Sad, Scared Dog

[Aesquire]

I'm posting to see if anyone can help me with my dog, Shiloh.

I found her literally in a ditch in a bad area of Detroit when she was 10 weeks old. I rescued both her and her sister and nursed them back to health from many different infections and illnesses. Her sister went to my old boss and Shiloh stayed with me. Shiloh has always been a fearful dog. I took her to several puppy classes trying to get her used to people when she was a baby, and she did as good as she could.

She is now two years old. She lives with me, my boyfriend, three older dogs and two cats. She gets along great in our family circle, however if anyone else comes into the house she growls and runs as fast as she can into her crate. No other animals in our house have a problem with people, they are all very friendly.

On one occasiobn, I've taken her next door to my neighbors house to play with her "best doggie friend" and upon seeing my male neighor she climbed the fence back home.

Whenever she is outside she barks at everything and rams herself into the back door when she wants to come inside. We've taken off the screen since she previously jumped through it last summer.

When we are not home she remains in a crate because if she isn't in her crate, she eats EVERYTHING. She has destroyed two sofas and a pair of curtains. There are no lack of chew toys.

I have extreme difficulty walking her. She has never liked to go for walks. She does much better now, she no longer trys to run for her life, but now she just pulls and pulls and pulls. I've tried a regular collar, a gentle leader, and a choke collar. NOTHING works.

I don't know what to do for this dog. She is unhappy and scared. Her beheavior issues cause extreme stress in the household.

All I want is for my baby to be happy, does anyone know of anyhting that might help her? Medication perhaps?

Thanks!

[Cassiepeia]

You can buy no pull harnesses that might help with the walking. She doesn't sound like she got much socialisation as a pup, what did you do besides puppy classes?
Contacting a behaviourist is probably best so they can evaluate her in person, but I'd start doing some training with her at home and try to slowly introduce her to some strangers (people who are invited over specifically for this and are willing to participate in her training and socialisation). It will be a very long process though. When you bring them over, make sure they totally ignore her. Don't let them even look at her. She doesn't need people rushing over to pat her right now. She just needs to learn that they're safe to be around.

Worst things you can do are comfort her (dogs don't understand that, they see "comfort" as praise, so you're just telling her that yes she should be scared) and stress out in front of her. You should try and be as relaxed and in charge as possible in front of her.

I know I probably (to those who know me) sound like I'm preaching a bit, but have you tried clicker training with her? If not, do a google search for 'clicker training' and you'll find some great sites to help you with that. It's quite simple, just takes time and patience and can really benefit you and your dog. Especially since she sounds, at the moment, too scared to enter an obedience class with other dogs and strangers.

Cass.