Advice needed on shelter dog

[doxieparents]

We lost our nearly 18 y/o doxie in January. In March, we rescued Maddie, a doxie, from the shelter. The vet estimates Maddie to be approximately 3 years old. From Maddie's behavior, I can only assume she was abused. She was picked up by the dog warden in -15 degree temperatures wandering the street. No one claimed her, so she was taken to the shelter. She is housebroken, walks very well on a leash and has the whitest teeth I have ever seen. She is kenneled at bedtime and sleeps thru the night. When we let her out of her kennel to go outside, she yips and jumps up on my legs all the way outside and even after we get outside. I stand still and eventually she stops and does her duties. She does the same thing if I go outside for 5 minutes or if I run to the store for an hour or so. When we go to pet her, she cowers...also if we barely raise our voice. Our 9 y/o doxie keeps his distance most of the time, as she is extremely aggressive toward him. She will run full speed and slam into him. He will not go outside to go potty when she does, so we take him out separately. We live in a small community and do not have excess to trainers for small dogs...just hunting dogs. Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Scottiemom]

We have two rescued Scotties who were never abused, always loved. The one loves all contact. The other doesn't like to be petted on the head and will cower, but we can scratch underneath her chin or on her rump above her tail.

God bless all rescuers. She just needs time. Sounds like she is going to do fine.

Dale

[Oaklevel]

Patience & Time.........& Work........ It took our Kids rescue nearly 6 mouths to start to warm up to me, a closet is still her friend a year later. She now comes to great me when I come cove & sits with me , something she would not have done when she first came home. She is great around their baby.......

Patience & Time

[frmAloha]

Patience is the best advice. My rescue took almost a year to truly be able to relax and trust me. It's a slow process, but well worth it in the end.

[dwb619]

We rescued a young Pitt from a shelter in Lawrenceville,Ga. in March.
She was living on the streets and only captured after she refused to leave her friend who had been killed by a car.
Her time was up when we got her.
I believe the strange surroundings and all the change had her shy of people and new places.
It took about three weeks for her and our other 10 years old Pitt and 1 year old Rott to bond.
Now she and the young one are BFF's, she can't wait to get in the yard every morning and play chase and tackle with him.

[Pawz4me]

How is she aggressive toward your older Doxie? Running full speed and slamming into him isn't really aggression. It's more being touch insensitive or a lack of body/spatial awareness. You see that type of body slamming play in lots of sporting breed dogs. Does she growl or snap at him? It sounds to me as if she just doesn't know how to contain her exuberance.

[dspencer]

Thank You for rescuing her and please try and be patient. She will probably turn into a fantastic companion for you.

[Dog_Folks]

doxieparents wrote:
Thank you all for the replies. I read the ASPCA article on hand shyness. This may be part of it. The yipping and jumping is another matter. We will continue to work with her and be patient with her. So far nothing has changed. Hopefully there will be a breakthrough real soon.

Please be patient with her. It may take some time. Think about how you would feel if what happened to her happened to you.

Being homeless, then snatched up off the street by a stranger and being put in a small room. Strangers coming by and gawking at you everyday. Finally a nice person takes you to another strange place and you must learn all about how life works there. It blows the mind to contemplate.

[doxieparents]

Thank you all for the replies. I read the ASPCA article on hand shyness. This may be part of it. The yipping and jumping is another matter. We will continue to work with her and be patient with her. So far nothing has changed. Hopefully there will be a breakthrough real soon.

[magnusfide]

God bless you for rescuing her.

[RoadLife]

The ASPCA calls this "hand shyness" and they have a good article on it with training recommendations. Here is a link:

Hand Shyness

[Dog_Folks]

Based on the history, she could be afraid of the big outdoors. Reassure her when she is outside, but don't "coddle" her.

The whitest teeth says to me, from experience, that the dog chews a lot, and may chew on unwanted items. Be ready.