# Help!



## Dooney's Mom (May 10, 2011)

I am posting this under the Schutzhund thread because I do Schutzhund with my girl.

Karma is great at training on the field, but my problem with her is at home with my boyfriend. She acts like she is nervous/afraid with him constantly. He has never disciplined her or hit her or done anything wrong to her that would cause this. He is very tall, and he is very loud however. We keep our 4 working dogs in crates right off the living room and she is one of those 4. so if he has to yell at one his hard headed stubborn males, he can get pretty loud. If I am not home, she still acts a little weird around him, but will go to him. If I am home, she has to stay glued to me and if we walk past him she makes sure to keep me between them. She will slink up to him to be petted she will stand next to him as long as I am there. It is just weird to me, and it almost appears to have become a habit with her more than anything. If we are sitting on the couch side by side, she will lay across my lap to reach him so he can pet her.

So how do I fix this? I don't like her when she is like this, when I am at my house on weekends, she is a hot crazy mess of energy and a completely different dog. She has had one heat cycle and should be in heat the 2nd time this weekend. We have tried ignoring the behavior, correcting the behavior and nothing seems to work... She does act this way with a few other guys, but he is the one she is around all the time.

Any suggestions?


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## DaniFani (Jan 24, 2013)

Did you talk to your TD about it?? He/she should be able to help you determine where this fear is coming from and should be able to advise you....the reason I suggest this first and foremost is because your TD will know your dog a LOT better than the little excerpt we can get from you online...and they can probably offer some possible explanations and methods to train it out.


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## Dooney's Mom (May 10, 2011)

Yes we have discussed with him..he is is also her breeder and says she will snap out of it whdn she mmatures more and with more training. While I am fine in giving her the time I am still worried this will be permanent. He is the one that hss said for the bf to just ignore her.


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## BellaLuna (Jan 27, 2013)

I completely get where your coming from my Bella does this with my hubby and it's so heartbreaking he too has never done a single thing to her but in my case I think Bella was abused from her former owner.

We adopted her last December and she is 4 years old my hubby tries his best to bond with her and get her to trust him but to no avail..

When my hubby is out of the house it's like we have a completely different dog Bella is always around more confident and outgoing and the minute he comes in she's off to hide in our room and I don't see her hardly.. 

If she is out when he is home she is completely on edge flinching and cowering and running to get around the house it's awful..

He takes her for car rides and walks in hopes to get her to relax a little bit around him.. 

I hope things work out for you and your dog out grows this and it's not permanent, best wishes 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

When your boyfriend is yelling at his male, in your females mind he is also yelling at her. She has no idea why this man is bellowing. All she knows is that he is angry and she doesn't like it. She is fairly young (guessing by the number of heat cycles she has had) and she is afraid or at the very least unsure of your boyfriend. Why are you correcting her for this? That just adds to the problem. 

I would change the way your house is set up so that your female doesn't have to be subjected to the yelling. Either move the male or move her. This would be the first step for your boyfriend to start gaining her trust.


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## Dooney's Mom (May 10, 2011)

I only tried the correction once when I had her out of the crate on the leash and she was jumping up on the couch to get behind me. It didn't make it any better of course, so I haven't done it since. She is a year and half old this month.

I will try moving her crate and see how that works out- she is driving the male crazy anyway with her heat coming on.

Thank you for your input!


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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

I know she is your working dog, but it may help if your boyfriend made an effort to bond with her a bit. Take her on a walk, play two hose, do some obedience. 


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I would move her crate and have your BF just ignore her. I wouldn't force interactions or expect her to bond, especially if she's your dog and you kind of have a his and hers working dog setup (not uncommon in the sport). I used to have a dog (now passed) that acted terrified of my husband the entire time we owned her. She never warmed to him, no idea why as my husband is a very happy-go-lucky type person and isn't really involved with my dogs so never would have corrected her or yelled at her.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Why is he yelling in the first place? A hard headed/stubborn dog doesn't learn by getting yelled at. If the dog is in a crate and getting yelled at, what is the reason?


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## Dooney's Mom (May 10, 2011)

Liesje said:


> I would move her crate and have your BF just ignore her. I wouldn't force interactions or expect her to bond, especially if she's your dog and you kind of have a his and hers working dog setup (not uncommon in the sport). I used to have a dog (now passed) that acted terrified of my husband the entire time we owned her. She never warmed to him, no idea why as my husband is a very happy-go-lucky type person and isn't really involved with my dogs so never would have corrected her or yelled at her.


That somewhat makes me feel better, then again it doesn't-- lol. Better because ok maybe my dog isn't the only weird one, and not better because yours never outgrew it  

That male can be handler aggressive with me (doesn't like women- he is a rescue of sorts) so I don't handle him much and the BF doesn't handle Karma because she doesn't like him- he works with my other female and I can work his other male. (we have a total of 5 between us and a 6th one coming Thanksgiving weekend)


He yells at his male because he gets "crate aggressive" whenever we are letting out the other dogs, barks growls moves his crate with his hopping around..he just yells NO at him, nothing major, but in a loud voice, plus his voice is deep.

Thanks again for all the feedback


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## David Taggart (Nov 25, 2012)

Ask your bf to stop shouting. Most likely it's her eardrums which are very sensative and she experiences true fear. We humans do not measure agression in our behaviour, as nothing bad comes out of our simple habitual verbal agression. But, you cannot explain it to your dog, for whom high-pitched tunes mean something horrible. For her it is a very confusing environment to live in, in addition your bf's body might exude a good portion of adrenaline, that indicates agression on his side for your dog.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Dooney's Mom said:


> That somewhat makes me feel better, then again it doesn't-- lol. Better because ok maybe my dog isn't the only weird one, and not better because yours never outgrew it


LOL, well if it helps, my dog was nuts and did not do Schutzhund (she was softer, couldn't do protection/bitework). I just use it as an illustration that just because a dog cowers and acts shy or scared doesn't mean the person has ever done anything mean to the dog, and some dogs are weird and won't ever like or trust someone even if that person has only ever been kind and trustworthy. My dog was raised well, highly trained and socialized, well bred too but just had a screw loose I guess, only very selectively trusted men. Her reaction towards most men was that people though she was beaten by a man (never, and certain not my husband!).


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