[Mizac92]

Hello everyone, I have a problem with my dog, so I hope someone could help me. Year ago I bought white swiss shepherd, she was 5 months old. Because I couldn't go pick her up, breeder brought her to me. He took money and left, said that she need a bit time to relax because of car ride. She was so scared and depressed for days, but in time she started to play but mostly sat in corner. I wanted to get her back to breeder, but he didn't want her. So i tried everything I could to make her relax and get used to new surroundings. I managed to walk her and get her to park, it was hard at first but after she liked it and enjoyed it. She is friendly towards other dogs but is scared of people. She is genuinely scared of everything, cars, sounds, wind, rain. In time it got better, but she is still scared of my mom. She is deathly scared of her, won't come near and always run away when she gets close. We tried everything, food, toys, but nothing. It's difficult because I live only with mom, so she recently started to run away when I'm not home. I think it's not healthy surrounding for her, but I couldn't find her new home because she wouldn't accept anyone else. I thought about shelter, but it's difficult decision. Please I would appreciate any advice..

 

[Artdog]

She's beautiful. You may find the help you need here. The training advice you'll get will be very good for such a dog.
How does your mom feel about this dog? Is she willing to work with you? Follow instructions? Are you willing to train and work with her? It sounds like someone dumped a dog with problems on you, and took your money besides. She may be genetically fearful, which means you can work with her, and make things better, but you can't change her into a confident easy going dog. She is a dog that needs someone who will be dedicated to her--that may be you.
What is your dogs name?
One 1st thing your mom can do, is casually ignore her, not in a mean way, or in a weird way, just don't look at, or stare it her, leave her alone to do dog things. If your mom wants to feed her, she can just calmly (without looking at your girl) put really yummy food down, or drop treats on the ground (not throw), etc..
Getting your dog out of the centre of attention when amongst people she doesn't trust is step one.
If you are re-homing, check out German shepherd rescues. Also the german shepherd forum, they have a lot of rescue groups there dedicated to german shepherds and their needs.
Hope this helps. I love shepherds, and she is gorgeous but in need of tlc.

 

[DriveDog]

Wow, it does sound like someone dropped a load of problems on your doorstep. Dogs lacking in nerve are a lot of work to rehab and the other possibility is, you have no idea what your dog went through in the 5 months before you took her in.

This comment of yours " I managed to walk her and get her to park, it was hard at first but after she liked it and enjoyed it." is promising as it gives one hope that other fears or bad experiences she had before you took her in can be conquered. Sounds like your dog trusts dogs more than she trust humans obviously and no big surprise either. You might use this to your benefit. Maybe try having a friend with another dog, go out together and see if she acts differently to her fears with another stable dog in her presence. Sometimes another solid dog with good nerves can be a better teacher than most humans. I would suggest, it is a slow process and marked by the smallest of successes on the road to more confidence or learning intolerance of what ails her. I'm pretty confident in suggesting that coddling a dog like this when she is fearful might be the wrong way to go as would flooding the dog. Indifference on your behalf and your mom's when she exhibits her fear seems like a better approach as Artdog posted. I'm a big fan of obedience and the more obedience training you do with your dog, you might find has a positive effect on your dog. Maybe even simple things like playing tug games with her and letting her win all the time might help. Patience and consistency along with positive feedback when she makes a small success will help. I don't know if this will make sense but with the additional obedience training you could do, it will help the dog focus on you while phasing out the rest of the world. By proofing your dog in different situations with the elements which make her react, she will rely on you and the obedience more and her fears will not be at the forefront. As I said, it's a slow process but one which over time will win the day.

 

[Mizac92]

Her name is Aya, she is very beautiful, healthy and active dog. Really likes to play with any dog, run around and roll. She is very happy when we go walking. I always let my mom feed her, she eats food but only when mom leaves. We tried ignoring, mom would just sit in room and dog kept looking her in eyes. But when mom looks at her she turns her head. When we play in backyard dog always looks at window to check if mom is looking at her. And if mom is at window she runs away. Dog never go to the room where mom sleeps, she likes one corner of my room and sleeps there. And if we play in my room and she hears footsteps she always run to her corner. She is very smart I teached her some basic commands. When we are at park she follows me no matter how interesting other dogs are. I think that she is genetically fearful, but I can tell it's much progress since she came. Only 0% progress with mom. I have boyfriend and she likes him, wagging tail, even play and let him walk her. But when someone else try to touch her she always move away. We had husky for 10 years before her, and that dog loved mom so much. Mom is patient and taking medicine daily so I thought that maybe she smells different to dog and that's why she is so afraid, but on the other hand we had husky before who wasn't scared at all. Thank you for your advice, I hope we will make some progress. And sorry for bad english, I'm not native speaker.

 

[DriveDog]

Your English is fine and you convey your thoughts accurately. For what it's worth, your spelling is better than most "native speakers".

 

[mathilda]

when she really was at the breeder for 5 months and didn't have much socialisation there's the possibility that she's got some type of deprivation-syndrome.
the problem in this case is not that they made bad experiences, but more that they didn't make much experiences in live at all in an important time of their life.
this can lead to them bein ofte not very stress resistent and easily over-whelmed by new things.
I hope this is not the problem, because in that case there could be some things not connected the right way in the brain, which is would be permanent.

You already go a lot of great tips how to get your dog a bit more comfortable with your mother.
ignoring the dog to make it feel less threatened, how @Artdog advised, is a great start.
fi she's good with other dogs she could perhaps also profit from seeing another dog (perhaps from a friend?) have contact with your mum and having fun.
If she sees that the other dog is okay and feels safe she perhaps slowly also becomes more interested in joining and having contact with your mother.

When it comes to strangers...I know several Schäfis that don't really care for people they don't consider family.
they're not agressive, but aloof and will move out of the person's reach when they try to pet them.
perhaps this part of her breed background may also be part of the "problem".

 

[Mizac92]

@mathilda Yes, I think you are right, breeder probably kept her with her mother and other dogs, and didn't do any socialization. I spoke with professional dog trainer and he said that breeder ruined her and that he can maybe fix 40-50% but he asked a lot of money. I will try to call a friend with a dog and let dog play with mom, that's great advice. I would love to have another dog too but we don't have enough room. I will keep her because I don't think she could adjust to new home and people.Thank you very much.

 

[Mizac92]

And one more question, do you think dog like this should be neutered?

 

[mathilda]

i don't think it will have much of an effect if you neuter her or not.
however a dog with an unstable temperament should not be bred.
there could be a genetical component in ther temperament and a fearful insecure mother can't give their pups the security they need to grow up to become confident, secure dogs.
So I'd prefer the dog to be neutered if you can't garantee to 100% that you can keep the dog from getting pregnant.