is there hope for this pup?

anndi39 · 05-11-2007, 04:12 PM

A friend of a friend.... bought herself a havanese puppy. She had her heart set on a girl and after saying she would not choose her puppy based on sex...she did it anyway. The whole scenario screams bad breeder to me but she was too consumed by her wants to listen to any advice. There were two puppies to choose from, one 9 week old male that was bubbly and friendly, and one 12 week old female that hid. She wanted a girl so bad, she chose it regardless and now after two and a half weeks, she still cannot get the puppy to approach her. Im just wondering what your opinions are about puppies that haven't been socialized and if after two weeks, is there any hope it will still turn around... my next big challenge is to convince this gal...who I really don't even know... to spay this puppy and DO NOT even begin to think of breeding this poorly bred girl.

The breeder says she had kept this female back to use for breeding but decided she needed the money and wanted now to sell it....Im just thinking this is a horrible breeder who doesn't socialize her puppies...and now wants rid of it and is allowing this lady to have it with no spay/neuter contract...its just make me angry....

any advice on winning this pup over? she has tried all the things I told her... and the next thing I was going to say was to keep it on a leash so it has to stay near her.... and then show it love and attention..

Curbside Prophet · 05-11-2007, 04:27 PM

What are the chances of the dog and owner attending a group puppy class?

TrinityQuiet · 05-11-2007, 04:29 PM

Aww =( Has she tried tricks like keeping treats in her pocket? I don't know how well it works with dogs, but when I'm working with shy cats...if the shy cat is in view, play with a cat who adores you...I swear they talk to eachother. If one cat's purring and talking to you and obviously wants to be with you, the shy (in my case, usually feral) cats are intrigued and try to mimic the happier cat. Maybe it works on dogs =( Also, she could try lying flat on the ground, on her belly, so that she's totally nonthreatening. I've gotten a lot of animals to come to me with that. Maybe wiggle her fingers while her hands are stretched out, so it interests the dog but again, isn't threatening. As to breeding...can you ask to see the dog's lineage, maybe do some research so you can point out "oh, wow, this dog has horrible inbreeding and known problems! All this line's hips give out by age three and they get cancer by four! I'd hate to see that happen to the puppies!" Cold hearted, but maybe a way to keep breeding from happening.

Snowshoe · 05-11-2007, 04:45 PM

Wow...I hate to hear stories like this.

IMHO, try the puppy pre-school, but have your friend remember to be as patient as humanly possible with this little thing.

Lots of treats, happy voices, safe environment, etc. She may have to attend puppy pre-school more then one time.

I think the hardest thing about working with shy animals is that they regress sometimes, even after it seems like they come so far. That's where patience, patience, patience, love, encouragement, and stinky treats come in to play.

All she can do is her best.

I hope that she realizes that this problem is maybe something that can't be "fixed." It's very possible that this pup may be shy her whole life. She'll have to find her dog's limitations through socialization exercises, and just hope for the best.

And yeah, this animal should not be bred. This is a big soap box for me as everyone knows, but it would be cruel to bring puppies into the world that are THAT shy. That's no life for an animal to live.

This is a link to a PDF pamphlet that is all about Malamutes, but the 12 steps to socialization are the same for any type of dog. Send this link to her, or print it out and give it to her.

It will at least give her somewhere to start: http://akkaoa.org/PDF_Files/12-Steps...ialization.pdf

Amaya-Mazie-Marley · 05-12-2007, 01:09 AM

When I first got Amaya she was exactly like that. She wasn't like that until we got her here to my house though. What I did was I didn't give her the option of hiding or leaving my side. I corded her to my side, and I just took things slow. I would offer her treats and if she wanted to be shy and a bitch, fine, she didn't get the treat. It took honestly about 3 weeks before she would warm up, and lol now I can't get her to leave my side even though she has that option. If you give the dog the option of hiding, she will most likely always be like that because she is taught thats its okay. I agree with the laying on your belly thing, I did that also. With Amaya still attatched to me I would lay on my stomach or on my side and talk to her in a friendly, baby voice. She would get close enough to let me pet her a few times, but then she would walk away. She LOVED the cats, so I would go get my cat, and sit on the bed with her and play with her and pet her. Finally thats how Amaya got used to me. She got tired of sitting on the floor while I was on my bed with the cats.

SFury · 05-12-2007, 09:30 AM

Patience is key. When I got my sheltie Kiba he was so timid. He was a very friendly, albeit timid dog. He was scared of any other animal and would hide behind me. The only training I did with him was positive based, and I made certain that I spent as much time with him as I could.

It would also help if you and your friend kow someone who has a friendly older dog that will play with the pup. With timid Kiba I had my completely opposite outgoing Buck, and Nitro my parents golden retriever to play with Kiba. His being around outgoing dogs also helped tremendously. Every time Kiba would play, and be outgoing instead of acting timid he was praised. He caught on after a while as to what I wanted, and he seems to be a lot happier.

I made it a point once he became accustomed to me, and trusted me, to go out to public places so he could meet people. Not other dogs so much as other people that would be kind to him. Even though he was so shy, he has always loved to be petted, and I used that to my advantage with him. With a lot of time and effort he is now an outgoing dog now. It took months of effort to get him to this point. It was well worth it.

Kiba will never be the brash outgoing dog Buck and Nitro are, but he isn't the super-friendly shy dog who hid behind me either. It was so strange having a dog who wanted to be petted, but was afraid to approach strangers. Now he will walk up to people, and ask to be petted if he gets my OK.

As Snowshoe said, there will be times of regression, and you r friend has to be patient. The little pup will come back to where she was after a short period of time. This is not an easy task, and extreme patience is needed. Tell your friend that she shouldn't give up.

icepaws20 · 05-12-2007, 09:44 AM

we had the same problem with our malamute when we picked him up,but after a couple of weeks he settled down and became more confident and now at 9 months we have no problems with him (touch wood!!).
I think puppy classes would be ideal,they really helped us,try to be patient and good luck!!

Kirsty and Koda xxx