Scared Boxer

[Camella'sMoM]

Any Suggestions.....

Carmella and the family recently moved (about 3 months ago) and ever since we moved in she has been scared. I realize that she is in a new enviroment and needs to adapt to her surroundings, but it's bad (at least I think so). For example: My husband was taking out the trash and when he was pulling the trash bag out of the can, the can fell and she took off running. Needless to say, she peeled out. What I mean is ~ we have hardwood floors and she dug her claws down and scratched the floor. Yes, I am concerned about the floor but my real concern is her. Another example is when she was in the pantry and she knocked off her treats onto the floor ~ she again "peeled out" and got scared.

If anyone can suggest something to correct or at least help in my situation, It would be Greatly appreciated!!! I want Carmella to be comfortable in her home and I don't want my floor scratched anymore. All suggestion are welcomed.

Please help!!! :confused:

 

[mobrian]

It may not be move related.

I have been noticing that Jesse has been getting scared of things that would have never scared her before. I don't know if it is age related or not. It has been what I have been thinking. Jesse is almost 15 months old, maybe she is going through the "change". How old is Carmella? This will help me out also.

 

[Camella'sMoM]

Carmella is 13 1/2 months old.

Good point...I didn't think of that!

 

[rog1006]

Not sure why the suden fear, but in the meantime, while she's doing all the "peeling out" you may try these little toenail caps that stick on to the toenail--they are rubber and will keep her toenails from scratching the wood UNTIL you get the issue solved. I wouldn't leave them on for a long time, but for a week or two until you've helped her through this change, you wouldn't have to have a ruined floor.
I cannot for the life of me remember the name of those little things......anyone???


Christine

 

[SuzanneC]

SoftPaws nail caps

 

[kobeanna]

reward bravery

We have an 11 month old female boxer who is very cautious about certain objects ie: ski ropes, guitars and other random things. I don't know why but when she encounters these things, she also "peels out". We started rewarding her when she approached these things on her own, or anything else that she appears to be scared of. When she would get close to something she was otherwise afraid of, we would tell her how brave she was and give her a treat. I don't know if it will work for you but in seemed to "empower" Kobe. Good luck!

 

[douma]

Re: reward bravery

Originally posted by kobeanna
, We started rewarding her when she approached these things on her own, or anything else that she appears to be scared of. When she would get close to something she was otherwise afraid of, we would tell her how brave she was and give her a treat. I don't know if it will work for you but in seemed to "empower" Kobe. Good luck!

It will work for sure every time she approaches something scary by her own or with your prompt and rewarded for this,she'll improve her self-confidence day by day
It worked for us very well

Sophia and Avra

 

[DI_411]

Ella was the same way when we moved into our new house. She used to stand in the garage at our old place while we shut the door and in our new house she would tear out running if she heard the garage door close and she also did the same as your pup, if she heard something fall she would peel out and go hide. It took her about 3 months to get over it... I just reassured her when something would happen. Also I would pet her and love on her while the garage door was closing letting her know it was okay and nothing was going to happen to her. I think your pup will be fine soon, just be patient with her. I remember feeling like Ella was going to be scared forever.

 

[My Casey]

Casey is 11 months old and I think since at least 9 mths, certain things really scare her and she just runs, I have many scratches in my new wood floor too. I think it's an age thing, but hope that its will also get better with age. When she was a little pup, nothing scared her. Its like all of a sudden a light bulb went off in her head and she says, wait I should be afraid of that. I'm glad it's not just her.

 

[VTbxrFan]

Be sure when doing this that you don't reward the "bad" behavior of being scared. It's tempting to go give extra hugs when we know they are scared, but that can encourage them to keep doing that because they get the attention they always want. When I adopted my dog 2 years ago, he was scared of everything. I don't think he'll ever be a super confident dog (he's 4 yrs now), but he has come a really long way mostly because I've tried to give him lots of exposure to stuff that scares him and reward him when he doesn't run away.

Looking back on it, I have to laugh -- I took him for a walk the first week that I had him. We were on a wooded trail (paved) and someone came by on a bike. He ran so hard and fast that he yanked me into the wood on my face! I learned after that to brace myself anytime anything potentially "scary" was approaching!