Help with a fear issue?

We adopted Emma from the local city shelter where I volunteer each week. She’s around 4 years old . She came in as a stray and we know nothing about her past nor can we be sure she is a full Staffy. She has amazing jumping abilities so we think she might have escaped one too many times.

If you go through a checklist for a Staffy Emma fits everything with one exception. She cowards in certain situations. If we toss a stuffed toy for her to chase, she tucks her tail and sinks, but many time she will grab a toy and play like normal. When the other dogs rough-house, she gets freaked out and tries to hide in the other room. She does however love other dogs and will play with them most of the time.

Her issue is not consistent and we might just be missing the obvious but we need some ideas on how to help her see that no harm will come to her. She doesn’t lack confidence in general but something is triggering her fear.

Thanks so much for any ideas and info.

alot of love and massage may help abit.

The only thing I can think of is its something do with what happened before you got her which makes her a little jumpy. Could be anything, but I'm guessing as you work in a shelter thats quite obvious to you. I would hope it will just a settling in thing and as soon as she realises that shes not going to get hurt it will improve. Not much help really x

It may be just confidence. She may just need to settle into her new life. Once she's settled and her confidence builds being with you. You may find she starts to cower allot less.
Great news on giving another staffy a forever home

When you said she cowards when you throw a ball have you tried throwing it under arm its not such a "hitting" position if she was ever hit or rolling the ball across the floor. when the other dogs are playing try bringing her out form where she is hiding on lead or grab a collar bring her over by you play a little game or even training with her so she can concentrate on something else and she wont think its so bad and pretty soon the other dogs play fighting will just be like back ground noise.
when you see she is scared try not to be pitty full just remain calm and she will feed off your calm energy if you get her to lay down when she is scared gently move her over onto her side its a relaxing position for dogs.

I have tried rolling the ball to her and lightly tossing it by her side, but hasn't worked yet. If we are outside she will sit on a table higher up and watch or sit by my side. I sometimes think she is affraid the other dogs may trample her if she chases the ball too. I try to not let her hide but rather have her stay on sitting on the couch next to us like suggested, and sometimes she will calm down and relax, but other times she just wants to run or starts shaking. I will have to try engaging her with a toy at those times too, good idea! I find it odd that she will play just as hard with the same dogs that scare her.

We have only had her since last November and maybe you are right that we just need more time.

Try watching her carefully to see exactly what triggers the fear reaction. It could be something really silly that you can put right quite quickly, or it may be something that you will need to avoid in the future to give her peace of mind.

As she settles more and more (I'm sure you know that it can take months for a rescue dog to settle completely in a new home) she will feel more secure & may overcome a lot of her fears by herself.

Caryll wrote:Try watching her carefully to see exactly what triggers the fear reaction. It could be something really silly that you can put right quite quickly, or it may be something that you will need to avoid in the future to give her peace of mind.

As she settles more and more (I'm sure you know that it can take months for a rescue dog to settle completely in a new home) she will feel more secure & may overcome a lot of her fears by herself.

I think you are right. She needs time and lots of positive reinforcement. We wondered if she was used as a bait dog. which isn't to far a reach, dog fighting does happen around here. What I read on the topic really does fit some of what we have experienced with her, but who knows with a shelter pet.

it seems the noises they make when they play make her nervous. The worse sounding the noise; the worse she feels. She snorts and snores alot but hardly barks or play growls. She will actually hide by me and moan as if she is in pain. I did just try to engage her and get her to focus her attention on play and that seemed to work a little, will have to keep up with that.

I just found out that she likes bubbles, the kind you get for kids and blow yourself. All the dogs seem to like biting them. go figure

Awww it will be a learning curve for you both this journey as youve no idea what her life was like before.
She may not know what play is poor thing im sure she will come around with you and be a wonderful dog

gem wrote:Awww it will be a learning curve for you both this journey as youve no idea what her life was like before.
She may not know what play is poor thing im sure she will come around with you and be a wonderful dog

you know I thought that myself when she first came home and started to play little by little. She has already grown quite a bit with us. I have rescued so many dogs to date, but none like Emma. She is amazing to me and I do love her with all my heart. God help me if another Staffy comes into the shelter while I am there

Get under your skin don't they

thank goodness there are people out there like you

suzyq505 wrote:

gem wrote:Awww it will be a learning curve for you both this journey as youve no idea what her life was like before.
She may not know what play is poor thing im sure she will come around with you and be a wonderful dog

you know I thought that myself when she first came home and started to play little by little. She has already grown quite a bit with us. I have rescued so many dogs to date, but none like Emma. She is amazing to me and I do love her with all my heart. God help me if another Staffy comes into the shelter while I am there

well thanks for the lovely story, she will learn her new life is a great one now thanks for being there for staffys and if another came in im sure you will do everything in your power to find a good home (take it home to join your family ha ha )

I'm sure that as she settles down & realises that she is loved she will feel less fearful & be more outgoing. At least she's safe now.

..my old favourite... about 8 drops of rescue remedy drops in her food or water daily.. that has helped Jethro through the years.....stops them being so anxious.. but doesn't work for all dogs though...

It does work as long as your dog is happy to eat/drink when it's been added. Mine won't touch it I'm afraid, but then there's precious little that rattles him anyway.

Caryll you are lucky your staffy is so fearless. ( I am jealous !! )Jethro went through a terrible stage at one time.. and he was scared of everything.. so now he has the drops every day as I couldn't go through all that again ( and neither could my hubby...!!) He seems to be alot more mellow these days.. and thank goodness for that !!!!

Dempsey's an English Bull Terrier, and I think he's brave because he's so thick!

lynne wrote:thank goodness there are people out there like you

Crazy people like me? lol, I'm kidding, but sometimes I wonder

It's best to be a little crazy - it helps to get you through!

I like all the suggestions so far, especially about engaging her with a treat or toy. time will heal this, I know it sounds mean but to make her unreactive to a certain stimulus or movement she needs to see it enough times that she will realise nothing is going to harm her. you need to close the doors to prevent her running away and then sit on the ground so you are less threatening. At first do not involve her with the ball, just sit on the floor and slowly roll it from hand to hand by yourself, then start rolling it against the wall and so on. ten mins of this every day will desensetise her to it.Dogs learn by cause and effect, if nothing bad happens when the ball is rolled to her eventually her fear will diminish.


As for you saying that it seems to be the sound of the other dogs playing not their presence perhaps it would help to split the two and work on them seperately. record some sounds of your other dogs playing and play these in the background whilt you do some obedience training (sit, stays, heel etc). Again as Miss Rogue said eventually it will become background noise. hope this helps!!!

Thanks for all the advise. It sounds like we are on the right track, cause I have been doing almost (not all) all things mentioned. Little by little we are seeing improvement.

Last night after bubbles she ran over to a ball, pick it up and played with by her self for a few minutes..until another dog came over, then she dropped it and ran away that time. Then later she took a ball to Fritz and they both mouthed it for 20 minutes. French kissing with a ball in the middle hahaha. it was pretty cute.

Aww, and the photos are where?? You had 20mins

janey wrote:Aww, and the photos are where?? You had 20mins

hahaha....good point! Three cameras in the living room and it never crossed my mind. I have faith that they will give me another kodak moment maybe I will be ready..lol doubtful

suzyq505 wrote:

Last night after bubbles she ran over to a ball, pick it up and played with by her self for a few minutes..until another dog came over, then she dropped it and ran away that time. Then later she took a ball to Fritz and they both mouthed it for 20 minutes. French kissing with a ball in the middle hahaha. it was pretty cute.

That's wonderful! Isn't it lovely to see a previously badly treated dog learn how to play and to trust again?

suzyq505 wrote:

janey wrote:Aww, and the photos are where?? You had 20mins

hahaha....good point! Three cameras in the living room and it never crossed my mind. I have faith that they will give me another kodak moment maybe I will be ready..lol doubtful

I had a kodak moment the other day, struggle to get the camera out and then it had know batteries Take lots of pics when you can!!

I got the camera out first thing last night when I got home. hahaha and took lots of pics and some video. Have to get a photobucket account then I'll post them. We had a really great playtime last night.

suzyq505 wrote:I got the camera out first thing last night when I got home. hahaha and took lots of pics and some video. Have to get a photobucket account then I'll post them. We had a really great playtime last night.

Great stuff! You'll be amazed at how fast the settle down, will be on the look out for the pics