had so much fun! I found out that she loves that water. She swam all over the river.