Foster dog is extremely anxious and timid, how do I help her calm down?

[pejay60]

Hello! First time foster here, and to be clear I am asking advice tomorrow from the shelter, but wanted to check in here as well to see if anyone has any additional tips.

I just brought home my foster pup (husky/shepherd mix, 1 y/o) and while she’s an extremely sweet dog, she’s painfully anxious and timid. She’s afraid of flashlights and will bolt when one is turned on, she’ll bolt at the sight of dogs half her size, and she exhibits all the signs of an anxious dog (heavy panting, whining, pacing, licking). I try to pet her/play with her as much as I can and be around her to let her know I’m taking good care of her, but nothing seems to help— sometimes, I can distract her with a toy for about 30 seconds and then she remembers her anxiety and starts whining/pacing again.

Any tips on how to make her feel safe and less stressed would be appreciated, thank you!

 

[refei]

@pejay60 Two week shut down.

https://www.marshmallowfoundation.org/info/file?file=20866.pdf

She's just gone through a huge life change and needs time to feel safe. Imagine if a giant plucked you from your life and gave you to a stranger who is always trying to touch you. You'd be a little freaked out. This isn't on you. Your shelter should have helped you with this. I have a foster failure who didn't leave my kitchen for 6 months and didn't step outside for a year and half. He didn't know how to go through doorways, eat or drink out of bowls. The sound of a faucet turning on meant he'd wet himself. He had never lived in a house before so normal sounds where terrifying. In my efforts to try and help him I was just freaking him out more. He has other issues but I should have given him time to relax in a new setting. Go slowly. And as slow as you're going, go slower. Every time he made progress I'd try the next thing. He wasn't ready. I finally just let him progress at his own speed and he made a ton of progress.

There are meds for anxiety. Find a vet behaviorist. They had no affect on my dog but I'm sure there are people on this sub who have had good results with them. Since you just brought her home I'd wait on meds unless she's having a complete break down. For now, just give her space and don't ask too much from her. Hang in there.

 

[pejay60]

@refei Thank you! Super encouraging to hear your success story. I’ll keep being patient with her, and she managed to eat a little this morning so I’m proud of her progress!!

 

[refei]

@pejay60 Nice. I still take such joy in his little victories. They should all be celebrated. Even eating a little in the morning.

 

[theonly1theymake]

@pejay60 Thank you for helping this pup! I agree with the suggestion of the two week shutdown. This will be a good start. Once you see a level of comfort, you may be able to help her adjust and be more ready for her adoption! I highly recommend looking into Dr. Patricia McConnell's work. She has a page with links to a bunch of articles on working with fearful dogs which might be helpful for you, some of which may be applicable right now as she settles in to your home.

 

[pejay60]

@theonly1theymake Thank you!! I’ll definitely take a look and try some of these tactics with her.

 

[rarelozo]

@pejay60 I once used a Cesar Milan method once with an extremely anxious dog. The dog was digging at the door to get out when someone came near. So here what I did: I sat near the dog with my back turned to the dog... I did this for a few minutes.. I let the dog come closer to me.. it sniffed me, the dog started to calm calm a bit but still anxious.. after another few minutes when the dog was calm enough I turned to face the dog .. the dog started to calm down some more.. once that happened and the dog came nearer to me I showed my hand in front of her and let her sniff.. the dog calmed down again .. I went to stroke the dog.. and her behaviour / body language started to change to a more positive one once she realised she was safe with me and she came to me and though she would back off a couple of times I repeated the above and she started to relaxed and became calm. The dog even was confident enough to walk to the other room and interact with another dog, where before she would have been anxious and tried to get away, this time she was calm acting almost like a normal dog. I gave lots of positive ‘ good girl’ and strokes . This method took about half an hour to achieve but with all training you need to keep repeating it and keep it up. ( the dog wasn’t mine - just visiting with its owner) I never saw it again so don’t know how it turned out. Hope that helps.

 

[gdssldier]

@rarelozo I'm approving this post since you've done a decent job of describing an example of how to appear non-threatening to a dog to give it space to approach you if it chooses to. However please keep in mind that Cesar Milan is generally not a good resource for training methods.