I was at the animal shelter the other day when an ugly little one eyed dog caught my eye. So I adopted him. He’s an older dog. I just knew he didn’t have a chance. He was a little shy and ugly as can be. I’m going to work with him and try to find him a home. My boyfriend would kill me if I actually tried to keep him. He’s totally traumatized (the dog, not my boyfriend). He’s very scared and timid but will lay next to you for hours if you just get him comfortable… and this morning he woke up, did the cutest stretch you ever saw and then kissed my nose. So, there is some hope for him. I googled some information on working with traumatized dogs and thought I’d share that information with you now. I know that a lot of us foster or have rescued a dog that has been traumatized in some way and it’s good to know there is hope, and at least be aware of the things you should and should not do when you are dealing with a traumatized dog.
- First you might want to try some Relaxation exercises. Reward your dog only when he or she is calm and relaxed. Try to sit for 20 minutes a day in a calm and relaxed state with your dog in your lap or by your side. You can pet him/her or massage them if that helps. Sit in the quiet at first, then gradually add noises and distractions like the TV, hand claps, the vacuum cleaner, blender and other noises to help him/her learn that these sounds are nothing to be afraid of. Give treats to help your dog associate these sounds with happy memories.
- Do your best not to trigger the fear in your dog. When you first get your dog you’re going to have to avoid reprimanding your dog for bad behavior or else you will just traumatize the dog more. When your dog is more comfortable you can kick in with the discipline to train your dog. You need to do everything you can to make your dog feel safe. Training is useless if your dog is feeling timid and shy. Don’t yell or make sudden movements around a scared/shy/timid dog. Do things to help build up his/her confidence and comfort level.
- Get down on his/her level. You will want to crouch down. Some dogs are intimidated by people standing over them. They may have been beaten or kicked by someone standing over them and you do not want to trigger these memories. Get down, eye to eye with your dog, talk soothingly and reward with treats or loving strokes.
- Establish a schedule for your dog. Try to walk him or her at the same time every day. If potty training is an issue you may want to crate/kennel the dog at nights or when you are not home so that he/she is safe and happy and you don’t come home to accidents that you are unable to reprimand him/her for.
- If your dog does some odd things that’s okay. Let him/her do strange things, as long as it’s not harmful to humans or pets, it’s okay.
- Find another dog of similar size to socialize your dog. Dogs are sometimes scared of people but comforted by the presence of another dog.
- As time goes by and your pet is more comfortable you can gradually increase limits and rules for your dog. You’ll need to let some things slide in the beginning but as time goes by it’s okay to increase discipline. You just don’t want your dog to regress when he/she is punished or reprimanded so be careful but rules and limits are good for dogs.
If you have any other suggestions or ideas please feel free to put them in the comments!
We got a rescue dog about 3 years ago and she is still freaked out by the sounds MSN/computer makes. For example, the “new message” sound starts her shaking and wanting to be held. She’s a good girl though and we just turn the sound off to prevent that reaction.
I just received a rescue dog, actualy she is a puppy 3mths old. I’ve never seen anyone as beat down as this puppy, She goes for any small space she can fit into. we had to carry her the first day we got and she is not light she a golden retriever and german mix and the first day and a half she would shake. I talk to her and rubbed her back. Yesterday she held her urine all day, her stomach had become extended. what else should I do ?
I have a traumatized 7 month old standard poodle. I’ve had him for 2.5 months and he still is terrified of me. He evidently had been crated, with his siblings, for most of his early life. He runs away when you approach him, I have to do no-eye contact, he does not come when called, instead he goes in the opposite direction, he has never barked or for that matter made any noise at all, he doesn’t know how to let me know when he has to go to the bathroom, so we have a lot of messes in the house. I have another dog so he does play with her sometimes, but he has never really done “puppy play”. He doesn’t like chew toys and I haven’t been able to find any toys that he does like, and I’ve bought a LOT of toys to try. He doesn’t kiss me at all, he will stealth smell me, but that’s about it. I am determined to keep working with him as I believe his stoic temperament will be very wonderful in the long run, but it does take an enormous amount of patience. I am home 24/7 and even with this kind of exposure to me he still fears me. He cringes when I put his food bowl in front of him and I usually have to throw the treats down and let him pick them up in his own time because he fears taking them from my hand… he’ll come up to the hand, then turn away at the last second. He was obviously grabbed a lot. He still paces a lot, back and forth, back and forth. I haven’t been able to find a lot of information on training this kind of traumatized animal. I had to stop trying to pet him or love on him because he just seems to painfully tolerate it, then moves away as soon as I stop. I have never had this kind of challenge before!
Hello – your post was a long time ago – am wondering how this situation turned out – we have a rescued standard (22 months old) who has had lots of “rehabbing” by an experienced rescue family. They may be able to help you. One thing I can tell you is that before our new standard was placed with us, they had to make sure that our own standard was assertive enough to support the rescue. Poodles really need other poodles.
Hi there
I ve just rescued a dog who is extremely traumatised,she won’t move and I can’t take her out to pee as she s going crazy on the leash or lye flat and won’t move,I never seen a dog so scared of humans,I was in tears this morning to see her like that,she was shaking so badly,I managed to hand feed her after a few hours but she won’t drink in a bowl,I know its gonna take a long time to get her trust but right now I really need to be able to take her out to toilette any tips?thanks
I have a dog that came from the hurricane Katrina area. If I were to set a cup on the counter, he would jump & run. He would crap huge piles indoors. (My other dog helped with training A LOT) I began to make clicking noises with my tongue. He would then know he’s ok & come to me. He still has nightmares; but I just gently smooth back his hair (not thick like fur) and click my tongue & repeat over & over “Sheldon’s ok, Sheldon ok” I love him with all my heart & he feels secure around me. I would LOVE to find a job where I work with traumatized animals one on one.
Y rescue and adorable dachshund” ten days a go.She have a horroble scare, she jumped for everything, go corner to corner trayt to be hiding ,in the only place she feel ok is in my bead.But she don’t bark and don’t make any sound. The other day by mistake steap on her and she wasen’t bother Please somebody know is she will be recuperate for this trauma?
We just adopted an 8mo old terrier mix. She was from Alabama and left in an apartment with another dog for almost 2 weeks without food. She weighs 4.2 pounds and we can already tell she missed her beginning puppy years. She should not get much bigger, maybe 7-8 lbs max. She will try to play with anything she can get, shoes, towels, hands, feet… We are trying to break her of the puppy play biting/mouthing habits but it seems to be a difficult task. We know she was not physically abused, aside from the owners piercing her ears (yes I said pierced) She doesn’t mind them being touched, she gets along with kids except for one 6yr old boy she would not stop barking at unless he was sitting at the table. 5yr old girl from the shelter she was fine with and my friend’s 7 and 9 yr old boys. She didn’t care for my aunt’s boots too much, and when she saw them she tried to bit the tongues while she was wearing them and was barking at her constantly. We are a little concerned with the biting during play. Not that it hurts unless she tries to drag your hand away but it is NOT something we want her to do. She is not doing it as a sign of aggression either because 90% of the time she wants to be held or curled up with us. It seems to be a sign of her not being properly trained from the get go. Any suggestions on how to break the habit that doesn’t involve being physical? All I can find online is how to train a PUPPY not to play bite or mouthing. I need information on RESCUES.
replying to the last post – I have had to teach my rescue staffy the ‘leave it’ command to stop him chewing through his leads ( got through nine leads before I brought an unchewable chilli lead) ‘Leave it’ now also works when he ‘mouths’ in play. Just say the command ‘leave it’ while holding a treat at his nose and move the treat away, when he lets go of the object, hand then reward him with the treat. good luck
My grandkids and daughter left their 7 month ol
king charles cavalier with me while my daughter recovered from minor surgery yesterday. Two pit bulls who had dug out from a neightbor’s attack him while we were both in the garage and i was able to rescue him.They had him down for 6 to 7 seconds before i got to him.My wife and i rushed him to the hospital, called animal control on the way.Chief was very lucky had 1/2 dozen punctures,no bones broken and the wounds did not penetrate to his lung.Meanwhile, these two dogs after leaving my garage went next door and pulled my neighbors dog by his head thru the fence and impaled her by pulling her over the shorter rails. then killed another dog i block away again somehow thru another fence.
chief did well last night but taken into consideration his breed and these circumstances
i’m afraid he will never come out of this trama
He eats when he’s hand fed but he too afraid to pee outside and he will not pee inside.By the way, i was slightly injured in the rescue in several places. I may have been bitten on hand but i’m not sure if it was a bit.My other injuries were from diving atop Chief. These dogs had rabies collars but i don’t know how current they were.I assume animal control will let me know.Chief will continue to get a lot of love but his mental state is doubtful to me. Any comments would be appreicated.
I got a puppy that was 9 weeks old about 8 months ago and I dont think she will ever be normal. The first few days we had her she real nervous then she got worst then it took a few weeks and she just snapped out of it and was normal then she got shy and scared shaky tail tucked,head down sad eyes and hide anytimes shes put down. If you pick her up she sits and stares in once direction and this can happen for over 2 hours. She wont take food from us.When we put her in her area in the laudry room she goes lays in the far cornor and jus lays here and wont move unless she has to use the bathroom then right back to far cornor. a few months ago right before I found out I was pregnant the dog snapped out of it again and was normal for about 3 weeks and this past week snapped again adn is scared or everyhing again. IF happens out of the blue for no reason we keep trying and nothing is working with this dog. When I get my tax money in 3 weeks Im going to take her to the vet to get her checked out cause I really think something it not right in her head Ive never had a dog act this way. She dont growl or bite. Only time she barks is if someone pulls in drive way. But other then that will yelp for no reason she can be walking by her self in a room and yelp like someone did something. once I get my money Im goin to check into a trainer or something depends how much that is but I have ran out of ideas of what to do. Its like her tail does not work its is always tucked so tight under her we have never even when she is acting normal her tail stick up. Any advice?
Lyl Byt:
I actually just read up some information on bipolar disorder in dogs and it sounds like you might have a dog that is suffering from that disorder. Your best bet is to take her to the vet to rule out any medical issues that may cause this peculiar behavior.
We just picked up a 3 year old mutt from the vet hospital he has been recovering there for sometime now, he was hit by a car and left for dead but someone stopped and saved him. He was hurt bad and had to get surgery for his leg and was as scared as could be when we got him. He’s been a good boy and I named him ranger. The vets were going to put him down if no one adopted him so we did because he’s a strong dog. He won’t come or respond to his new name yet (as expected) and just started eating by hand. But this will help a lot and I’m looking forward to getting him to a happy state again. Thanks for this web post.
Wow, this post is fastidious, my sister is analyzing these things, therefore I am going to let know her.
We got a 3 month old Border Collie about 5 weeks ago. She loves the children, which is great. She follows me like crazy. My issue is with men. I know it is a common trait for BCs, but one minute she likes him and the next she runs from him and cowers down. Every night after dinner he takes a scrap of meat and calls her over to him. Most times she will only go about 5 feet to him. He is persistent until she comes up close to him. He asks her to sit and she runs away. Sometimes she runs and goes around the room and comes up behind him and sits. Very odd. She has met my Father-in-law about 4-5 times with no issues after the first visit. Well today, she actually nipped at him after he was petting her for about 5 minutes. Didn’t hurt him. It was not playful either. Any advice?? My husband is really getting upset with this. Thank you.
A few months ago I was given a 6 year old female Miniature Husky/Chihuahua. She came to me as a tornado rescue. She won’t lie near me, lick or make eye contact, or play. She has no interest in toys/treats whatsoever, and will only eat her food with the blinds closed out on the balcony. She doesn’t hide ever, but though she gets excited when I come home, she only “circles” at a safe distance. What puzzles me however, is that she will come over for me to pet her back.
If she’s not frightened of me, what’s going on, and how can I help?
Any suggestions or ideas are greatly appreciated!