Adopted a new dog, believe she was abused... UPDATED with pics PG 4.

[Nightwish]

Another +1 for crate training. Both my current dogs had it and thy were always perfectly happy to sleep in them, we'd still have them except out two dogs are way too big now

The only training my dog phantom objected to and very vocally was "dominance down" lol

[broccoli]

Originally Posted by josh_676

Returned from work today and she's skittery again and running away from me.

What work shoes do you wear? Have you got hard floors? If you are "clompy" it might frighten her if she hasn't been used to it. Also, if she hasn't lived with men, your deep voice might be scaring her. Try making your pitch higher when you talk to her.

[josh_676]

Originally Posted by broccoli

What work shoes do you wear? Have you got hard floors? If you are "clompy" it might frighten her if she hasn't been used to it. Also, if she hasn't lived with men, your deep voice might be scaring her. Try making your pitch higher when you talk to her.

Boots and a uniform, wooden floors, can be loud. But today she came to the front door to greet us, and then saw me in uniform and just ran.

[broccoli]

The boots wouldn't help, for sure. Anything that can seem potentially "growly" to the dog. Maybe the rangers got her in the past and so the uniform made her think you were "the fuzz"?

[josh_676]

Originally Posted by broccoli

The boots wouldn't help, for sure. Anything that can seem potentially "growly" to the dog. Maybe the rangers got her in the past and so the uniform made her think you were "the fuzz"?

Yeah I'm unsure, the dog pissed herself the first time I met her wearing the uniform, but unless dog catchers wear cams I don't think it's that. My girlfriend thinks the uniform makes me look imposing, which could make sense. I just try to get changed as quickly as possible from getting home, or come home in PT kit.

She's such a beautiful dog. From reading it's not too uncommond for border collies to have some kind of issues, at least Sashas aren't destructive so far.

[broccoli]

It'll be the boots and your voice. Also they don't see colours the same as us, so she might not be able to tell the difference between your gear and the ranger's King Gee khakis (or whatever they wear over there).

[josh_676]

Yeah, I lower my voice when talking to her, into a friendly tone, I have been taking the boots off at the door before coming in. Just a fear I'll have to work around.

[broccoli]

Originally Posted by josh_676

Yeah, I lower my voice when talking to her, into a friendly tone,

Unfortunately what you think of as a friendly tone, she may hear growly. Think falsetto. Go up, up, up, Edna Everage up. Try "hello, possums!" on her and see what she does.

[josh_676]

Originally Posted by broccoli

Unfortunately what you think of as a friendly tone, she may hear growly. Think falsetto. Go up, up, up, Edna Everage up. Try "hello, possums!" on her and see what she does.

Sorry wrong way, yeah I talk to her the way I'd talk if I was a flaming homo! She loves it when I whistle to her.

[Melzawelza]

Originally Posted by josh_676

She loves walking, the difference in her behaviour towards us before the walk and after is amazing, so after the walk it was back to how she was behaving last night and loving us. Had an incident where two unrestrained dogs ran straight up to us while a car drove past, she was a little worried and pulled on the lead a few times, I told her to sit, which she did and she let me deal with the two dogs and then continued on her way like a boss.

But yeah, if they stressed her out I'd avoid it, like this morning I just ignored her until I went to work as she was being all skittery.

Thanks for the advice and please keep it coming.

That's fantastic that she does so well on the walks! And the way she let you handle the situation is great too, she's deferring to you and you stepped up and showed her that you'll look after her. Very good for forming the bond between you.

Sounds like you're doing a really great job mate, really good.

This is quite a good crate training guide:

http://www.wikihow.com/Crate-Train-Your-Dog-or-Puppy

But the few things I'd add is

- Feed her every single meal in her crate. Don't close the door initially. This builds the association of crate = good.

-Don't leave her for ten minutes the first time you close the door! That's way too long. After maybe a week or so, or basically until she is eating her meal heartily with no hesitation, close the door as she starts eating, and open it up just before she finishes. Gradually increase the time you leave the door shut by 30secs - 1 min each time. Only let her out if she's relaxed and quiet and don't make a fuss when she comes out.

It won't take too long until she really starts choosing to go in there and loving it

[millhouse]

Originally Posted by KANNIS

You can always tell if she has been abused by raising your hand up and walking towards it.

No what you can tellis that the dog is responding normally to your body language.

Originally Posted by Melzawelza

2. Lots of people think their dog has been abused but it's much more likely that she just hasn't been socialized to humans. So your dogs behaviour instantly makes me think of a dog that was outside only with other dogs, but never let inside and not really handled much as a pup or then on. If youvr never seen a doorway before let alone been inside it could be pretty damn scary. Could be likely with a working type dog too - out the back with the the collies, not let inside, not really dealt with by people except to feed. She COULD have been abused, its always possible, but it's much more likely that something closer to the above scenario is correct.

100%

If every dog I have been told had been abused, then Australians should all be in gaol. Close to 90% of people that own re-homed dogs claim that they have been abused. I guess it makes us feel like heroes for giving them a new home.

[josh_676]

Originally Posted by millhouse

If every dog I have been told had been abused, then Australians should all be in gaol. Close to 90% of people that own re-homed dogs claim that they have been abused. I guess it makes us feel like heroes for giving them a new home.

Actually I don't get any heroistic feelings at all from having adopted a dog. I do now agree that it appears she was probably not socialised with humans enough as a pup rather than abused.

[josh_676]

Originally Posted by Melzawelza

That's fantastic that she does so well on the walks! And the way she let you handle the situation is great too, she's deferring to you and you stepped up and showed her that you'll look after her. Very good for forming the bond between you.

Sounds like you're doing a really great job mate, really good.

This is quite a good crate training guide:

http://www.wikihow.com/Crate-Train-Your-Dog-or-Puppy

But the few things I'd add is

- Feed her every single meal in her crate. Don't close the door initially. This builds the association of crate = good.

-Don't leave her for ten minutes the first time you close the door! That's way too long. After maybe a week or so, or basically until she is eating her meal heartily with no hesitation, close the door as she starts eating, and open it up just before she finishes. Gradually increase the time you leave the door shut by 30secs - 1 min each time. Only let her out if she's relaxed and quiet and don't make a fuss when she comes out.

It won't take too long until she really starts choosing to go in there and loving it

Cheers for the tips, I'm going to buy a crate this weekend, I'll keep the thread updated with how it goes.

[Melzawelza]

Originally Posted by josh_676

Cheers for the tips, I'm going to buy a crate this weekend, I'll keep the thread updated with how it goes.

Look forward to hearing how she progresses!

[Active Snail]

Thats a real bummer about her not being motivated by food, thats normally the easiest way to train a dog imo. My dog will do anything for a feed, i mean anything, and we feed him daily as well, i just think he has an eating problem or something. So far ive taught him shake, dance (hes jumps up and does a 360), drop, roll over and if i point at him and say "BANG!" he drops on the floor and lays on his side. When im cooking banana bread he sits in front of the oven and drools