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PennyAnnie
Posts:12
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| 12/15/2011 1:18 PM |
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| I am new to this fourm because I recently adopted a 3 year old GSP named Penny Annie. We have had her for a week now. Her main issue I believe she has is seperation anxiety. First night we brought her home she was very skiddish and shy; I understood that... new home, strange people ect. We bought her a indoor kennel to sleep in at night. First night was stressful. She whined, yelped, barked & cried ALL NIGHT, non stop! So second day we bought her a bark collar, the one by Petsafe that gives 6 levels of static correction. That night she whined a little but was quiet the rest of the night. Third day we went and bought her a 20' x 10' outdoor kennel. She was a outdoor dog most of her life with her previous owner and landlord said we can have dogs but never 24-7 in the house; only on REALLY hot days or Winter storms and he even allowed us 3 hours of indoor family time ect... which we thought was pretty fair. So we put her in the outdoor kennel stright after a 2 hour play romp at the park. Put her out there and 5 minutes later she was going bananas! Yelping, barking, howling ect. Stupid neighbors called the cops and we got disturbance of the piece, at 2pm in the afternoon??? So we put the bark collar on her and went back inside. She whined and whined for about 30 mins then resorted to pacing and digging a little. Hour went by and she was finally laying in her dog house. So we decided that was a good spot to stop for the day. We decided to gradually introduce her to the kennel slowly. 3 times a day, hour at first and then gradually increase the time. That night she slept in the indoor kennel and we put the bark collar on her just in case & went to bed. She began whining and yelping again, seems as if the bark collar was no longer working at all! So I checked it by running it across a hard surface and it beeped and LED light blinked once. Manual said if the battery is low the LED light will flash really fast & it didnt so im guessing it was fine. Is she actually starting to tolerate the static correction!?
Landlord gave is one month to get her outside, after we explained the situation.
Just for the record, she gets plently of excersice (walked in the morning for a hour and gets to run at the park in the afternoon to her hearts content. and at mid day she gets 1 hour of mental excersice training) What else can we do? |
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PennyAnnie
Posts:12
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| 12/15/2011 3:56 PM |
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| Would also like to add; she always has a bone, afew toys and a kong to occupy her when she is in either kennel. However when she goes into anxiety mode, she ignores all of these items completly! Currently she is out in her outdoor kennel. Today she is to be out there two hours; time is almost up. She did 1 1/2 hours yesterday and the day before that she did an hour. Trying to increase the kennel time by 30 mins each day. She still whines the entire time and comes in the house shaking like a leaf. I dont ever enforce this anxiety by affection, and act likes its no big deal. Once she calms down and lays somewhere I reward her with some petting. Still I feel like her anxiety will never get better... Am I alone with this issue? Am I doing it wrong? We have had GSP in the past and understand the extent of excersice and training sessions for both body and mind. But never incountered a issue quite like hers. |
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:7862
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| 12/15/2011 5:03 PM |
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| Did she come from a rescue group? Did her foster have this issue? It may just be that she is in a new environment and she needs some time and a new routine. If you can give her foster a call and see if they have any suggestions. Separation anxiety is a hard thing and takes lots of patience. I would suggest you might want to find an animal behaviorist or trainer that can work with you in your environment. Your pup had an awful lot of pressure on her though when she first came home and it may be that she just needs some time to adjust. |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
   
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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PennyAnnie
Posts:12
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| 12/15/2011 10:27 PM |
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| She was not in foster. I got her from a hunter who called her a "lowsy hunting dog" and wanted to get rid of her. Which I believe to be arragant IMO. I see plenty of hunting potiential in her; great call back, solid sit and woah; her prey drive is where it should be, she points at EVERYTHING haha... so maybe he is just a LOWSY trainer; who didnt give her a chance. Anyways, he had her since she was a puppy. So I see how this would be a huge life style change, she must now get used to; 3 years of the same owner and rutine to something completly different. She has got such bad anxiety my hubby leaves the room (with me still being in the room with her) she gets shook up; starts whining, pacing and shaking. She is deffiently a mans dog. Its a headache in the mornings when my hubby leaves for work; she becomes a stress ball of fur for up to 15-20 minutes. It seems as the days go by instead of her getting better, she seems to be getting worse. I mean I understand she isnt going to magicly get better over night. Its going to take months and months of work to get her on the positive track. As for help from trainers, Ive searched around numerous times with no luck. Kansas is crappy when it comes to finding them. Still on the search though. If anyone knows of extra tips I could use PLEASE give me advice! Ive even thought about putting her on a short term anxiety medication for afew months to help her adjust while still working with her daily, to see if it helps any... Is this a bad idea? |
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Rose
MH
Posts:362
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| 12/16/2011 1:59 AM |
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I can only speak from personal (limited) experience, we adopted Casey at 1.5 years old too. When we first got him, his ears were flat pinned back against his head that he looked ear-less, he'd shiver and shake when lying down, and when we left him alone, he'd wait at the door and barked so much that when we got back the hallway would be full of moist doggy breath and his voice would be rough.
For such smart dogs with such incredible memory, I can see how a move would be traumatizing.
It took a lot of time for him to finally relax, maybe around 3 months or so before the barking (while we were away) finally died down. I think it wasn't until we had him for 6 months or more before I felt like he accepted our home.
We've had him for about two years now and he's now 3-ish and the anxiety is pretty much gone. I now give a command before we leave the home, he knows what it means and just lies down in his dog bed. |
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PennyAnnie
Posts:12
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| 12/16/2011 5:35 AM |
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| Rose- I am happy to hear a positive out come, makes me feel confident we can help her to get better. Gunna be a long road ahead for us but she is a gemstone among the brush! She is worth all the effort by far, she has already stole all of our hearts! |
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Rose
MH
Posts:362
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| 12/16/2011 8:58 AM |
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I think it just takes time. My GSP has changed a lot time in the two years we've had him, and I won't be surprised if he continues to change somewhat throughout his lifetime.
I was looking back at old photos of when we first got him - just look at the eyes and body language, I think he looked rather distressed. I compared the old photos to ones that are more recent, and I think there is a huge difference.
Before:
A year or more after:
You sound like a more expereienced dog owner than I. One thing I wish someone told me with an adopted dog is to be very careful of their instinct(?) to run away in the beginning. In the first days we got him he broke loose a couple of times and always seemed to head south, which would have been the direction where the previous owners were.
Good luck with her, sounds like she is in good hands & I hope your landlord is understanding.
P.S. We adopted another dog this year, and she settled in immediately with very little issue. I have come to conclude that every dog is different. |
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pixie bee
MH
Posts:4452
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| 12/16/2011 9:36 AM |
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I only just rad this post.
Here's what I would do,
please remember that she is 3, had a lowsy owner and was gotten rid and now your family has a chance to help make her life better.
I would train her basic obedience outside mainly and in the house once a day for about 2 minutes when she's brought in. B/c she knows whoa means he DID attempt to trian her - he did ruin her -BUT you CAN fix her pretty darn good,don't worry.
She has no idea what is expected of her. I buy horse treats for my dogs b/c they're quality,cheap and a lot come in a bag - buy something for treats.
Use food to motivate her to teach commands.
Once she begins to understand what you want she will have trust in you and confidence in herself.
She still needs to be held accountable for disobeying commands but in a calm,firm manner -matter of fact manner.
She will probably respond very well to luring - this means lure her into positions with food,then treat immediately.
As for the barking - I think this can get better in about a month or two.
What I would do is have her on a long lead outside and I would just sit there completely ignoring her - read a book.
She will begin to pace. When she does give her a sit command or down,whichever she is likely to do and treat. When she gets up, in about 5 seconds, sit/down again with a treat. She needs to be taught to calm herself to be confident in her surroundings.
Once she knows the sit, down,stay and can hold the command for longer and longer periods you can start to move arounsd- eventually out of sight and evenutally in the house.
This is how I would start to put her life back on track.
Best of luck to you guys.
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"Time with my dogs clears my mind, renews my faith, and lets me see the world as it is. My only regret loving dogs as I do, is the misery of their early departure." Robert G. Wehle
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Texas Belle
Austin, TX
MH
Posts:7862
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| 12/16/2011 9:53 AM |
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I was hoping she came out of rescue because they are a good resource and understand their dogs pretty well. Unfortunately, sounds like she had a bad owner before you. She is a lucky girl though as she has found someone that wants to work with her, you. Good for you on that one. So I still think she needs time to adjust, but as pixie said you can start to help her with basic obedience and some gentle positive training. Keep it short and sweet and positive. I would ignore the any wrong responses (no corrections) and reward the right responses in training. Let her figure things out. I like pixie's suggestion in her post as it should definitely help her figure out how to calm down. The one other thing I would add is always try to end on a positive success with her, even if you are just asking her to do something she already knows. It will help her and you in training.
I think you can definitely fix this girl given some time and patience. Good luck! |
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Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna)
Yellow Rose GSPs
"A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato |
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