Scared EM

[reb259]

Our EM is 5 months old. She is a very sweet dog, goes to doggy day care 2-3x per week (plays very wel with other dogs/puppies), has been to basic training classes and will let strangers per her. The problem is she is so scared of certian things...vacuum cleaner, loud nosies (lawn equipment), the other day I brought her home from daycare and the cleaning lady has all her supplies on the front porch, she stopped dead in her tracks and peed. We don't re-enforce her behavior by petting her or coddling her when she is scared, we just try to let her work it out.

I am a little nervous that we will have a large dog that is so easily frightened but I also try to remind myself that she is just a puppy and many of these things are new experiences for her.

Any suggestions, is there something I should be doing that I am not? She is so diiferent from our last dog who was fearless.

Thanks!

 

[PuppyPaws]

Part of this is probably just her age. Most dogs go through a "fear" period about this age. You are doing right by just letting her through things on her own and not coddling her. You could try a couple things. Try moving some things around in your house. Odd things. Try putting a stool on the couch. Move a trash can to an odd place. Make it noticeable. You could let her watch you do it at first and then later move things while she is in another room to see how she responds. When she notices it, just remain calm. Don't overly respond to her. Just say, "What's that doing there and put it up." Doing some weird things like that may help desensitize her a little bit. If she exhibits curiosity without fear, praise her and maybe give her a treat. If she is showing curiosity, encourage her to give it a sniff or two. With the vacuum, pull it out and let her be around it without using it. You could put some treats on it. And encourage her to "take" them off the vacuum. Set the vacuum in different positions and allow her to take a treat of of it. Slowly work up to turning it on as she becomes more confident and treating her for not reacting. Don't rush things follow her lead. As for the lawn mower, it's probably a good thing that she be a little nervous around it, maybe. You don't want her attacking it of course, but a healthy fear of some things is not bad. Just don't coddle her. Hope this helps. Just some ideas... Good Luck!

 

[Cody]

I agree, but I would also do things like drop metal bowls on the ground in the house, bang pots when you are taking them out. Drop something loud while she is eating.
Make lots of noise as often as you can to desensitize them to that sort of thing. Just carry on and don't react either way, after you have made a noise. It is normal, no reaction from you, no reaction required.

 

[reb259]

Great ideas...thank you!! I like the noise idea, it is just me and my husband and we have a very quite home.

Thanks!

 

[moose]

My female EM was scared of her own shadow lol, they will go through fear stages. With moose i would flip chairs over, put things in weird positions so he would be able to get used to new things.

 

[Caleb]

My Corso is 4 and still scared of the vacuum cleaner....not crazy scared, but if you get close to him you can tell he is nervous and moves to a new location very quickly. He has always been nervous around noisy machinery, but I never worry about it. He isnt afraid of much else.

 

[reb259]

My Corso is 4 and still scared of the vacuum cleaner....not crazy scared, but if you get close to him you can tell he is nervous and moves to a new location very quickly. He has always been nervous around noisy machinery, but I never worry about it. He isnt afraid of much else.

Thanks Caleb...we are neighbors, I am in league City!!

 

[Caleb]

Wow, that's close. Its a wonder that I don't run into more mastiffs on the street. Not too many mastiff owners out there. I guess you really gotta love dogs in order to own a mastiff...but I'm learning that I don't really care for dogs, just large, courageous dogs.