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I adopted Trucker a little less than a month ago, he has some horrors in his past (not exactly sure what but they are there). This poor baby came to me with scars on his hind legs where it looks like he has been whipped and he cowers at everything.
We have been slowly been making improvements but as he improves in certain aspects, now he will play fetch and doesn't think you are throwing things AT HIM and will play with other dogs, he regress in others. His fear of strangers ("grown Humans") has gotten worse. He didn't growl or back at people before but rather just shook like a little leaf, now he low growls and shakes (resorting to barking if they don't take a step back or I don't come over).
I knew when I adopted Trucker we had our work cut out for us, we stared training yesterday (he hid under a stool, completely catatonic for over an hour). By the way why I looked for a trainer for Trucker I was hard pressed to find someone who would believe me that my dog exhibited all the fear/anxious behavior signs and on a scale of 1 (relaxed) to 10 (petrified) that Trucker was probably at a 13 or 14. I finally found a Trainer I felt like was going to give Trucker the time he needed and even she was surprised at how bad he was.
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Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help Trucker get over this initial hurtle?
I don't want his new fearful behavior of growling to turn into lashing out because someone didn't listen when I said back off.
We have been slowly been making improvements but as he improves in certain aspects, now he will play fetch and doesn't think you are throwing things AT HIM and will play with other dogs, he regress in others. His fear of strangers ("grown Humans") has gotten worse. He didn't growl or back at people before but rather just shook like a little leaf, now he low growls and shakes (resorting to barking if they don't take a step back or I don't come over).
I knew when I adopted Trucker we had our work cut out for us, we stared training yesterday (he hid under a stool, completely catatonic for over an hour). By the way why I looked for a trainer for Trucker I was hard pressed to find someone who would believe me that my dog exhibited all the fear/anxious behavior signs and on a scale of 1 (relaxed) to 10 (petrified) that Trucker was probably at a 13 or 14. I finally found a Trainer I felt like was going to give Trucker the time he needed and even she was surprised at how bad he was.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help Trucker get over this initial hurtle?
I don't want his new fearful behavior of growling to turn into lashing out because someone didn't listen when I said back off.
