A Request From The M F H....h E L P ! Update #18

[greysmom]

 

For Everything!

[galgrey]

I bet it's more than "may" Once she bonds to you she believes it is forever.....just saying....

 

just sayin'

[Remolacha]

She "may" be staying? I am shocked shocked, I say!

[Guest azlorenz]

She "may" be staying? I am shocked shocked, I say!

 

:hehe :hehe

[racindog]

Well THE impportant thing IMO is that you are giving her love. I belive there are probably various training protocols that may or may not help her depending on the owner. When I got Goldie he wouldn't come out of the bedroom either so I made him. I would drag him out and make him sit on the sofa with me and be exposed to all the city/house noise etc. I'm sure if I hadn't he would still be hiding there lol. But amazingly he actually began to relax fairly soon. Sometimes it is a fine line between inadvertantatly reinforcing their fears and giving them the exposure they need to overcome them. First I would have her on BACH's Flower Essence Therapy. Specifically she would be getting Rescue Remedy for one immediately. It has been a tremendous help to me in helping spooks settle down. THE major thing that basically cured Goldie( and it was sad when I got him because he would cower and try to run if you wanted to get him out and put the leash on him etc. like you mentioned), the major thing that just totally fixed Goldie was that I adopted an extremely aggressive greyhound named Slim. Slim was essentially a dangerous dog he was so aggressive and some sort of dynamic occurred between him and Goldie where Goldie got more self confident and bolder each day until after a year or two with Slim he was far far from being a spook! Goldie became outgoing and would bark at people and things etc. and was darn near fearless. It was truly unbelievable. Goldie's bark even changed from a shrill little girl bark to a deep strong man dog bark. It was quite remarkable. Never would have believed it was possible for Goldie to so completely overcome his initial spookiness. He was so scared of everything- even a pen click could send him to running...but NOT after he was with Slim for awhile. Slim turned him into a very happy self confident and outgoing dog that was just beautiful.

Nothing in the universe is more powerful than love. It sounds like you are doing all the right things to me. She is extremely lucky she found YOU. The wrong person could have hurt her terribly by handling her wrong even though they may have been well intentioned. Slim told me that people think they pick the dog but they don't - the dog picks them. Meg did herself proud when she picked you! Just saying...lol.

[Tallgreydogmom]

We take in spooks also. There are spooks and then there are true spooks. DH would have to crawl in the crate and pry her paws away from the bars of the crate to get her out. When she goes out the front door she crawls on her stomach. DH usually carries her, even after 8 years. She does enjoy sitting in her rocking chair and rocking.

[GreyPoopon]

:)

 

Both for the progress and the (potential ) failure.

[Guest tricolorhounds]

Meg sounds a bit like our foster Michael... Mike has been with us since just before Thanksgiving. The day we picked him up at the kennel, he had to be pried out of the crate and no one could look at him. He was terrifed of people but lucky for us, he is great with the other dogs so for a lot of things, like going in and out for potty, he followed what the others were doing. In the beginning since we couldn't approach him without him backing away, we would walk backwards towards him, to put his food bowl down, to give him a cookie, etc and when we wanted to pet him, would sit at the edge of his dog bed facing away.

 

After 8 months he is soooooo much better!!! He gets all goofy when we ask him if he is "crazy!!!" He'll wag his helicopter tail and talk/barks at us!

His quirks crack us up though... he'll join the other dogs in the kitchen and takes his meds from our hands but won't take cookies from our hands, those have to be tossed onto the couch. He has to be the 1st in and out of the door, luckily the other dogs know that he'll push them out of the way so they just wait until he goes by.