As a rescue who was severely neglected by whoever surrendered her (underweight/ticks etc), Juliet is very apprehensive of all strangers outside of her "pack". It took her three regular visits from my parents to approach my mom for pets/rubs and she still shies away from my dad a bit. She hates to stop when I say hello to neighbors on walks (admittedly, Hamlet's not all for pets from strangers, but he doesn't freeze up like she does) and so we've been working on making "strangers" not so scary and show her that people mean good things. I have treats so people can offer her treats (doesn't always work) and I treat meeting neighbors on a walk as a completely ordinary thing. (We often do a "walk-by" where I'll just walk Juliet calmly past the stranger without letting her focus on her nerves.)
Yesterday morning, we had our first "breakthrough". I had been noticing that Juliet was starting to seem more curious about the people out and about in the neighborhood, but so far, that curiosity had disappeared once they got closer to her. When we were doing our early morning walk, however, a new neighbor passed me and stopped to ask questions about the dogs (yeah, I'm the "fox dog" person in our neighborhood). She put her hand down for the dogs to sniff and JULES ACTUALLY APPROACHED HER TWICE!! And sniffed her hand!! I was so excited by that :-) It was the first time she had ever tried to greet/show curiosity towards a stranger in close proximity.
She's getting better and better :-) She's such a sweet heart! I'm sure any of you who have dealt with rescues "rehabbing" to society can understand why I want to gush about this. And also, wring the neck of those people who hurt this delightful nine month old puppy so much.
That is wonderful news! The aloofness of the breed can bring about a temperment that spans a spectrum of shy and cautious to affable and indifferent. One doesn't need to have a rescue to encounter a Shiba that has a temperment more shaped to the former (mine is shy and doesn't like strangers approaching him, he wants to approach them). Congratulations on her rehab and keep it going. Best of luck to Juliet's recovery and I hope her successes continue!
THAT'S GREAT NEWS! A very big step for the both of you!!!
I too, am the owner of a skittish, timid little shiba. One thing I do for strangers coming into my home is give instruction; if they are true friends or family they will realize how serious you are about rehabilitating and socializing your dog and they will follow your instruction if they truly care for you. I always tell people to just ignore the dog, don't make eye contact and keep movements with hands and feet slow, while keeping an even tempered volume of voice - in time, Etsuko makes her own decision about whether or not she wants to come to them. Going about it this way, I've learned that it gives the dog the option to be social, instead of forcing the situation upon an already timid/shy pup. We've been working on it with Etsuko since we've had her (about 1 year) and now it usually takes about 5 minutes before she is nudging and whining for the newcomer to pet her and give attention. Maybe this could work for you, I hope so!!!
This is an older post but had to comment since I just adopted my shiba, Koji, who is very timid as well. We've had him for almost a month now and sometimes I think we experience "breakthroughs" with him as well and other times I feel he takes a few steps back. :( It's extremely difficult adopting a grown dog..more than we envisioned it to be.
Yes, it is hard. I have a girl from a puppy mill I adopted at around 4 months, and she has never gotten over her extreme timidness with strangers (and she's 6 years old now). She's also got a seizure disorder, which can make her more skittish, but it's really hard sometimes. She doesn't always remember meeting people either and gets scared of them all over again, even if she's met them a ton of times (like the housesitter/petsitters).
She doesn't really enjoy going new places either, if there are strange people there, and to her, almost everyone is strange!
Update on Juliet's progress and advice requested --
Juliet's continuing to improve as far as shyness goes. She is now exceedingly confident on walks; she might have a moment of nerves but gentle encouragement gets her over it almost immediately. She now walks past yards that used to make her scared (ones with barking dogs or open garage doors/people in the garage) without much more than a blink. She's much more curious about everyone and will openly approach walkers/bikers - and then watch them as they pass her. She hasn't let strangers pet her yet, but Hamlet doesn't do that either and she takes her cues from him.
I think her new confidence is giving us a new issue to work with -- she is super EXCITED when she sees another dog now. She used to freeze up/want to run away. Now she wants to rush towards them. Sometimes her exuberance is way too much and her social skills are definitely lacking. Mellow, older dogs are okay with this, but most dogs get annoyed. How can I help her develop the social skills with strange dogs that she never learned? She IS great with other dogs and really wants to play/have fun; she just seems to fail in meeting them! There are a few dogs who are more understanding that she's been able to have greetings with - mostly smaller or older dogs.
Also, dogs who bark are still unnerving to her. She gets very nervous/scared when a dog barks at her or just in general. Any advice for managing that or will it just take time?
Does anyone in your area offer classes that might help her?? There is a class here called "hounds on the town" and they go to different public places with a group of about 4 or 5 dogs...beaches, malls, parks etc. and work on meet and greets with dogs in class and other dogs out in the world...
Just a basic manners socialization class...or do you have friends could do something similar with? read up on meet greet doggie "protocol" training etc..?
She sounds like doing great and just needs a little practice in her social skills...
There was a class here for "shy dogs" - but when I talked to the trainer, she said that it was really for aggressive dogs and Jules doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body. I'll look around more though.
That is wonderful news about Juliet! I would say time and exposure helps build mental maturity. You are certainly are on the right track. Koji's Mom has a great idea. Around here we have social dog classes too and they work wonders for so many . See if you can tack on to someone who is training service puppies and will allow you to tag along. They have all sort socials and it is a lot of fun.
Our shiba girl also has some issues; however, it is extremely fullfilling when you see them improve! Keep up the good work! Juliet is very lucky to have you!
For her excitement wanting to greet other dogs, I would suggest looking into Grisha Stewart's Behavior Adjustment Training (B.A.T) approach.
The gist of B.A.T is that dogs do the behaviors for a functional reason, so you create a controlled environment where you can give them the functional reward they want for doing alternative/appropriate/calming behavior.
For example, if a dog is afraid of something or someone, the functional reward for their growling/snapping/barking etc is for the scary person or thing to go away (increasing distance between the dog and the scary thing/person). So B.A.T suggests doing setups where you can control the functional reward you dog wants and reward your dog with the functional reward when they show appropriate behavior, such as looking away, lip licking, yawning or turn away etc.
All B.A.T sessions are done when the dogs are under threadshold (a good distance or intensity depending on the type of triggers), so the dogs can still think and learn.
You start with setups to teach the appropriate behaviors and then move to later stage and proof it in real-life situations.
Juliet sounds like what Grisha will term as frustrated greeters, getting overly excited to meet other dogs, so her functional reward is decreasing the distance between her and the other dog. To do setup, you will need neutral dog that will not react to her excitement and get offended to get started.
Grisha also has DVDs explaining the details of B.A.T and a Yahoo group for discussion and finding a trainer or just other pet owners in your area willing to work with you as the decoy/neutral dog.
