Hello all, looking for some help or advise. Let me start with a brief history of where I'm at now.
Our family got a new "puppy" from a local breeder here in Missouri. 'Tucker' is a six month old pure bred Golden Retriever. We picked him up last Friday 11/1 and brought him home. Per the breeder he has been around people and other dogs his whole life however has lived in a Kennel with other dogs.
This puppy is the most timid dog I have ever seen. He is not aggressive and he does not nip at anyone so I don't think he is scared of people. He has been gradually introduced to is new family and warms up fine. However he is scared of practically everything else.
He struggles with basically everything. He will not willingly do inside or outside of our house. He will get to a door and just lay down or stand with his head down. Once outside he seems to be fine, he plays in the back yard and runs around. On walks he "shuts down" at the sight of another person or dog and will not move. Most of the time on a walk his tail is tucked down.
While inside of the house he will not explore and pretty much just stays in the front room. We try to lure him out with treats and food but will not leave the room. He barely eats because his food is in another room and will not even think about going inside a crate. He does not really respond to treats however we have had some success with chicken breast (cooked of course) however not enough to reward him for trying to go into another room. He will not come out of the room without a few min's of trying and when he does he goes right back in.
I guess my question is, is this normal behavior? Will it get better? Are we doing the right things? Anything else we can try?
Has anyone else experienced this or have advise to offer?
Our family got a new "puppy" from a local breeder here in Missouri. 'Tucker' is a six month old pure bred Golden Retriever. We picked him up last Friday 11/1 and brought him home. Per the breeder he has been around people and other dogs his whole life however has lived in a Kennel with other dogs.
This puppy is the most timid dog I have ever seen. He is not aggressive and he does not nip at anyone so I don't think he is scared of people. He has been gradually introduced to is new family and warms up fine. However he is scared of practically everything else.
He struggles with basically everything. He will not willingly do inside or outside of our house. He will get to a door and just lay down or stand with his head down. Once outside he seems to be fine, he plays in the back yard and runs around. On walks he "shuts down" at the sight of another person or dog and will not move. Most of the time on a walk his tail is tucked down.
While inside of the house he will not explore and pretty much just stays in the front room. We try to lure him out with treats and food but will not leave the room. He barely eats because his food is in another room and will not even think about going inside a crate. He does not really respond to treats however we have had some success with chicken breast (cooked of course) however not enough to reward him for trying to go into another room. He will not come out of the room without a few min's of trying and when he does he goes right back in.
I guess my question is, is this normal behavior? Will it get better? Are we doing the right things? Anything else we can try?
Has anyone else experienced this or have advise to offer?