Fear Aggression

Travlingman wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
Hey Travelingman, how is Sahara doing?

Thank you for asking ReneeG.

She has been doing great. She has become very comfortable around the house. She no longer shows any fear about me or my wife. I told about when we first got her, that she had showed some agression when my wife came out of the bedroom with heeled shoes on the wood floors. After getting her use to seeing my wife in her Sunday clothes and then letting her hear the shoes, she now runs up and tells her goodbye for the day. She knows around the time she should be back and will jump off the couch and go to door and start listening for her. When she hears the garage door open up, she will start dancing and whinning and then lay down at the door until she comes in. Then the happy dance starts.

It is kind of funny. Our last lab was a female too and was "my" girl. She loved my wife, but was "my" dog. If I did something, she was by my side. Inside or outside, she had to be there. My wife would say that she hoped she had a dog one day. This weekend I was outside and took Sahara. My wife was inside cleaning and Sahara made me bring her back inside and she would follow my wife around or would lay down so she could watch her. Now, whenever my wife sets on the couch, Sahara will jump and lay down beside her. Tonight she jumped up, laid down beside her and put her head in my wifes lap and went to sleep. My wife looked over and said, "well, it looks like I got that a dog I wanted."

With the weather we have had, she hasn't been out much but hopefully spring will be here soon. I have noticed though, that a few times we have been out that if another dog comes up with a person, she acts very calm. She doesn't even bark at the person. We also found some video of her from the rescue where she was in a dog park and had no issues with people. So, we are wondering if another dog might help her with people. We also found out she is around 4 years old verses the 2 1/2 we thought. So we know that she had been mistreated for longer than we thought.

Forgot to mention that she is responding well to learning commands. She is a quick learner and we just need to practice more.

To see the progress she has made in the 6 months we have had her, to me is amazing. Yes, she is still scared of some new things, but we understand that. We know we have to watch her from now on, but we are OK with that. She is our baby, and she now knows that.

great news and great work and patience. my wife and i have been a foster home for a chihuahua rescue for several years. 2 of our fosters along the way we ended up adopting after 2 years of fostering them. They both have been with us for a total of 4 years. Momma Girl was rescued from a puppy mill kept in a small wire cage 24/7 and Meg came from a 40 dog hoarding case.

they continue to have trust issues but they still make slow progress and are 2 of the sweetest dogs ive know.