How Do You Deal With This Senestive Nature

S

sclevenger

Forums Regular
I need some shetlie folks advice. To be honest I feel like Im losing my mind with Luna. I love her dearly, but I just can't get a grip on this sensitive thing.

Some of you may have seen my previous post about the training gone wrong, and I'll give her that one, WE lost our temper and acted badly. But its still a struggle that she is not getting over it,I mean I was cleaning and knocked the clicker off the counter and she boltd down the hall, like come on!!! and then this morning she was jumping on the couch while my daughter was eating, and I would tell her down and move her from the couch, she would go right back up, and we would repeat this process, normal process of teaching a puppy the off command, so no temper from me, its normal she doesn't understand, so this goes on, and about the 4th time this happened she kinda acted funny when I asked her to get down and I thought okay, well if she does this again, its probably best to kennel her or leash her to me while my daughter eats, just to prevent the behavior, well up again she goes right in my daughters lap I get up say No Luna down, and she pees ALL over the couch....STUNNED!!

Im losing my mind with her, I've never dealt with this, I've never had such a breed that was so sensitive.Everyone told me they are easier to train because of this because just a firm No will hurt their feelings that they won't want to do that again,...well Im not getting this. If I open anything to loud she flinches its just terrible right now and i don't know what to do. I think maybe its me, because fiance doesn't have the problem with her, but he is also a quiter person by nature, Im loud, I talk loud, I clean loud, everything is loud from me!

Fiance is fine, he only had 1 dog growing up, a border collie that dad trained. So for him she isn't out of the ordinary, but for me growing up with beagles, labs. As an adult I had Aussies and Cattle dogs, all dogs that are rough and tumble, if you yell they are over it before your even done yelling. Sleep through loud noises, I had a COLLIE that wasn't as sensitive and they are supposed to be too!

So has anyone went from a non sensitive breed to a sheltie? How did you deal with such a big change? I would appreciate any advice, I want to make this work, but I just am losing my mind, I love her to pieces she is a good little puppy....ugh!!
 
I can't recall, but how old is your dog? How long have you had her? Where did you get from? And do you have any idea about her previous home(s)?

While shelties are a sensitive breed, they should not be fearful of every day stuff. Especially not to the point where they lose bladder control.
 
Dogs that were never properly socialized are often fearful of anything loud or sudden. It takes them a long time to become familiar and trusting with new people. It's just going to take a while. There are a lot of threads on this site about rescue dogs people have worked on for a year or more before they see any real progress. I've found that treats are something that helps most dogs forget their extreme fear and concentrate more on learning and therefore getting something special. You might want to find out what motivates this dog, what she really likes to eat. Bits of baked liver and cheese are favorites of most dogs. Then start giving her treats every time she does anything. Come-treat. Put the collar on-treat. Jump off the sofa-treat. Just carry the treats and give them to her for doing nothing. If you can't find something she really likes to eat, your work will be harder. Another thing that often works is to just sit on the floor with the dog for an hour three times a day and stroke her and talk to her. Don't brush, don't ask her to day anything, just sit and stroke her. This often speeds up the bonding. Good luck.
 
She will be 12 weeks this Friday, we picked her up at 8 weeks She came from a breeder, we met the breeder we have talked and talked, I've met ALL her other shelties and they were great so I don't believe its breeding.

Like I said before she isn't like this with my fiance, who is very soft spoken, he can make a firm NO sound like silk. She may pin her ears a little but she isn't afraid just unhappy she was scolded.

Its just mainly me, Since I was 10 my family have been asking me to to lower my voice, lol. Im just loud by nature, I can't change who I am and Im just struggling with her and me bonding!
 
awww
I would recommend not talking to her at all for a while... it's almos like something happened between you guys and she made a very negative association with you being scary...
think of having invisible duct tape over your mouth, lol. That's what my trainer said to me in the beginning of my agility training, since I am loud, too!
It distracts the dog, etc. I learned to handle my dog in the beginning by not talking to him while we were training. We weren't allowed to use the word NO, or uhoh etc etc... because we wanted all things agility to be fun associated, NOTHING negative... so he learned to love it.

I don't hardly ever raise my voice at the dog, and even if I do the bonding we have done instilled a trust in one another he doesn't associate me with bad things at all.

Sounds like your fiance can teach ya how to be quiet around your dog ;)
It really is a learned behaviour if you wanted to change it, but I understand when something frustrates you even more... lol, some crazy Aussies would be like what?? Here throw the ball, will ya?
 
That sounds like a great idea. So do you not talk at all or just only happy positive stuff? Ya something happened and I don't know what.

It does get very frustrating. With my Aussies it was hard to be mad, because I could yell up a strom and they would still bring me their squeaky toy and I would give them a look and they would be like... what..were you mad or something?? I thought we were done past this, so can we move on now lol.
 
Keep in mind she's a young puppy, who is more than likely getting ready to go through a fear period. She can't be expected to be the perfect dog from the get go.
Don't baby talk her or reassure her if she seems scared. I tend to ignore fearful behavior that I don't like. Reassuring them when they do it tells them that yes, there really is something to be scared of.
You're going to have to tone it down. For now at least. Shelties don't typically do well with loud people.
 
It will come. My little guy was a bit skiddish of people when I got him. He still will play can't catch me on occasion but he is a HUGE fan of being petted and a snuggler unlike Sca (who is incredibly laid back for a Sheltie). Well just last night I was on the couch and boing! up pops Spitfire onto my lap to say hi. He does it all the time now. However I must admit I doubt I have ever yelled at either, the closest being saying Sca's name loudly because he was eating my sheets :mad:
 
I completely forgot about the fear period, I thought it came much later.

Im trying to remember when my heeler went through that stage, around 4-5 months I think. I always remember because he was never afraid of the vacuum and one day I started it up like any other day and I look over and he is in the corner shaking like a leaf and peed. lol. Few weeks and he was over it but It was extremely weird. lol.

Luna is a huge fan of snuggles too, I could go right over and pick her up and she would let me hold her all night long, but try to tell her no, yes, need to pee anything like that and she is gone.
 
At our puppy obedience class, they also stressed not using the word "no". Instead, focus on positive reinforcement techniques (like treats) to train her. Reminds me of my Mom, who was a first grade teacher, and when the positive reinforcement ideas really started circulating (YEARS ago), she used M&M's as treats for her class.

It's only my opinion, but I think you should go on talking to Luna in a quiet tone, just like you were carrying on a conversation. She needs to get used to the sound of your voice, but without associating it with being scolded. Don't speak baby talk to her, but as you're working around the house, keep up a conversation with her about what you're doing. It may sound silly to anyone else around, but she needs to get over any fear she may have of your voice.

Also, remember that accidents happen with puppies. Yelling at her isn't going to work any better than it used to when my husband lost his temper and yelled at my kids when they were little when they spilled something at the dinner table.
 
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