I have a tri coloured Collie - approx 12 months old who I brought home from a rescue last week. He had been picked up as a stray in Wales, rehomed very quickly and returned (after 10 days) because he was wary of men, jumped up on the window sills and howled at night! He stayed at the rescue for about 4 weeks until I saw him. I wasnt looking for another dog - was just helping out for the day, but he grabbed my heart. Have brought him home to live with me, my husband, 2 daughters (14 and 12) and my 2 toy poodles in the hope that we can help him.

Barney is a very very nervy dog and I ned some advice on what we should be doing to help him. He is great with my dogs - no problems there at all. After initial fear squirts when seeing my husband, he is now attached to him like glue - where terry goes he goes. So it is not all men - just strange men. He had no problems with my girls at all or me. He wont bark at the things he is frightened of, just pee himself and wont move.

He will spend the whole of his day on the sofa - I think he must feel safe on there. We have had no accidents at all, but are having to take him by the collar and drang him off the sofa to take him into the garden. There is no way he will go out for a walk at the moment - he just lays flat down on the floor on his belly and wont move. The same with his dinner, he wont go into the kitchen voluntarily - I have to take him in. Once there, he will settle down and eat his dinner.

He is very sunbissive, lots of laying on his back, legs splayed open and lots of licking of our hands etc. No signs of any neervous aggression at all, just fear of the unknown.

I have no idea what could have made him this way - no obvious signs of physical abuse - but the way he is with my girls suggests that he has only ever been treated kindly by youngsters.

I have absolutely no hope of getting him out to socialise with other people at the moment. We have visitors coming today and I am very worried for him. But in the long term, I feel there must be things we can do to help him. He is happy here I think because he will wag is tail very hard when Terry or I sit on the sofa or even come into the room, so that is good news, but he is millions of miles away from leading a normal life. I have got him on rescue remedy by the way and am trying using the calming signals.

Any views/ideas would be welcome please.

Thanks

jane

Hi, Happy Easter!

This is a very tricky problem, which needs extremely careful handling, as it would be very easy to make it worse.

My first thought would be to give him time. Lots of it. He's a very very scared dog who is being as appeasing and unthreatening as he knows how to be. So don't push him. Let him come to you in his time. Don't over-fuss him or you may inadvertently be rewarding him for displaying nervous behaviour.

I'd avise your visitors to completely ignore the dog until he makes the first move to them. If he wants to keep out of the way of visitors, let him. If he comes to greet them, let them give him a titbit. But do it on his terms.

There are books available about how to live with a rescue dog - there are a completely different kettle of fish to the blank canvas of a new puppy - they come with a lot of baggage that you know nothing about.

You may well need professional advice - ask your vet for a referral to someone used to these animals. Good luck. :)

I think it is wonderful you have taken on this dog :)

Just wanted to wish you luck and to recommend you maybe try a couple of books, one by Gwen Bailey, and one by Carol Price, about rescue dogs and their problems. Carol Price specialises in collies and also wrote ""Understanding the border collie" which was very good. I can't remember the exact titles, I think either one or both is called "The Rescue Dog" ;)

Lindsay

Thanks Lindsay - I'm off to Smith's tomorrow.

Jane

Hi Jane,

I echo Lindsay's comments - The Rescue Dog by Carol Price is excellent.

I think it's going to be a case of not rushing him. One of my late rescue rotts was very nervy, jumpy, food aggressive etc. Poor boy had been starved and dumped (I dread to think what else had happened to him) so we adopted a very hands off approach, didn't push him, just left him to figure things out.

Fred turned into a fantastic boy and when he finally did the rottie "roll" to go to sleep (on his back with his feet in the air), I couldn't have been happier!

You will get there with your dog, it can be done and I'm sure you will succeed.

I have a similar border collie bitch however she has not been mistreated in any way, but is very nervous of strange men,she barks at them. SHe is a very nervous dog which is just her character and she will always be a little cautious. I think you are doing the right things, you just need to give him a little more time to bond with you and your family and adjust to his new situation, as it sounds as though he has been pushed from pillar to post. once he has settled down and fully attached to you i think he may feel safer and will want to go out. you can then start re-socialisation. You must always be careful to not put him in any position where he feels very unsafe as one bad experience can stick in the mind of a border collie for a very long time. Its just a case of confidence building. Once he has settled in a socialisation/obedience class might be a good idea, starting off with one to one sessions so that he doesn't feel overwhelmed.
Good luck, and well done for taking him in, border collies are hard work but the give back so much!
p.s. that understanding the border collie book is really useful!

Hi Jane

Barney certainly sounds very extreme in his fear and credit to you for taking him on and wanting the best for him.
I agree that it's going to take a lot of time and patience to exorcise his ghosts.
I don't know much about Rescue Remedy as I've never used it but it sounds to me (and I don't usually recommend this) that he would benefit from some kind of calming medication initially to work with your efforts.
Perhaps it might be worth speaking to your vet and asking his advice.
Lara x