AboutDave Expertise My wife and I are active Sheltie owners. Helpful hints on discipline, training, disposition, selection, and of course acquisition. We think like dogs, so we can help you understand yours!
Experience 2 Shelties currently owned. Rescued and placed 9 dogs (3 non Sheltie).
Expert: Dave Date: 2/4/2008 Subject: 11 month old sheltie joined our family
Question Hi,
I am not a new owner of Shelties. I had 2 Shelties that we lost in a tornado 4 years ago and a year ago purchased a fantastic male. Well, a couple of days ago I had the opportunity to an 11 month old female join the family. She came from a respected breeder, and they kept her because she had some sort of a skin problem on her nose that is just fine now, but they did not want to sell her because of that reason, but also was unable to keep her for obvious reasons. My question is, she is the most shy sheltie I have ever encountered. she will find the farthest corner to back into and is not social at all. I know she was "picked on" by the breeders to take care of her nose and such, and I am positive not around a lot of people, but in this house we have 3 children, 14-4 and a male sheltie. Please give me some advise on how to get her to socialize and are my expectations to high that she will overcome her shyness and join the family. Any advice is appreciated.
Answer Hi Christina,
The best answer is to let her see what is going on in the room, and then try to include her. She missed a lot of very important socialization in the first 11 months and you need to treat this as a special needs case.
tips:
-start building confidence with leash training
-keep the youngest children at bay until she is comfortable around them.
-give her a safe crate in the social room. Make sure the door is open and she can come and go as she wants. There is a lot going on in your house and it is extremely alien and scary to her. The crate is her safe spot. Watch how she will retreat there and come back out when ready.
If no voluntary social activity:
-keep everyone else away and get in a quiet room with her and some treats. Play bow to her from far away and sneeze at her. roll over on your back and show your belly: all of these are extremely non threatening activities in dog language. If she makes any inkling toward you, use the small bite sized treats (like a cheezit or something actually healthy). Heap praises on her. Maybe try a ball or something with a yummy flavor to encourage her with her nose and tummy to interact like a kong.
Don't be surprised if this takes a while. Do get on the leash and get her out into public quickly if you already have been doing training. If not, start training daily then take her out to town after she starts responding well to you.
