Skya the chicken

[Giselle]

My suggestion is just DS and CC then. Put her in a position where she's comfortable (i.e. in your car or in the grooming area) and have a stooge person walk by and drop a *really* scrumptious treat by her. Don't have them stop. Don't let them touch her or look at her. Their only purpose is to walk by and drop a treat. (By the way, what types of treats have you used and is Skya usually hungry when you try to train her?)

Repeat the above enough times with enough people so that she eventually learns to associate strangers with delicious treats being dropped into her furry little paws Eventually, you can work in closer proximity with the people and start moving it to higher stress situations. The obedience class should help, but I wonder if the stress will hinder her learning ability. I would work on desensitization and counter-conditioning now and use class as just a supplement. She's young and her mind is so pliable. She should make it through with flying colors.

[bckrazy]

I agree with Sophie... as always. You are the bomb, girl.

EVERY fearful dog has a theshold. While Skya might not be uncomfortable taking treats from a person's hand who is 2 feet away, she might be perfectly fine if that person is tossing them from 10 feet away. Find a point where she isn't acting nervous or fearful, give her tons of praise and treats for it, and progress slowly until she can take treats from the strangers hand. You might also start clicker training and incorperating that... it helped me A LOT with desensitizing/conditioning Gonzo. It's important that you allow her to approach people at her own pace, rather than forcing her on them, as frustrating as it is to make people wait. I know it's hard, and you feel bad, but it is much better to have a dog that is confident and happy to greet people, rather than one that must be forced to greet people.

I'm sure Skya will overcome her fears. She's lucky she has such a dedicated Mommy. Here are a few good links you might want to browse:

http://www.fearfuldogs.com/index.html

http://www.animalfarmfoundation.org/...26&item=192%20
(this is good for both aroused and fearful dogs)

http://www.responsibledog.net/helplessness.html
(a fantastic article regarding restraining/forcing something unpleasant on a fearful dog... of course, it's to the extreme, but it's interesting)

[wolf_Q]

Just a little update on Skya...

On Tuesday we had a dog party for Keva's birthday at my house. There were about 10 people and 11 dogs in my backyard. She did fine with all the dogs. I had some pieces of turkey hot dogs and I told people to give her some. She ran away and hid from everyone at first, but by the end she had taken treats from most everyone. Some of my friend's husbands were there too and she was more afraid of the men, she didn't want to take the treats from them, but she took treats out of the women's hands. She stayed off the deck because thats where the majority of people were but later when several people left she ventured onto the deck and sniffed some people.

We went to the first puppy class tonight. A couple of my co-workers tried to pet her in the parking lot and she wouldn't go near them or eat a treat tossed to her. But she did much better in the store during the class. At first she hid under the chair, but after some coaxing she came out and spent the rest of the time laying by my feet. Not acting stressed or bolting away from people, just laying there. The trainer is a guy and she wouldn't take a treat from his hand at first but a little later she ate several treats out of his hand and would venture close to him for the treat...not all the way up to him and she wasn't too keen on him petting her, but much better than she usually is with strangers, men especially. The other dog in the class is a 60 lb 7 month old lab, he was with a woman and a younger girl. She let both of them pet her while she was laying by my feet and took treats from the girl's hand. She was a little bit of a brat with the dog though. Well when they first met she was super friendly and was trying to lick his face. But he kept wanting to play with her and she didn't want to so she snapped at him a couple of times...not real snaps, she didn't even make a noise, just more of a "hey get out of my face" thing. That's a Nebo move. Overall I think it went well. I'll keep updating this thread with her progress.

[Giselle]

Just a note: because her confidence is pretty fragile, I wouldn't encourage people to pet her yet, especially not on the head. If they have to touch her, I'd probably have them run a hand over her back while *you* feed her. That way, she doesn't feel so vulnerable.

Sounds like excellent progress, though!