UNSOCIALIZED OES
Now 5 years later: He hates when people come over to the house. Even though he knows them he barks like mad until they sit down. He lunges and tries to bite at large dogs, not small ones though. I don't trust him with children as he lunged at a 10 year old a few years ago but I think he sensed that she was afraid of him because he did this for a while. Other kids in the neighborhood pet him but only when he is on a leash as I really can't trust him. WHAT IF HE BIT A CHILD??? Just last week, we had a few fruit flies in the house and were slapping our hands together hoping to kill them and he fled. He ran upstairs and smiled at us everytime we tried to get him to come to us.(He smiles when he has been bad, so very adorable but why does he do this?) We do take him to off leash areas and he stays behind us when his older sibling is in front. He doesn't care to go to other dogs or people in this circumstance as I think he feels that he doesn't have the upper hand. I guess the good thing is we know he isn't great with large dogs and we don't let him be alone with children but is there anything we can do to help him feel safe? |
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| My 9 year old OES, Annie, sounds a bit like your OES. We got her when she was about 6 years old and were quite surprised to find that she snaps at smaller children and all other dogs. However, if we give her a stuffed toy in her mouth, we find that she can "control" herself a bit. My nephew has a great time with Annie once he realized she ALWAYS needs to have a toy.
We tried various thing..a trainer, taking her to parks, Petsmart...the list goes on. Finally, we just decided that Annie is a wonderful "grown up people" dog and she just gets very nervous around unpredictable kids and dogs. She does bark when people come over to the house and I do need to offer her a stuffed toy in her mouth for her to "control herself". We don't know what occurred in Annie's life prior to coming to live with us Therefore, we have accepted that she can't be "everywhere" with us. It is better for all of us in order to relax. Fortunately, she has helped us raise our little guy, Fozzie who is now about 7 months. He understands her cues and knows how to get out of trouble most of the time.  |
| Sam is very skittish as well. He was 3 when we got him and from what we know of his history from 6 mths to when he was taken by the SPCA he was chained with a logging chain to a tree and left alone.
If a shadow moves or a leaf drops he will bark his fool head off, but he will stay in the back while Lucky goes and investigates. He is still very skittish around certain things. If we are doing something and notice the behavior we will stop wait until he relaxes and then go to him and pet him and tell him what a good boy he is. I am not sure he will ever get over this but if not - that's just Sam. |
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