Post by nhg on May 2, 2018 17:52:37 GMT
Some of you know that I used to own a dog daycare. I love dogs and think I know a fair bit about them. I have a situation that is bothering me and I'm not sure what to do. I've tried looking it up and reaching out to the rescue but that hasn't been helpful.
We adopted a rescue dog at the beginning of March. He's a cocker spaniel that had been found running down the freeway. He was skinny and had a dew claw that had grown through his pad. They figured he's about 8 years old. He was in a high kill shelter and was days away from being euthanized. So he came to live with us. I should add that we only had two dogs at the time. Our pittie/spaniel cross was put down due to old age two years ago and our purebred pittie was put down in November due to cancer. So we just have the pitbull/rottie cross and the cocker/lab cross.
So this guy came to live with us and he's the best dog. He never barks, he was already housetrained, he does nothing naughty, and he loves people and is very snuggly. But, he sometimes shows some real fear behaviours. He'll drop to the floor and pancake while wetting himself if he's scared. He didn't ever do it much with me and he's finally not doing it so much with my husband but he continues to do it with my daughter and anyone he doesn't know. The other day I went to brush him and when I got the brush just over his head he dropped to the ground. He lies there with this pleading look on his face like he's worried he's going to be hurt. It's really sad to see.
So it is improving but I'd like it to be gone. I'm wondering what your opinion is. Should we pet him and try to comfort him when he does this or ignore it? I'm really torn between comforting him and possibly encouraging the behaviour or ignoring him and not making him feel safe. I've been ignoring it because I don't want to encourage it. But he rarely does it with me now anyway.
He's so cute and so good it's hard to imagine anyone being so awful to him that he learned to react that way but I guess someone did. Poor little guy.
We adopted a rescue dog at the beginning of March. He's a cocker spaniel that had been found running down the freeway. He was skinny and had a dew claw that had grown through his pad. They figured he's about 8 years old. He was in a high kill shelter and was days away from being euthanized. So he came to live with us. I should add that we only had two dogs at the time. Our pittie/spaniel cross was put down due to old age two years ago and our purebred pittie was put down in November due to cancer. So we just have the pitbull/rottie cross and the cocker/lab cross.
So this guy came to live with us and he's the best dog. He never barks, he was already housetrained, he does nothing naughty, and he loves people and is very snuggly. But, he sometimes shows some real fear behaviours. He'll drop to the floor and pancake while wetting himself if he's scared. He didn't ever do it much with me and he's finally not doing it so much with my husband but he continues to do it with my daughter and anyone he doesn't know. The other day I went to brush him and when I got the brush just over his head he dropped to the ground. He lies there with this pleading look on his face like he's worried he's going to be hurt. It's really sad to see.
So it is improving but I'd like it to be gone. I'm wondering what your opinion is. Should we pet him and try to comfort him when he does this or ignore it? I'm really torn between comforting him and possibly encouraging the behaviour or ignoring him and not making him feel safe. I've been ignoring it because I don't want to encourage it. But he rarely does it with me now anyway.
He's so cute and so good it's hard to imagine anyone being so awful to him that he learned to react that way but I guess someone did. Poor little guy.
