JAMES HARTWELL

Great ideas! Will try some and get back in a week or so with an update. I think she would particularly love a treat hunt. I'll re read the treat hunt sections on the website and see what we can do. Good idea for easing the transition to the new home. But I don't think we have any room for a pen, as it is a tiny home, but the main thing is to make her a safe space. We have evidence she's using her bed when we're not around, so will work on finding a little cave area where we can put her bed. I think under a bench might work, and would let her hide if she wanted, but see out easily. My son's feral cat hid there for a while, though she now roams all over. Thank you so much for your suggestions. Jim and Liza

Thanks for all this info! We have just started trying the dropping a treat when taking off a leash. No progress yet, but it's too early of course. I try the positive interaction with other dogs approach every day. When outside and we meet a doggie friend, she will run and jump with joy, tail wagging. I pet and give attention to the doggie friend who of course all know me and interact well. I even try rubbing myself all over the other dog (some are big, and she has no fear of them), in the hopes that my smelling like them will be something she likes. She has a great nose, and I can tell when a doggie friend has passed by recently because of her behavior. It's really the only time she'll pull on the leash. All the neighbors laugh, because she is so cute and funnily enthusiastic to see her friends. Inside my neighbor's place, which we visit at least once a day, she will run to my neighbor, and I sit down or stand while the pup gets petted, accepts a treat. My neighbor has tried talking to me and handing me a treat to give to her, but she runs and cowers against my neighbor. The good news is that I think she accepts her under recliner hiding place as a safe spot. But I hate the idea of giving her a medication for anxiety when she only needs it when she is with us. I honestly wonder if it would be easier on her, to rehome her in a place that already has another little dog, and where she could run around in a backyard. We live in a park model (tiny home) in a camping club. The area is completely forested, with lots of interesting smells, but every dog has to be on a leash. She has adjusted to that, because she loves the time outdoors so much. However, we can only stay here 6 months at a time, then we move next door for another six months. Our move date is coming up in 3 weeks. And 3 weeks after that I will head out of town for a visit out of state to family. I'm concerned that any progress we make will be lost due to that tumultuous change. And we'll do it all again in 6 months. It is just painful to see her so happy when she is out of the house, and so scared inside the house, though to be honest, we literally don't see her inside the house except for her running to the front door to go out. Not ever.

Tnx for the comments, and sorry for the lack of clarity in some of my post. *We were not with her during her trip here. However we were the first ones she met when she left the transport van. We're wondering if she has somehow associated us with being yanked away from her beloved foster and all her siblings. *She is as fearful of me as she is of my husband. However, I'm the one who takes her out for her beloved walks. She'll come when I say "Walk time!" but she will cower and shake like a leaf when I put her lead on, and the same when we return. Then she runs under the recliner till the next walk, or until morning. *My biggest concern is that she is clearly unafraid of other males and females when we go out for the walks. They can wear a hat, gloves, and even use a walking stick, but if she is friends, she will run to them, tail wagging, and let them pet her or give her treats. None of which she'll let me do. I've tried approaching her when she is outside, surrounded by her doggie and people friends, but she still won't let me approach and pet. *She is not afraid of sounds outside. We have a neighbor on adjoining property who is always shooting guns. While she looks up when he fires what sounds like a small cannon, she looks up, but doesn't display any fear. If we go into a neighbor's house, she runs to her, lets her feed her pieces of a treat, and will let her pet her and even slightly rough house with her. If I try to feed her a piece of the same treat, handed to me by my neighbor, she moves away from me and won't take the treat. My neighbor can be sitting or standing. She can drop something, and again our pup looks up, but doesn't look afraid. * In summary, it doesn't seem like a generalized anxiety. She isn't scared of other males or females, isn't afraid of being inside other people's home. But she is terrified of us. She has her safe space, under the recliner. But it breaks my heart to have her spend her entire day there, for the last 2.5 months. I don't think it's healthy for her. *We have reviewed some of the dealing with anxious dogs. As she will not willing come to us, is it ok to try some of the techniques by forcibly picking her up (after a walk, say) and try the targeting etc? We have done that in the past, trying to associate being with us with good treats, but she will leave the second we remove our arm which constrains her. She is so scared when I put the lead on she won't even take a treat from me then. Do you think we should try spraying DAP on us before holding her? Tnx for any help--Liza and Jim

Tnx for the suggestions for additional info. *She was transported by the Texas animal foundation. 3 days, in a small crate. Because she was an escape artist, they didn't let her potty outside, but only inside warehouses and other stops. However, she must not have had many accidents because she smelled pretty good on arrival. *She is 13 months old. She was born at a home that let their dogs wander the neighborhood, and were finally convinced to give up the puppies to the foundation. She is spayed. She is street wise. She had only a few accidents inside, mostly as we were trying to adapt to each other's schedule. She walks well on a leash, and responds to simple training, like "no pull" when she starts to pull a little too much. She'll stop, look at me, then continue forward. Very smart. She's 15 lbs, and cute as a button. She is the smallest dog we've ever had. *She likes males and females equally. She even likes our neighbor who uses a walking stick and wears a hat. He has an older shih-tzu, but our pup still wants to play with her. He can reach down and she'll smell him and let him touch her. She may like women slightly more than men, but only slightly. We have had strangers in the house, and she will stay hidden, but none of them was attached to a dog. On our walks, she does not react to hats (except maybe mine), and I have seen a guy pet her with and without gloves. I stopped wearing any once the snows left, although it is still darn cold some mornings. *We have had several dogs in the house over the years. We lost our last dog, also a rescue, during the first year aof the pandemic. I've asked a friend to let me borrow her dog for a few nights, but we haven't yet done that. I pet all the neighborhood dogs, hoping that our pup will see that I'm acceptable to other dogs. *We are currently trying a DAP diffuser and DAP spray. Hard to do as her favorite place under the chair probably means she doesn't get much of the diffuser, and it's hard to spray under the chair. We also spray her bed (in the corner by the chair), but she only comes out at night. That's when she eats and drinks. I think she may be sleeping some in the bed when we're asleep. Note that I (Liza) am the only one who really knows we have a dog. My husband (Jim) sees this little dog go flying by to hide. Tnx for any help

We got a rescue dog from Texas at the end of January (we live in Washington state.) She is a small terrier/chihuahua mix. She opened a window and escaped after the 2nd day and was gone for 4 days. She was recaptured when our neighbor was walking her little dog, and our dog just followed her and her dog into her house. 10 days later she escaped again, was gone for 2 nights, and was caught by the same neighbor. She is a sweet dog, and loves her walks. She has found her safe space underneath the rocker recliner. She will come out from under when we tell her it's walk time. She will run to front door, and then cower and shake as I put a leash on. She walks beautifully on a leash. When we finish the walk, she comes home, comes in, then cowers and shakes till I remove the leash, and will then make a mad dash for under the recliner till the next walk. She is so scared I can't even get her to take a treat from me during the time I put on her leash, even her favorite bologna treat. We have tried to put her on the couch after her walks, to pet her and hand feed her some bologna. She will eat (finally) but won't even stay till her bologna is gone, but will bolt the second she can wriggle free and hide. What is odd is that she is completely different around strangers, especially strangers with dogs. She will literally leap for joy when she sees another dog, big or little, friendly or not so friendly. And she loves the people attached to them. She will let them pet her, will react with pleasure when she sees them on another walk, even if they don't have their dog with them. She plays with dogs and even our neighbor's cat. (Interestingly, she doesn't seem to like our feral cat, who is also trying to be friendly and play). Other neighbors can give her any treat they have, and she will eagerly take it. It breaks my heart to see the dog be so happy and joyful with others, but so fearful of us. We suspect she is traumatized due to the long and miserable trip from a long distance, and associates us with that. After she started running away, we were told to crate her. She was so miserable and anxious, destroying parts of the kennel, that we decided to let her find her own safe space. She found the chair, and no longer tries to escape when we leave the house (though we close doors to bath and bedroom, to be safe). She has started to come out at night to play in her bed with some toys. She will also come eat. (We tried just leaving food and water out at night, but she wouldn't come out to eat. She will not come out all day to eat or drink, preferring to drink from puddles outside. on walks) She had many siblings to play with, and her foster also had a small dog to keep her company. We are retired, and so home virtually all the time. Were hoping to take her with us most places, but she is terrified of any car ride. Suggestions?