How do I get my 10mth Staffie to cope on her own?

Hi, hoping there is somebody out there who could possibly help, Bella is a rescue, we have had her 4 weeks. She is a fantastic lively happy little girl when she can see other dogs. If there are no dogs around she cannot walk, she just cowers to the ground and no amount of cajoling, luring or bribing will get her to stand when there are only humans around. This is making it impossible to train her, my dogs are much older and cannot deal with the amount of exercise she needs but are having to do so because she will not walk or function without them. It is not a question of she simply lays down - she collapses. She goes to puppy classes and I have to carry her to the car, as soon as we arrive and she sees the other dogs she is fine. She wets herself at the slightest bit of stress and I dont think she is able to swallow because she wont take any treats when she is in that mode. I have tried everything and now feel that I am actually reinforcing the behaviour, but do not want to force her or frighten her. When she is with other dogs (and it can literally be any dog) she comes alive. I do not want to take her back but it is becoming very very upsetting and I am worrying about the impact on my other dogs. They cannot do the long walks nor can they play endless ball games which is exactly why I wanted a younger dog in the first place.

Any ideas.

Sound like she as had a nasty experience at the hands of humans.. and only trust's her own kind, lots of reassurance is needed maybe doing the training is not a good idea for her just now, let her gain her trust in you and the family slowly she will come round, she just need lots of tlc.. and time, think 4 weeks is not a long time.

Maybe she needs a bit more time to settle in with you before she can undergo the puppy training classes. Four weeks is not a long time for her to have gained your trust, we made the same mistake with Rocky and got him into some training classes too soon after we got him. Try to give it a few more weeks of calm and quiet training just from you and see how things go.

Sounds like she needs to get to know you all a little more & learn to trust you, then she may come out of her shell more good luck

Poor Bella, I dread to think what's she's been through to end up like this
As has been said, give her more time to gain your trust, little steps at a time and I'm sure you'll start to see some progress.

I think I would be (maybe against best advice) tending to overdo the human interaction , lots of fusses and treats , maybe lots of little games to try and gain her confidence . Perhaps such as tug you can get one of your other dogs to take part and then subsitute yourself for the dog etc and build things up slowly like that .
I'm really no expert or experienced its just a few off the cuff thoughts

Thankyou for that. I have started today to really play a lot with her, hide and seek etc and just trying to get her to interact with me. We have a long way to go but thankyou so much for the advice.

norfolklulu wrote:Thankyou for that. I have started today to really play a lot with her, hide and seek etc and just trying to get her to interact with me. We have a long way to go but thankyou so much for the advice.

We are here to

1) Chat
2) Help
3) Look at loads of staffy pics

So think all is left for you now is to post some pics , we'll give you an hour , we have time