Help....cowering and shaking jack russell

[racefan]

Hello all....Please help me out

I recently adopted a jack rusell terrier from my brother and she is driving me nuts. i got her 2 weeks ago and had her fixed one week after getting her. I walk her once or twice a day and work from home so i am always around. She has been acting wierder and wierder since i got her. She will cower, shaking, tail between her legs and ears back and acts like i gave her trouble for no reason. She will go to her kennel and it will take much coaxing with treats and talk to get her to come out. I am going nuts!!!!

We will be playing on the couch and she is really happy. I will go to my office and she will either come to her bed by me cowering and shaking or go to her kennel. She will continually lick her lips over and over and it drives me insane. I am working so hard to give her a better life but this is driving me nuts can anyone give me some advice? I try my best to ignore this but it is getting harder and harder. Please help. Thanks.

[DarknessDivine]

How old is she? It sounds to be like she could have possibly been mistreated? I have a Rat Terrier and had a Jack Russle and they both came to me at the same time, they were both mistreated and acted like that.
Also she has some adjusting to do firstly, secondly moving into a new home and having an operation within the first week is a lot for any dog or even human to handle. It will take time, possibly even months , remember you have to earn her trust..and if she has been mistreated it will be harder for her to give it to you.
She needs time, I can't stress that enough, she has only been with you for 2 weeks afterall..

[racefan]

She is 20 months old. I new it would be hard but i never expected her to be shaking and scared. If i know my brother he wouldn't have laid a hand on her but i know he gave her trouble a lot and i think that could be just as bad as hitting her. Am i spending too much time with her? Should i leave her alone more often? Since i work from a home office she really isn't at home much by herself. Perhaps she is too dependent on me and then when i work she takes it as i am giving her trouble because i am not paying attention.......or should i just not worry much go on doing what i am doing and see what shes like in a month or two? Thanks

[DarknessDivine]

Well with my Rat Terrier, somedays she still has trouble with people. She gets scared easy. What we did with her was we took it slow, I would have a treat in my hand and call her she would slowly walk to me, shaking and scared then she would very very slowly take the treat from my hand I would then slowly move my hand to her and rub her and say in a calming voice "gooood girl"...I did that a few times a day, I also work from home so I don't think you are spending too much time with her she just needs to learn to trust you. As I said before you will need to earn her trust, and do it slowly and a little at a time. Try the treat thing I told you about and do it a little bit at a time, give her a few months and she should come around as soon as she sees that you aren't going to abandon her or hurt her.

[racefan]

Ok i can do that. It is not like she is scared all the time. It is like a light switch....i just don't know what turns it on. She is usually happy but it becomes very discouraging when she turns scared. I will keep at it and see where i am in two months. I am certain she will make the turn. thanks.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

If you know her background and are sure she hasn't been abused in some way my guess is that you have a little one who just isn't sure what is expected from her.

In two weeks time she lost the home she knew, the people she knew as her own, went through going into a vet she may not have known with new surroundings there ( ? ) and then dropped down smack dab in the middle of your life and household.

Little dogs show stress in a different way than a bigger breed might, although I'm far from a small breed expert so those with smaller breeds, please correct me if I'm wrong, while a bigger breed may very well be just as stressed it tends to show more in ways such as excessive panting, hair loss and pacing to name a few and smaller breeds tend to do the same but sometimes only show it in the form of shaking or with other types of nervous behavior.

In rescue we expect a certain period of time where the dog is going to be very stressed, finding a "happy medium" between being reassuring without it being a crutch for the dog and going on with our daily lives but maybe just a bit more slowly to give the dog the time it needs to adjust to it's new surroundings, new people and bonding issues is the key. Given time your little one should adjust well to her new family and home but she needs that time, patience and understanding to do it. jmo

[flyndog]

My terrier also behaves like this sometimes. It's like you describe; a light switch. I talk about it in this article http://www.globalpaw.com/article.php?a=3.
Other times my dog shivers and acts all goofy is if her butt isn't clean, if she has hurt her mouth playing with a toy, if she has to poop, and if she is cold.
I agree with Crossfire. A lot has happened to this little dog in a short period of time. She just needs time to adjust and learn to "read" your behavior.
Kit
PS - Remember to not reinforce the behavior by trying to console her with words or by trying to comfort her.

[racefan]

So it has been a little bit since my first post on this matter and i have been paying attention to her behavior more closely. I just came back from my parents house and she has been really good all weekend. She knows them well and was having a blast the whole trip. The ride back in the truck she was good and everything. So we get home and she is following me around the house doing chores i sit down to watch tv and she is chewing on her raw hide right beside me. Suddenly she drops her raw hide and you can see her cower down. So what gives. I literally never even moved or said a word and she just drops the rawhide and cowers. So wierd. Any input is appreciated. thanks.

[Barrett]

What was on t.v.?
Perhaps something she saw or heard on the television scared her.

[racefan]

I dont' think it was anything on tv.....it was just people talking. I have thought more about this and have been observing her and her wierdness for a number of days now. Perhaps she feels she is in trouble for something when i don't pay attention to her? if she lays on my lap while i work she is fine but if i leave her on the floor she cowers off somewhere and then cowers when i go to see her. I can cure her by getting excited and saying "whats going on Jinx whats happening!" and just keep repeating that. She gets all excited and runs around trying to find out if something is going on. Then i will play with her and she will be happy as long as i am paying attention to her. I do work from home and sometimes having a dog laying on your lap doesn't work that well. Any thoughts. I love this dog and i feel i am getting closer to a solution. Thanks.

[DarknessDivine]

Sounds like you are getting closer to her which is good. She is just taking her time, as I said before my Mini still at times has these little flash back behaviors where she will roll over on her back and shake when we walk in the room but it has to do with her life before us. I ignore this behavior and within minutes or seconds she is fine again..