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When I got her at 7 mos, she was THE most fearful dogs alive.
She would never leave her nesting area, and still to this day
I have to walk in the bathroom and then she will walk out to
the sliding glass door and go outside. But she runs, not walks.
Often, when I pet her and then leave, she groans/moans, which
sounds sorta like a dog stretching after a good sleep...when they
arch their back and groan.
It is a very deep groan/moaning sound. It has a sad ending however
as it trails off, like she is saying, "Don't leave me...please"
After watching many episodes of The Dog Whisperer, I am not
sure what this really is.
I know she wants a strong assertive pack leader. I don't want to
humanize these sounds and immediately go back to pet her like
I would a son or daughter at a young age.
Sheps, or shep mixes are quiet vocal, my female always groans, but not for attention, just because. How much exercise does she get? Possibly she doesn't get enough attention from you, and i don't mean it in "pet me non-stop" way, but such attention as spending time with her by training, socializing, playing ball, walking, etc.
I also have a fearful one - I've had her for years but she was horribly neglected prior to being starved and abandoned. She's adjusted fairly well but she cries - a lot. She cries if she's lonely. She starts crying an hour before mealtime. She cries if you stand in the doorway (she has a door phobia - the entire path has to be clear for her to scoot outside). She cries if someone talks loudly. She just cries. We have never seen her actually get excited about anything other than food, and every time it's food time she has this awful look like it might be the Last Supper for her...and she truly gets animated when she sees her bowl coming, but then we're back to the same old square one.
The only thing I've been able to do is reassure her in a calm, quiet way - give her an extra stroke, tell her it is going to be okay. Everything is very, very upbeat...no "what's the matter, baby", because I'm not sure it's anything other than her past life coming to haunt her. Try as we might, we can't correct everything in their past. I think that even after four years of regular meals, walk, exercise, and love, Annie is still convinced in her own mind that a good life is a fleeting thing and this could be the last time. We just work it slowly, one day at a time, and praise her for every itty bitty thing she does that is remotely inside the realm of what we wanted. Sometimes she smiles, mostly she looks uncertain.
The one thing that gave her the most confidence of all, not that she has a lot, was working with a trainer. That was one-on-one with me and she liked that part, but the noises and people and other dogs just scared her too much. ShepsMom probably has the best idea - lots of personal interaction, but coupling it with activities and extreme amounts of praise.
Love her all you can - encourage her all you can - some dogs will snap out of it and their yesterdays are dim memories, but others live with their demons. Don't pity her, but respect that she had a life you can't know, and make her feel as safe as you can. Best to you. For what it's worth, my scaredy-Rott is the sweetest thing in the world...she's just scared of the world, so we just don't ask her to deal with a lot that might confuse her further.
Sally was probably a Ferrel dog. She almost never makes a sound. She only barks at night outside. In the seven months I've had her, she barked maybe 8 times.
So you could see now why ANY noise from her gets my attention. She has done the growl for months and it is usually short.
When I had her a month she would still have diarrhea. Sometimes for days. This wasn't parvo...just fear. In total, she had it for about a month off and on..sometime went poop 6x a day.
She would make the growling noise then as well as after a petting. This is what makes it confusing. Is it for more affection or because she is annoyed?
I've noticed the groaning has increased with a few new foster dogs I've had recently.
Has she been to the vet recently? She could have some pain in her hips or elsewhere that is causing her to groan or moan or cry some? Maybe even a low-grade ear infection or mouth pain. Maybe it's time for a good once-over from the vet just to double check and make sure all systems are go.
How is she with other dogs? Have you considered getting her a (neutered male) companion? Maybe she's a little lonely and is kind of focusing on you and your attention to fill in the gaps, so to speak. Another dog might also provide her some mental and physical stimulation. Of course, I wouldn't recommend that due to possibly heavy play until you made sure there was nothing physically wrong with her, but it's just another thought. That could possibly trigger some anxiety in her too, so I'd just recommend maybe introducing her to another possible friend gently. My Annie does well inside her own pack but can't handle strange dogs. She isn't aggressive, just kind of melts down a little bit. Okay, a lot. She requires a regular - very regular - routine in order to just stay level. I understand where you're coming from - it's a very frustrating thing to deal with when you don't know if anything is really "wrong" and they surely can't tell you. I'd just get her a good check up and continue to work with her and consider that maybe she's needing a companion to run with or keep her company. At first she may feel a little displaced, but sometimes in the end, two really is better than one!
One of my current rescues had severe anxiety-fearful of everything and of separation-as well as epilepsy. Shortly after he came into Rescue we had to hospitalize him for 5 days for dehydration due to diarrhea and a raging ear infection. When he came to me, just out of the hospital, he was a mess. I adopted him and after two years he's doing well. He still moans and groans, though. The moan is similar to the sound a human would make when in pain. The groan sounds similar to the sound a human would make when a masseuse was kneading a very sore muscle and it felt good. Although the sounds are similar, the causes are different. When I clean his still-sensitive ears, he moans. When he snuggles up against me and relaxes, he groans. He used to make the groaning sound when I left him alone or crated him, but as he's become more comfortable with being by himself or with his canine buddies that has stopped. Come evening when he wants attention, he'll sit next to me and "oomph" and "uuugh" and look at me and smile while I pet him.
if we ask Cody for a down and he doesn't wanna he moans the whole way down and we laugh about it because its like he's talking back. I would continue walking out the door w/o a word.
He doesn't moan as we leave but my moms cocker spaniel does and we just keep on our way ..otherwise she becomes more vocal
When I had her a month she would still have diarrhea. Sometimes for days. This wasn't parvo...just fear. In total, she had it for about a month off and on..sometime went poop 6x a day.
She would make the growling noise then as well as after a petting. This is what makes it confusing. Is it for more affection or because she is annoyed?
I've noticed the groaning has increased with a few new foster dogs I've had recently.
PP, forgive me - I sort of whizzed right by this comment and it has just caught my attention again.
Sally did the growly-talky thing after petting when you got her...and it is increasing? I'd think maybe you're doing something right! Sounds like she liked it then but maybe was a little fearful of verbalizing - now she's feeling little better about things and she's "talking" to you.
I recently repossessed a Shih Tzu from a half-baked relative. When I got him, he would sort of grumble/mumble when you held him. It escalated after about a month to what "could" be construed as a vicious growl when you held him, as viscious as a Tzu can be I honestly was thinking maybe he was upset/distraught/mad and was going to turn and rip me a new one - I even posted about it. Turns out, the longer he has been here the more frequent and louder his vocalization. He absolutely loves being held on a lap, but you'd think he hated it and was being forced or something if you only listened. We only let him get to a certain pitch and fervor before we shut him down, otherwise it just gets to the point of being ridiculous. But it's just his way of saying he's very, very happy.
It may very well be that Sally is, in her distressed sounding way, telling you that you are the love of her life and she just has a mournful way of vocalizing. I think I'd still have the physical check up just to be sure, but maybe the frequency has more to do with her comfort level and thinking it's just a-okay to tell you how it is in her world.
My male Yorkie moans and groans when he is happy. He actually cries when he gets a new toy, he is so cute.
If you're unsure of the sounds take clues from his body language.
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I honestly was thinking maybe he was upset/distraught/mad and was going to turn and rip me a new one - I even posted about it. Turns out, the longer he has been here the more frequent and louder his vocalization. He absolutely loves being held on a lap, but you'd think he hated it and was being forced or something if you only listened. We only let him get to a certain pitch and fervor before we shut him down, otherwise it just gets to the point of being ridiculous. But it's just his way of saying he's very, very happy. 
