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It's not enough I am trying frantically to train a kennel dog, who is quite smart and does sit and down and now instead of leaping onto my lap in the car, now sits nice on the other seat, but the other nite a boat blew air horns at 8 p.m. in the lagoon and we were outside and she just frieked. He actually scared me also. Since then I cannot get her to go outside after 3 p.m. She will go somewhere in the car, but will not go in the backyard or street. I would have to drag her to do it. I have no idea how to correct this, she is besides herself out there and looking around like she's expecting a bomb to go off. It is quite sad. In the house she is fine. Anyone have this problem and get past it????
Is your dog small enough to carry? If so, maybe you can carry her outside and walk a little bit, then try putting her down to walk. It's a shame that she got so frightened like that...I'm sure it's just a matter of being patient with her until she's okay with being outside again.
Get some AMAZING treats: poached chicken breast (Never the leg - it's too greasy). Cut it up (TINY pieces are just fine) and bring it along with you in a plastic baggie on your walks. When she's outdoors, keep tossing her some treats just for the heck of it - no rhyme or reason. Keep her guessing when the next one will arrive.
After 3 PM make the treats constant ( you'll want to cut back some on her regular meals!). Make that the PLUS side of going out. And walk her AWAY from the water.
This is going to take her a little while to get over. But if it happens again, comfort her, but not so much that she thinks it's a good thing to be terrified. And please get her a seat belt in the BACK seat: airbags kill dogs, who shouldn't be loose in the car, anyway.
Maybe luring her out (on a leash) with treats (small pieces of chicken, cheese or steak) would help, would just be casual and matter-of-fact - if that doesnt work, would probably try another route for a while (a different direction) and see how that goes.
All thru the day she will go out as often as you want. Still won't go in the back yard which is small and on the water side. She loved it and now won't go back there. In the dark I have to carry her and act like that's normal and then put her down and tell her she's a good girl. I didnt try food since first, it's dark out, and she won't eat them when she's afraid. Hope this blows over or I'll be waiting for spring when it's light late! She runs for the hills when you open the refrig door. Kennel dogs are not socialized and I am trying my best to do so. She is going to the groomer for the first time Tues and I am not staying. I want her to get used to other people.
As I just suggested in another thread, crate train her. And also use the same crate to transport her in the car. My lab likes the kind with the plastic bodies and little mesh windows. He loves his cave room, and always feels very safe in it. And there will come a point when she feels brave enough not to need to retreat into her crate. But I think that dogs like having their own "room" to hang out in.
If you keep picking her up when she gets freaked out, you are just rewarding her reactions with special attentions from you and the cycle will continue. She needs to learn that these situations are nothing to get upset over. You can't prevent the air horns from going off, so she just has to learn to get used to them and become desensitized to those noises. You need to act calm and ignore those noises as if you didn't hear them. Don't look at her, don't try to comfort her.
I got her at a year old and she was never crated. I bought one and she totally lost it when in there. She was ok if the door was open, but couldnt be left in there. She peed and pooped herself. It was just awful. You have to start early, she was a year old and never in a closed space. Once we left her out of it she never touched a thing in this house and never made mistakes. Just didnt work for her. Wish it was that easy. What are you guys saying I should do with a frantic dog outside on a leash and tugging to go home??? She is literaly frightened and food does not matter to her, or anything else for that matter, her eyes look wide open and scared till we get inside.
How big is the crate? What style is it? My thoughts are that it should be a small crate, and for now take the dog off of it. Keep her toys in it. Lure her into the crate with treats. While she is in the crate, give her some treats or chews. Never give her any treats for exiting the crate. Hopefully she will learn to think her crate a special safe place. In this case, the crate is not to be used for locking her up, just for giving her her own room that she can choose to retreat ti,
And she's a small dog, so if she doesn't want to talk long walks outside of your yard, don't force the issue. Her exercise requirements are very minimal compared to those of larger dogs.
Kennel, yes. She's been doing pretty well considering what she was like a month ago. She's just so afraid of evrything, especially wind, banging, anything out of the ordinary. It's windy now and she's running from one room to another, won't sit still. I feel bad.
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