wilson

Hi. We are about at the end of our rope. We adopted our young but greyhound just shy of two years ago. She's 4 years old now. We were told at the time that she was shy but just needed to get comfortable and come out of her shell. We've done everything that we know of and can think of to help her feel comfortable and safe and build confidence, but we've had two years of constant issues and still cannot see that certain behaviors are getting any better, and we have no idea what else we can do. Our greyhound is such a sweet girl and we can really tell she wants to be a good girl. But she is absolutely terrified to death of everything, and I mean everything. She spends absolutely all her time on her bed in our bedroom, and I'm not exaggerating. Except for when we take her outside to potty, she will run up to that spot. She won't willingly leave that spot for any reason. She just lays motionless for 20+ hours a day. No food motivation of any kind - I could stand outside the bedroom with a raw steak in my hand and she wouldn't come out on her own. When we've tried various methods of keeping her out of the room to get her experience spending time in other parts of the house, she becomes a nervous wreck and pees and liquid-anxiety-poos all over, and our home is unfortunately not equipped to handle much of that. So, one issue we have is that after two years, we are taking care of this sweet lovely girl, but it doesn't really feel like we have a family dog. No one ever sees her outside of our bedroom. Our kids are pretty indifferent to her entirely by now because they never see her or interact with her. The other primary issue is that she is terrified of being put on a leash and being led outside. We are talking physical trembling, teeth chattering (and not greyhound happy/excited chattering - that's different). Once we are actually outside, she does ok. Definitely on constant "high alert," and any sort of unfamiliar noise really spooks her, but she does ok outside. Lots of improvement there versus when she first joined our family. (I spent the first couple of months having to physically carry her outside - now once the leash is on and she is away from her "spot," she will walk down the stairs and out the door on her own). But she would never in a million years leave the room on her own or indicate in any way she wants/needs to go outside. It seems like the act of being approached and having the leash clipped on is the most problematic. She knows what times of day are times for going outside and she can hear us coming up the stairs and she tries to hide (jamming her head under the bed, etc). We take as much care as possible to be gentle and soothing when entering the room and approaching her, but her fear of this has not really improved at all after all this time. But about six months ago, she began a new additional behavior that is really pushing us to the edge of our ability to keep her in the home. Now, when approached with a leash to go outside, she just pees right there on the floor while she is laying there and trembling in fear. We don't scold or yell, but we cannot figure out how to get this to stop. We try offering yummy treats or food and she is just catatonic to that stuff - no reaction or interest. We have gone through a dozen different dog beds now because they've been soiled so badly and our carpet is just destroyed and our bedroom smells just horrible. Our oldest daughter had a friend over last week and she was super embarrassed because her friend commented our house smelled like pee. We've tried working with our local vet about this, and that hasn't been too fruitful. She was put on Prozac - has been on that now for about 3 months. We have not been able to discern any change in her behavior or level of fear/anxiety from that. We love her, we want to give her a safe and comfortable home, but it is really negatively affecting our life - having to clean up pee multiple times a day every day, and knowing that she is not feeling completely safe or comfortable. It feels like this is way beyond a "shy" dog just needing some time to get comfortable and come out of her shell. It feels like she has special needs that we are not meeting and don't know how to meet. So I am wondering if anyone is aware of any professional services that might be available to help consult and guide us on what we could possibly do to improve our pup's quality of life (and ours, selfishly)? We are just completely out of ideas for anything we can think of, and this situation can't continue forever. Thanks, and sorry about the long post.

Hi All- Really appreciate this community here. Great collection of advice and information. Hoping I can ask you all for any ideas, as we are facing an issue that has become quite problematic. We adopted Leeloo getting close to 5 months ago. She is probably getting close to 3 years old. We know she came from a racing farm that shut down operations, but we don't know much else about her previous history. Right from the start, Leeloo has been a very timid and very scared dog. But we have been gentle and kind with her and she has really come out of her shell here in the home. She really seems to love me, my wife, and our two young daughters. She does spend most of her days lounging on a dog bed in our master bedroom, but she does perk up at certain times of day to come downstairs and hang out with the family or play and goof off with toys or rolling around on the ground getting pets and tummy rubs. I'd say at this point she is over her fears in the home and is comfortable. The one exception is going out for walks / potty breaks. She absolutely hates this, and nothing - absolutely nothing - will motivate her to go willingly. She is usually on her bed, but even when she isn't - if she hears the sound of the leash being picked up or the door opening, she will run right back up to her bed. When we first got her, I had to physically carry her outside and put a lot of effort into pulling the leash to get her to move. Nowadays, it has improved noticeably - once we get her out of the bedroom, she will generally walk herself down the stairs and out the door without too much pulling. Once we are outside and walking, things are great. But it is getting her on her feet and out of the bedroom that has been the challenge. She just turns into dead weight and will not budge. Still have to physically pick her up and put her on her feet. She will not respond to anything to motivate her - treats, toys, calming language, etc. We've even tried super high "value" food like liver, cheese, various other meats... absolutely no effect. This is annoying, but ultimately not that problematic. And we've always thought it will be something she will continue to make progress on as we are patient with her and she gets more comfortable. But, unfortunately, we have a new issue developing. I usually am the one to take her out for her walks. But sometimes, I am not available and my wife needs to do it. Starting about 3 week ago, Leeloo has begun to growl at my wife whenever she comes up with the leash to take her out. This has escalated and is now full blown growling, baring of teeth, and trying to bite her when she tries to put on the leash or get the dog on her feet. It got pretty bad these last couple of attempts, and now my wife is (rightfully) too afraid to try it again. Leeloo would never do that with me, however. She was always begrudging to go out, but never growled at me or was aggressive in any way. Until this weekend. Now, she is doing this behavior with me, and not just growling. Like, full out trying to bite - extremely aggressive. Any other time, though, she is a total sweetheart and very lovey. I've been able to her out only by getting a muzzle on her, and getting the leash on her that way - she is going nuts trying to bite me through the muzzle, though. It is very scary. This is a big problem because she has to go outside for potty. We don't have a fenced in yard. I have some work travel coming up soon, so I will have to be away from the house for a few days, and we are really freaking out because we don't know what to do. Happy to share more info, and if anyone has any thoughts or ideas, we would so greatly appreciate it. We love Leeloo so much, but are seriously worried about not being able to fix this problem.