How to train a shy, nervous dog (border collie, poop, teeth)
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We recently adopted a 1 year old bulldog/lab mix from the shelter. No history is known about her except she was transferred from a rescue in puerto rico. She is a nervous nelly. On her first day, she was afraid of the ceiling fan, the tv, the refrigerator and was pacing back and forth a lot inside the house. If she does not know you, she won't approach you and prefers to hide or run. But once she is a little relaxed with the new visitor, she likes being petted. Despite her nervousness, so far she choose to run than fight if faced with anything scary. She has not shown any growling, teeth showing, or any signs of fear aggression.
Based on her shy behavior and she walks with a limp (her right front leg is more extended but it does not hurt her at all. She just walks funny), a good guess is that she was not socialized as a puppy and/or hit by a car or something but the injury healed up. I have never lived in puerto Rico so I do not know how dogs are generally treated there. Whatever caused her being so scared of everything, she is a very loving dog once she trusted us which took a day. She loves pets, hugs, treats, toys and acts like a happy dog. We also have a 2nd dog we adopted years ago, a 4 year old lab/pit mix who our new dog named Mushu immediately bonded. In fact, Mushu loves her new big sister so much, and has now cling to me and my husband as well, is now becoming a training problem.
When we walk our dogs together, Mushu follows our older dog actions. Wherever she goes, mushu pulls the leash and insist being inches away from her side. That is cute except she will only go where our older dog goes. If our other dog went the opposite way or out of sight, mushu immediately panics, sniffs for her smell, paces in circles, cries and will not listen to any commands (I.e. sit) in that mode. Her fear of new anything, away from her new sister, away from us, being alone, is greatly distracting her to learn and listen to us. Food and treats do not get her attention. We are currently crate training her.
What is the best way to help her?
Our other dog has been great helping her deal with new things but the idea that we must take both dogs everywhere together just because she is clingy seems silly.
First, thank you for adopting a rescue dog! I foster dogs regularly and have a particularly soft spot for the shy/scared ones. You haven't mentioned if it has been days/weeks/or months since your new pup came to live with you. I always try to understand how the dog feels and respect his/her space and needs. My most recent (ready to go to furever home this weekend) arrived so incredibly scared she thrashed in her crate at the vet's office and cut her snout. She spent the first week literally hiding under my bed the entire day except for when I brought her out for pottying. I left food and water right in there with her. About one week in she decided to find out what she was missing and joined the rest of us in the house.
What I am trying to say, in my typical long winded way, is that they do progress on their own pace. In my experience, it is less stressful to let the dog decide when they are ready. It is great that she feels comfortable with your dog. My own dog is a rescue who keeps an eye on each dog I bring in. Dogs will learn from each other. Your new pup is young and if it has only been with you a few weeks I wouldn't worry too much about it becoming attached, dependent on yours. You can gradually work on getting her outside with just you. I like to sit a little stool outside with my new fosters and just watch the world go by. They learn to adjust to sounds of kids in the neighborhood, bikes going by, voices of strangers, etc. from a safe place and it is just a nice start, esp. for an unsocialized dog. Good trainers will tell you not to overwhelm or flood a dog. Pups are different and go at their own pace. If you observe your dog, she will give you clues to whether she is comfortable or being pushed too fast/too far.
I've adopted shy dogs. The best way, I've found, is let them be themselves as long as they need to, while praising them for good behavior (like walking past you to go in or out of the yard) and certainly for doing their business outside. It's very helpful that you have another dog- she'll learn quickly from that dog what is expected, and will probably pee/poop when that dog does. She might not be cuddly, or not so quickly, and that has to be OK with you.
I had a shy dog from Best Friends (those who know BF, it was Eloise, the blue-eyed dog who looked like a dingo) and I had her for six years. She never ever wanted to be petted, and I had to sort of corner her to put a leash on, etc. But she came to follow me, sleep on the foot of my bed, and wide-eyed stare at me as long as I didn't stare back. Now, I think she was an extremely shy situation. The other shy dogs I've adopted behaved more like OP's dog, and came around much faster (stopped pacing, wanted to be near or petted, etc.)
You just got her best give her time the other dog Will help her more than u ever can! Watching the other dogs reactions will calm her & soon u see things that scare her wont. This wont happen over nite but will.
Add: It might just be simpler to take both dogs. My Eloise was always absolutely bonded with one other dog when she was at Best Friends and when she was fostered. She went to grooming with her buddy in foster care and almost got in the tub with him! However, when she moved into my household with multiple dogs, she tried to select one to cling to, and no one was up for it, and she gradually was OK with going alone.
When I adopted Phoenix she was 2 yr old border collie deaf and vision limited since birth and she was terrified of the world. She was at the local humane society for 6 months because she did not show well. When people stopped to look at her she ran to the inside part of the dog run to hide. I was not looking for A 3RD dog but had stopped to drop some flyers for our flyball trial off and she caught my eye and for some reason she was not afraid of me. I read her story and it tugged at my heart strings so I adopted her a few months later as we had to get one of my other dogs use to her so the trainer and I worked on it for several months but everyone there wanted me to adopt her so were willing to work on the issue to make it happen.
Phoenix hid from everything but was much braver when my other two dogs were with her. I took her on a walk down town without them and she freaked out and as we crossed the street she saw people on a side walk patio eating and she laid down in the street and would not move so I had to pick her up and carry her She did not go downtown again for many many years.
I never forced people on her but let her decide and once she met a person she tended to love them and would get excited the next time she saw them. She did much better meeting people in the company of Jazz and Dash as they loved people.
She learned many obedience commands and tricks by watching the other two I added hand commands so she would see them and watch to see what the other two did then do it. I would give her a treat so soon she would do the things with out having to watch the other two.
Jazz did not like the fact Phoenix stared at her ( but it was due to her limited vision) so she would see it and jump poor Phoenix and while she never hurt her,Phoenix would squeal like a piglet and be terrified. Yet she was also fascinated with Jazz and was always following her around . After 1.5 yrs of this my parents lost one of their two dogs and Phoenix and the remaining dog got along great so I made a tough decision and gave her to my parents. She would go out walking with my dad and the other dog and meet people because the other dog had to say hello to them. My mom died about 3 yrs later and the other dog a year after that so that left Phoenix with my dad who was in his 80's and she now had a job and that was keeping an eye on him. There was something about that that suddenly made her braver.
My sisters came to visit and walk in the big dog parade with me and my two dogs so we wanted a 3rd dog and borrowed Phoenix for the weekend . This meant wearing a costume and walking down that once terrifying downtown street so I was not sure if she could do it. We did the Mickey mouse club and Dash was Mickey, Jazz was Minnie and Phoenix was Goofy!Something magical happened as she became Goofy and was very social as when a dog is in costume everyone wants to pet them and take photo with them. It was so amazing and she had such a great time.
About a year later my dad died so she came back to live with me and she was no longer the shy frightened dog she had been, She loved the dog park and while she would say hello to other dogs she spent most of her time visiting people and even letting kids pet her ( kids had always been a major terror for her). She was a different dog. As terrified as she was when she was younger I do not think she ever growled or snapped at anyone as she was a very sweet dog.
So that is my experience with a shy dog, Time and other dogs help.
Thanks all. I was under the impression that training must start on the first week of adoption. She was just adopted this past weekend. We will give her time to let her tell us when she is ready.
I don't have time to write very much, but did want to mention that one thing which helped my nervous dog (a border collie pup), at least with his fear of new people entering the home, was to teach him a 'place' command. Whenever someone new would come into the house he would bark and pace, tail between legs, enter and leave the room, etc. and be generally quite upset. So I taught him to go to a specific place in the living room (his giant dog pillow), and whenever someone came to the door I wouldn't open it until I'd given him the command and he went to his pillow. He was trained to stay there and not move until I released him from the command. Anyone entering the house was told to completely ignore him as well....so, while Izzy was still afraid, he wasn't given the chance to pace and 'up' his anxiety level, and he eventually learned that the person entering the house wasn't going to hurt him. This, combined with many many many walks and introductions to people on the street (telling people not to approach him, but to let him go up to them if he was brave enough) helped tremendously in getting Izzy to overcome his fear of strangers.
You're always training, whether you know it or not. Saying "no" if they do something wrong. Praising for the least little proper behavior. Talking to the shy dog so your voice becomes familiar. Training isn't something you do for x minutes a day, but is in your interactions all the time. Putting her dish down and praising her for coming to it. Everything counts.
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This wont happen over nite but will.
She did not go downtown again for many many years. 
