I have had Gretchen for two weeks now and she has adjusted wonderfully to the house and routine. She doesn't mind being gated in the kitchen with Cajsa while I'm gone to work and sleeps in the big bed at night without trouble. We've known her since she was a tiny puppy since she came from the same litter as Cajsa and we brought her to my grandparents who we visit regularly.
Something I am concerned about is that she seems to have been mistreated by one of the women who was around to help out with my grandmother. (This woman is no longer around since Paw-paw found out.) She is absolutely TERRIFIED of the broom since said woman would "sweep" her out of the kitchen with it. I never saw her do it, but she wasn't fond of Gretchen and was sometimes rougher than I thought she needed to be. Anyway, we can avoid sweeping the kitchen while Gretchen is in the room, but she also seems to have other unexpected problems. This past week she had some yogurt on her muzzle and I started to wipe it off with a paper towel. I was talking to her and reached out to wipe it off and she bit it. If it had been my finger that would've been bitten as well, luckily it was just the paper. I immediately made her "sit" to establish that I was higher than her in the pack and tried to wipe her muzzle again. She snarled her lip but didn't growl the first time. She was OK if I wiped it with my hand so that's what I did to get it off her face. I did let her smell the paper and speak softly to her and was eventually able to gently stroke her face with it but she was very tense and her hackles raised - she didn't snap or bite though.
I guess my question is should I have handled that differently and what should I do in the future? Gretchen is truly a sweet dog and I'm the only one who seems to "provoke" her although I am also the only one who can trim her nails without a muzzle so I don't think it's "me". I think it has something to do with the woman who used to help my grandparents and so Gretch only associates certain things with women. Elf is safe and can pet without any problems although I do watch carefully to make sure no one gets upset. I just want to help Gretchen get past whatever happened to her so we can play and love on her giving her a happy life.
I think you did exactly the right thing April. You showed her that isn't acceptable and didn't let her get away with scaring you off. But you did it in a loving way. I cant' believe that woman would mistreat her when she was there to help your Grandmother! That is awful. I think time will be the answer, Gretchen's life has really changed and I imagine she is pretty stressed getting used to the new routine. She'll grow to trust you more and more and she has Cajsa for a role model which helps! So nice of you to take her in.
When my grandfather found out he got rid of her ASAP! He wouldn't stand for someone being mean to any of his animals (he was a farmer although not anymore for health reasons). He has new help there now and I've met one of the ladies. She's sweet as could be and offered to take Gretchen, but I took her instead! :) I'm sure the other ladies are nice and would be kind to Gretchen or they won't stay. (This is of course assuming Gretchen goes back to live there which at the moment is about 60/40 against.) My Grandfather wouldn't hurt or mistreat any animal so I know it upset him to find out about Gretchen.
I'm no expert. You did what I would have done though. Some dogs are terrified of certain things.
Gwen is terrified of guns. My husband had been to a shooting range this weekend and was cleaning his unloaded gun before putting it back in the gun safe. Gwen was terrified and ran and hid under the bed. We don't think she has ever had an opportunity at our house to see guns before, so if she has seen them, it would have been at the home she lived at just previous to ours....
I have no formal training (and you can tell by my out of control children !!!) - but I think you handled it just right. I would like to take a broom to that woman....ACK !!!!
Glad all the girls are settling in......errrrr..... a picture of your trio??????
:doah: I will get pics up this week! I've been overrun with stuff, but I will figure out how to upload pics from the camera and get them here. I already know how to post them here once they are on the comp, it's just getting them from the camera to my computer that is difficult for me!
That woman needed a broom taken to her for more reasons than "shooing" Gretch out of the kitchen, but this is a family board so I will not go into the reasons. GRR!
You did just the right thing. It may take awhile before she totally accepts you wiping her face, but that will come when she learns that you are just cleaning her up and not doing whatever it is she's afraid of.
For a long while Loki would bolt whenever a truck or bus was near. After some gentle commands: "sit, or wait" and then "GOOD girl!" when she didn't freak out, she learned to trust me in the situation.
That's what's going on now with Gretchen. She needs to learn to trust you in the situation.
You can try leaving the broom on the floor and putting cookies on it; then the broom will be her friend! Every now and then Loki will get a little freaked by the broom, but I think it's becasue I am sweeping up her precious food particles. Also she absolutely hates boys wearing hoodies. Who knows what happened to her?
Sybill-angel absolutely HATED men wearing hats, especially baseball caps. She was never around guys before we got her that we know of and no one mistreated her after she came to live with us so I don't know where that came from. She would sit and stare/bark at them until they took the hat off. It was very funny to see this little 9 pound dachsie stare down grown men so the hat was taken off!
I just hope Gretch gets comfy with me. I've never hurt her except once I clipped her nail too short (OOPS!). David was able to wipe all over/around her face without any problem this weekend so it was just me. Not sure what else we will find but I appreciate the input and advice about Gretch!
These little guys get phobias of the wierdest things! Hallie is terrified of smoke, even a little. Does that mean she was in a fire or that someone who smoked was mean to her or ??? I will never know for sure...but I suspect more that she is just afraid of smoke! I really think most of the things dogs are afraid of, is just part of their personalities, more than previous experiences, although of course that does happen as well sometimes. I have seen dogs in the obedience ring for instance, who will crouch around with tail tucked and look like they have been beaten, when I know the trainer and they have always been trained gently and fairly, they are just very soft dogs. I have also seen dogs I know have been trained with an electric collar and really harsh methods and they work happily with tail wagging and tongue hanging out (i've seen the opposite too) but it goes to show how much the dogs basic wiring plays into his reactions to things. Hallie is really solid and not much phases her but the smoke, riding in the car (she's much better now in her crate) and the gold floor strip at my sister in laws beach cottage all scare her to death LOL.
Porky is terrified of bigger men. I have no idea why because we have had him since he was born so we know he has never been mistreated by anyone. I guess its just cause they look so big to him. My father in law really scares Porky when he comes home from his work while we are visiting. He carries a large lunchbox and has on a wide brim hat so I think Porky is just scared because he looks different from what he usually looks like. As we were walking in the park a few weeks ago..an African-American woman walked by and admired Porky. She asked to pet him and I told her it was fine. Porky loves people! When she slowly bent down, he growled at her. He has never done that to anyone! I guess he was scared because he hasn't seen someone with darker skin than us much. He also barked at a Native American man when he walked by. I guess we will have to work on exposing him to people with darker skin tones so its not so scary. Any idea why this would terrify him so much?? My husband and I are confused on that fear. :scratch: