I really need some advice..not sure what to do here.. =/

[ciaBrysh]

Okay...before I begin I need to make sure that this much is ultimately clear... Raj has never bitten or growled at anyone out of fear. Otherwise, this wouldn't be a thread asking for advice, but for support in doing what I knew I would have to.
With that said...

The past couple of weeks I have been working hard with the dogs training since I sort of slacked while pregnant.(I haven't been over-working them though, as I am not in the timely position to do so just yet) Willow has been doing amazing and I am extremely proud of my girl! Taken to leash training really well, now we are mostly working on her focus issues... But this thread isn't about Willow...so back on topic.
As some of you may know, I always say Raj is my "fearful dog"
This week...I don't know what the hell has happened...but I feel like I have three dogs in my household instead of two.
Example, Raj began giving me issues with leash training since I stopped walking him as his pulling was beginning to put strain on my back. At the time we were using a prong collar.
When I started up with training again, I took him out with the prong... and well...he shut down completely when I gave a quick correction. When I say shut down I mean my dog dropped completely to the ground!
I wanted to cry. I didn't pull harder than normal (which isn't very hard trust me, I wouldn't want to cause damage on my already sensitive dog!) so I wasn't sure what the hell happened. I coaxed him up and he began to follow me again, but this time..pulling me HARDER and away from me to the right side!
I got frustrated and calmly turned around and headed home....not sure what to do. I just felt like I failed him somehow someway and we just lost communication somewhere along the line.

I began monitoring his behavior over the week and noticing that his reactions to sudden movements, raising of my voice slamming things etc has gotten a lot worse as well. If he gets scared he drops to the ground and CRAWLS to his kennel...and of course he will not budge. No matter how many treats I try to give him.

Today, was the straw that broke the camels back though. I don't know what the hell happened, but when the boyfriend and I got home, I let Raj out of his kennel...he crawled on the ground as he followed me to the door to go outside, but instead of waiting by the door like always, when I turned around to make sure he was there...he had ducked into the bedroom (made me feel like he was hiding from me!) I let Willow out of her kennel and Raj followed Willow outside and seems to be back to normal.
In fact, what's odd is that he will go from completely fine to shut down mode over nothing in a matter of an instant and I can't find the trigger to the behaviors at times!

My thoughts are it could be the following things
*Health related (I don't know if it is possible, maybe someone with more knowledge could give me ideas)
*Because I had stopped training and working with him individually for awhile and jumped right back into it
*Because of me being pregnant, and then NOT being pregnant anymore (maybe this is why he is in such a shock?)
*Maybe just the baby makes him nervous? (he is always loving on Sebastian, so I don't find him to be aggressively dangerous to him though.)

I can tell you
* He is not aggressive at all...so I would say he is not fear aggressive
* I will put him to sleep if he is THAT miserable, but I will do everything in my power to help him and if it is at all manageable then so be it. He is not a danger to others so I don't see it to be a priority
* If it continues or gets worse I will contact a breed-savvy behaviorist to help work us thru this once the funds are available.
*Most importantly, my dog has never been abused, In his whole 17 months of living he has only needed one "Come to Jesus" moment, and That was the only time (after that he showed normal behavior...not fearful of me at all)

Please any insight on how I could make this better for him would be more than appreciated. I just don't know what to do here =(


Oh and PS---This behavior ONLY displays with me and my boyfriend. Other people he is perfectly fine with and completely a mush to. He only barks aggressively at strangers until I tell him to knock it off.

[ciaBrysh]

Sorry...forgot to add here. I tried without the prong collar in hopes that that was what the problem was...but most of the walk he practically crawled and pulled away, even though was was trying to guide him closer to me with treats.

[Sprocket]

That does sound pretty strange. I'm subbing because Mikey is similiar to what you describe.

[ciaBrysh]

I blame myself for a lot of these behavior problems obviously, I just need to know where I went wrong, so i can take a step back and fix it. He is so strange though because he really is a happy freakin dog lol
He loves me too I know it, and I'm not just saying it because he is my dog. He follows me everywhere cuddles with me all the time tries to sit in my lap acts sad when I'm not home etc
For the longest time I thought it was because of the "CTJM" I mentioned, but after that he acted just fine and at that time period his fear issues were barely existant, they just started to get bad really a couple of months ago.
I'm sorry you go thru this as well...it is devastating to me so I know how you must feel =/
I

[bridget246]

I would guess that it had something to do with the pause in training with Raj with some unclear feelings about where he stood with you. Don't blame yourself so much. You did what you could do and now your getting back into it.

My advice is to go easier on the training. Work on simple things that Raj can do without even thinking about it. I tell Bridget to sit and stand over and over again with treats when I notice her getting frustrated when we work on new material. She tries too hard to please at times and that leads to her getting frustrated if she doesn't get it right fast enough. It isn't the same fear problem you have. But maybe it will get her over it.

I doubt your going to have to put Raj to sleep.

[IslandPaws4Raw]

.

I began monitoring his behavior over the week and noticing that his reactions to sudden movements, raising of my voice slamming things etc has gotten a lot worse as well. If he gets scared he drops to the ground and CRAWLS to his kennel...and of course he will not budge. No matter how many treats I try to give him.

You really know when a dog shuts down because they will not eat. It's counter productive to try coax him out of that frame of mind with treats. Since he associates the leash/ collar/ walks with a bad experience ( real or imagined) how about working on some free shaping exercises in a quiet environment. It can be your backyard without the other dog or people.....just you and him. Clicker training would be helpful here....or you can use a marker for correct behavior "Yes!" or "Good". Just lure him with his favorite treats into whatever position/ behavior you would be trying to achieve on leash. Make the training sessions short and fun.

I have a sensitive boy too and a small correction with a prong was all it took to turn him off obedience training ( I didn't know he would react that way) I should never have used a prong on him. Instead of being more patient and taking more time, I fell for the "Quick Fix" which there is no such thing.......lesson learned. Now Kai wouldn't take that sort of thing personally, but after that experience.....I would rather do things different.

The other behavior in the house is odd.....There are some really great trainers on here that might be able to give you more insight on that. Sorry you have to go through this :-(

[MollyWoppy]

Raj sounds like he's under a lot of stress right now, he's obviously a very sensitive pup. Remember that a lot has changed in his life, new baby, routines, time you can spend with the dogs. Maybe you have changed, maybe you are under stress, frustrated, pressed for time or whatever, and its showing in your body language and that's what he's picking up on. Sensitive dogs really do read your body language more than your words.
I don't know really what to suggest, but it might be a good idea to take him to the vet and make sure there's nothing medically wrong.
Then, if he was my dog, I'd start spending alone time with him, just fun time, nothing else. Doing stuff he really enjoys, maybe throwing the ball, fun wrestling (my dog adores this), just whatever it is that he adores. No training other than asking for stuff he already knows with heaps of treats, praise, laughs and just genuinely enjoying being alone with him. Bonding time.
I hope you get your happy mushy dog back soon!

[werecatrising]

I would take him to a vet and have him evaluated.

Quinn has been a very fearful dog in the past. When I first got him he was to scared to move anytime we left the house. I did a tremendous amount of work with him and he came a long way. Over the last few months he started to regress. He was overly stressed by things that hadn't been bothering him and seemed anxious and clingy. Turns out he was developing addisons disease.

[ciaBrysh]

I doubt your going to have to put Raj to sleep.

I doubt it too, but I donm't want hjim to feel afraid his whole life either =/
I'm going to start some light one on one training today while it's nice out.
thank you for your advice guys =)

[Caty M]

What was the "come to jesus moment"?