On Edge

[Judy]

They obviously think he needs (s)mothering!

[Blackjaw]

Very happy to hear you got him back. I will be very interested to follw his rehabilitation.

[trekmoor]

His rehabilitation is worrying me. He is fine with me and my wife and he is fine with all of my 3 dogs too. He's not in the least bit frightened of them even when Charlie and Billy have one of their frequent growling and posturing contests very near him.

He is not "fine" with anyone else however and will try to get away from any one other than my wife and me. If that person just stands still he may go forward to investigate them or he may try to hide under a car as he did today when my wife took him out on the lead. He saw a man with a jack Russell while out on the lead near my house today and struggled to slip the lead to run away..... I'm not sure if it was the man , the dog or both that frightened him though.

He was unsure of my daughter until she'd been in my house for a minute or so and then he was all over her as friendly as could be. Same with my grandson.

I am trying to go to obedience classes with him just to socialise him a bit more and to have strangers give him treats.....but there is a waiting list. I am hoping that time will lessen his fears. I have done no training at all with him since I got him back. I just pet him every time he comes to me. He still likes to lie at my feet in the house and I was wishing he didn't tonight. We gave him 1/2 a pound of tripe to put some fat on his ribs and he lay right beside me all night doing sulphurous farts ! My wife thought that was hilarious.

We both love this puppy's nature. He is gentle and laid back in the house and although he has now widdled three times that is all he has done "wrong." We just clean it up and say nothing , most of the time he "performs" out in the garden. He doesn't seem to be a chewy sort of puppy but he loves his only toy which is a bit of old knotted towel. It gets carried about all over the place and it took me a bit by surprise when Libby and Charlie both gave it up to him when they were carrying it. I'd expected Charlie to do something "domineering" when the pup showed he wanted the towel but Charlie is being very good with the pup.

Wullie

[Shooter1]

Morning Wullie, so pleased you have been reunited with Edge, the news made my weekend.

I have a 8 month old ESS that I got from a pro GD kennel at 6 months. I believe the sheltered life that they lead for that first 6 months contributes to the behaviour you describe above.
My dog has had no such stress yet behaves exactly as you describe . I have a strong bond with him and he trusts me, but someone waiting ahead at a bus stop will have him trying to slip his lead. I ignore the behaviour and ask the stranger to say hi, after a quick pet he will be fine. Strange dogs are different , he is fine with my Rottweiler and my brothers ESS and Lab but panicks with approaching new dogs, not to bad if the dog seems balanced but pulling or barking is a trigger for panic.

I resigned myself to having an 8 week old puppy in the body of an adolescent and using the building blocks until he gains his confidence.

If anybody can sort it I'm sure you, with the support of your pack can.

Pete

[Rascal]

We headed off for sunnier climes on Thursday so have only just caught up with this thread...I can't tell you how relieved we were to read you'd found him Bill and yes people surprise you but mostly in a nice way. There are more good un's than bad un's....

Considering Rula and Edge are from the same litter, it's interesting to read the difference between them, as from eight weeks she has been a very outgoing, bold, confident pup in every situation. Maybe she's seen more with us since we got her?

I'm not sure I would overload him with lots of dogs/people in one place, I think I would let him get used to mates and their dogs in a controlled environment like a fenced paddock or a neutral garden somewhere where he can't bolt/escape and I'd do it off lead. Building up to more than one dog/person....And I would arrange loads of visitors to the house and just tell folk to ignore him and let him go to them in his own time......Then outside...Let it be on his terms for a bit....Grandmother and eggs?

Rascal

[Stacia]

I agree with Rascal, putting him in a class with lots of other dogs and the noise would be overwhelming. As Shooter1 says, he has lived a relatively sheltered life. I would take him to where there are dogs walking, but keep your distance to start with and gradually get nearer as his confidence grows. Pair the sight of a person or a dog with something pleasurable, perhaps the knotted towel he carries around at home, or a ball.

I had a GSP who had lived in kennels all his first 13 months and when I first met him he was hiding and trembling under the table in the kitchen, he had never been indoors before. He was terrified of everything, but eventually was fine with gradual introduction to life outside a kennel in the wilds of Wales! (The kennels were in Wales).

[Matt]

At the risk of adding to the egg-sucking lesson... I agree - nice gentle introductions to people you can trust not to spook him would be what I'd aim for.

And now to risk being patronising - don't overthink it. Too many people I meet who have taken on a rescue dog with "issues" spend all their time focussing on the terrible things that have happened to the dog in the past. (I know he isn't a rescue dog - but he did have a traumatic experience). There is more to him than a single event - as horrific as it must have been. His entire life doesn't have to be about that one thing. The more you can move past it the easier it will be for him to do so as well. Whereas if you worry about his rehabilitation you risk dwelling on it and even making it last longer. Even thinking about it as rehabilitation might make it worse rather than better.

Treat him like you've just bought him home - try to forget the experience he's had and train the dog in front of you. I only finished reading Charlie's Chatter recently - and I remember your early posts about how he was a bit nervous and how you were trying to bring him out of his shell. Treat Edge the same as you did Charlie. He'll soon come round.

[trekmoor]

This morning my wife took Edge out into the garden when the school kids were having their playtime about 80 -90 yards away. The pup didn't like the noise they made but couldn't run away. He settled down a bit after a few minutes.

I took him out into the garden on the other side of the house a bit later and threw his favourite dummy for him .....no problems there, he really likes that dummy and if it is placed high up to keep it away from him he does his best to jump onto the roof of the garden shed to get it.



Shortly after that my wife and I took him out into the quiet cul-de-sac we live in , took him off the lead and played "puppy Ping-Pong" with him. We both took a lead with us ....just in case though ! We had bits of cooked sausage for treats and we separated by about 15 yards then I whistled him in for a treat and my wife called him in for a treat.
It was very noticeable that he responded to the whistle far better than to voice..... I don't think the treats had much to do with it either. My wife is slightly miffed because although she feeds him and takes him for little on lead walks , Edge seems to prefer me.

A neighbour and his toddler son appeared 30-40 yards away down the road so my wife put Edge on the lead before he saw the man. I had a word with my neighbour, he's a Turkish bloke who only has limited English but we get on very well as he was a hunter and angler in his original country.
I gave him a few treats then my wife brought Edge forward to meet him. It could hardly have gone any better. Edge was a bit wary but was soon responding to him..... again I felt it had more to do with gentle praise and stroking than with the treats. Edge was more wary of the toddler than of his father ....something to do with the faster arm movements ? He did accept a treat from the toddler however.

Wullie

[Sgurr]

I'd stay with gentle experiences like that for a couple of weeks. Does Edge feel safe in the car? If so, I'd do what I regularly do with pups, put a crate in the back of the car, sit in the supermarket carpark and ask people to come over and say hello to the pups. It is just a watching the world go by but viewing a variety of people from a safe situation really does help the pups' confidence.

[trekmoor]

My wife skived off her pup sitting duties and went shopping . This usually takes her three to four hours ..... I'd like to know how buying a loaf of bread and a container of milk takes so long but that's wummin for you. I got bored stiff sitting around the house so I took all the dogs including Edge for a walk in the woods near to Livvy Pond.

The main pathways there are pretty straight and it is possible to see other path users coming for a long way off. Edge seemed to be very happy to be there so I let him off the lead and kept watch on the path ahead very carefully. He was not in the least bit frightened by my dogs. Not even when they erupted back out of the cover near to him as he moved along the path.

All went very well for about 3-400 yards then Edge raised his head, stared into the woods on his right then tore off into the woods on his left. Seconds later two people emerged from the woods off to the right, Edge had seen them before I did.
This time I did not go after him. I let the folk move on while remaining where I was then used the whistle to entice him back out of all the cover. Out he came, saw me but wasn't sure who he was seeing, I whistled again and back he came and received a fussing and a couple of treats.

From there we went down to the little stream where he and the other dogs had a good splash around for 5 minutes . On the way back to the car he saw a man sitting reading a book out in the middle of a football field and was wary of him but I had him on the lead as I'd seen the man before he did. We passed him by 50-60 yards away with a minimum of fright being shown by Edge.

As I was putting the dogs back into the car a woman with a small dog passed by 20-30 yards away. Edge was wary but he did not try to run off. He is now pretty keen to get into the car if he thinks he is going for a walk somewhere but once the walk has ended he is not nearly so keen on the car !
I was quite pleased with the walk though, he wasn't just as bad as I'd feared. Maybe he felt his "pack" gave him protection ?

Bill T.