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Hi everyone! Here I am with another question on helping my sweet, shy collie to come out of her shell.
To recap, here's Brenna's background:
She was owned by a breeder until age 5, when she was retired and sold. I don't know much about her time at the breeder's, except that she was kept mostly in an outdoor kennel except when whelping her puppies. The people who bought her from the breeder only had her for about 7 months, but gave her up because she was "too timid to be a good companion." They apparently were very harsh with her, yelled at her, and rubbed her nose in her accidents in the house (which were probably a result of being crated for 12 hours at a time). She is now very uncertain of new situations and people, although she has finally warmed up to us enough to go potty outside without fear and to roam the house freely without tucking her tail all the time. Okay, so here's my dilemma:
Brenna doesn't know how to play. She doesn't even seem interested in toys, honestly. She is content to just lay around on her pillow all day, except when we take our walks...which she loves. I've tried encouraging her to chase a ball outside to no avail, and inside play is much the same. It seems that any attempt to do something new with her is met with fear or unhappiness on her part, which is certainly not the goal of play. So I'm looking for some ideas of games or things I can do with her that will help boost her confidence and her activity level at the same time. Any suggestions? I'm clueless!
She was owned by a breeder until age 5, when she was retired and sold. I don't know much about her time at the breeder's, except that she was kept mostly in an outdoor kennel except when whelping her puppies. The people who bought her from the breeder only had her for about 7 months, but gave her up because she was "too timid to be a good companion." They apparently were very harsh with her, yelled at her, and rubbed her nose in her accidents in the house (which were probably a result of being crated for 12 hours at a time). She is now very uncertain of new situations and people, although she has finally warmed up to us enough to go potty outside without fear and to roam the house freely without tucking her tail all the time. Okay, so here's my dilemma:
Brenna doesn't know how to play. She doesn't even seem interested in toys, honestly. She is content to just lay around on her pillow all day, except when we take our walks...which she loves. I've tried encouraging her to chase a ball outside to no avail, and inside play is much the same. It seems that any attempt to do something new with her is met with fear or unhappiness on her part, which is certainly not the goal of play. So I'm looking for some ideas of games or things I can do with her that will help boost her confidence and her activity level at the same time. Any suggestions? I'm clueless!