skidish dog

[Peachcreek]

i have a 2 year old gyp that i cant get to trust me. i have tried 1 on 1 time with her and baby her daily. she has a really good nose and if there is a hog around seems like she will always find it. if i am sitting she will come to me but if i try to walk to her she runs off. this makes it hard to get the collar off and on and to get her into the truck. the other two gyps pick on her constantly even my 7 month old pup punks her. in the woods she appears to be the leader of the pack. She is a bigger dog than the other two gyps, like she should be able to stand up to them. i wish she would just grow a back bone. i got her when she was about 7 months old and i have been trying to get her to not be sooo skidish every scence. she was in pretty bad shape when i got her and i cant help but feel it was something done to her by the previous owner that i may never be able to fix. any sugestions...... a bullet?

[djhogdogger]

 If she has a good nose and finds hogs, then i sure wouldn't cull her. We have a friend that has a gyp the he has to catch while she is still baying a hog because she is hard to put your hands on, so maybe its more common that you think. I would set the other dogs straight when they jump on her though.

[John]

If she has a good nose and finds hogs, then i sure wouldn't cull her. We have a friend that has a gyp the he has to catch while she is still baying a hog because she is hard to put your hands on, so maybe its more common that you think. I would set the other dogs straight when they jump on her though.

 2x

[Bump]

I had one that wasnt beaten but was scared as hell. He would not come to me or would freeze up. He hunts great. I started taking him with me in the truck...inside the cab. Go through McDonalds and get a hamburger and always petting him while taking him in the truck.

It helped but wasnt what I wanted. Recently I had a female in heat and decided to tie him up by the house. HE was right next to my back door. I would see him several times a day and always feed him scraps and occassionally let him inside. The feeding scraps and always talking and petting seemed to do the best. He has changed a lot.

He cold as ice now.  

I dont know if this will work on every dog but think they need lots of attention to gain the trust.

[Bcox]

i had a male doing the same. had him from a pup and could never gain his trust. Its def more common than it seems and its frustrating but if she hunts good. KEEP HER!

[Peachcreek]

i need to get another shock collar i guess. it seems like if i put the collar on one gyp the other jumps on her. they dont fight her they just pic at her like a school bully. i tried the mcdonalds thing last weekend. we went to the lease and i took her up front in the truck, stopped at booger king and bought her two $1 hamboogers i had to hold them for her if i set them down she would not touch them. i guess i will keep working with her... it sure is getting old though

[Purebreedcolt]

So long as she don't pee everywhere bring her inside seems to loosen them up and treats never hurt

[TinyTexasCowgirl]

Remember tone of voice and body language is a big deal to dogs to. I have done rescue work with several different breeds, and the two things that I have found out is that the higher tone of voice you have (think baby talk) the more interesting and nice you seem. When you are going to her, or calling her, kneel down to her level. If you are standing up and over her, it makes you the dominant one. Watch your two gyps when they are picking on her, I am willing to bet they are standing over her, or literally jumping on her, right? Make a mental note to keep your tone of voice high, and body language low.

[Peachcreek]

you are right tiny they jump all over her. i will try all the above i think the lead thang might just work

[Rockin-P-Ranch]

What Im going to say about this thread is IMO. This is a breeding fault that a lot of the dogs we use have. IMO if you cannot put a handle on a dog then that dog will never become a complete dog. This fault got started a long time ago when some of the old timers that I knew never put a hand on any of their dogs. They just opened the pen door and they got in the trailer.Got to the pasture opened the trailer and they worked the cattle got back in the trailer. Same thing when they got home.No hands on with the dogs. So of course they breed the good ones to the good ones . The young ones learned from the older dogs.How to load and unload bark at the cows get back in the trailer.From 4 to 8wks you can tell if a dog is going to be shy or not. If you stand over them and they do not come and crawl all over your feet but go get back in the house that pupis going to be hard to touch. IT IS A CULL jmo

[Cristina]

Rockin P that makes a lot of sense, I agree, I have had a couple of dogs like that and they got over it. I have a BMC I've had for almost two years got him and his sister when they were 5 months old. My male will get in his kennel load into the trailer and everything just fine, at home I am the only one he will approach if he is loose and in the woods he will come up to anyone....weird.

Catacrazy do what others have been saying if you really like how she hunts but it is going to take a lot of patience, or you can give her to a woman with a soft sweet voice and she might come around for one of us lol

[wadepat2]

Soft sweet voice of a woman or young girls who treat it like a baby for awhile has helped some of my skiddish dogs but they never seem completely changed just alot more manageable.

[TCB-Vince]

I just got 2yr old gyp that I just got about 2 months ago and she is skidish. She would pee every time I would grab her since she wouldn't come to me. No one else but just me. But after keeping her in the house and take her just about everywhere I go she now comes to me most of the time and doesn't pee anymore what so ever. The breeder that had her before had her on a chain all her life and never had anyone touch her (he's an old timer like Rockin said). But I'm about to start training her all the commands and see how that works. This is my first dog this way but she seems to be coming around so we will see what happens. The good part is the breeder said if she never works out he'll give me my money back or another dog.

[dub]

What how they "break" wild Mustangs. i  is all about building trust in very small steps. I keep dogs I am working with in my back yard. I would walk out a couple times a day Morning and night. Maybe during the day. Take a dog biscuit or some treat, just walk outside and set it down and walk back in. Make sure it is something she really likes. After doing this for a couple days try to give it to her. If she will not take it just set it down and walk away. If she she takes it do not make a big deal about it just walk back in. If she does not take after a week or so walk out offer the treat then just walk back in. She she should give in and take it. But just give her the treat and leave. After she has taken the treat a few times try a quick touch and just walk away. Take it in small steps. The tone of voice is important. Also do not yell at other dogs. She is watching. My dogs do not like my dad because he yells at his dogs. Even though he does not yell at my dogs they take turns staying over in the kennels and see him yell at his dogs. If she is a good dog it is worth the work.

[BarrNinja]

Mr P is right in that its a fault in the breeding and would be nothing but a cull to me. I dont care to tip toe around dogs and talk sweet, baby talk to them.
It is your dog and if you can live with it then keep her if she is finding hogs because I have a feeling she will never get out of it.

Good luck.

[jkcasey]

I have a gyp that was real skiddish when I first got her. She wouldn't come to me, so I held feed from her for about seven days until she would eat out of the bowl with me being baside her. Now, you would never know she was that way. I almost gave up on day seven put that is the day her belly got the better of her. I hope your dog comes around.

[Dexter]

Travis
  try pecans  dogs love them and they are easy to carry in a pocket  plus what they said ^^^
          Dexter

[Hog Dog Mike]

My buddy had a hog dog like that. Did not want you to put your hands on him. We just lived with it.

Another friend of mine had a bird dog that was skiddish but a good dog. He chained the dog by the back door and everybody that came of went had to pet the dog. If you had to well rope it fine but put your hands on it every time.

[southtexasff]

I would try to feed her by hand.  I had a dog that was like that, when i would feed all the dogs he would start jumping around cause it was feeding time.  I wouldnt feed him in a bowl, if he was hungry he would have to come to me and eat from my hand.  It worked for me, too bad he didnt show an interest in hogs.  If yours is already striking hogs, i wouldn't cull her for being skiddish.

[Reuben]

What Im going to say about this thread is IMO. This is a breeding fault that a lot of the dogs we use have. IMO if you cannot put a handle on a dog then that dog will never become a complete dog. This fault got started a long time ago when some of the old timers that I knew never put a hand on any of their dogs. They just opened the pen door and they got in the trailer.Got to the pasture opened the trailer and they worked the cattle got back in the trailer. Same thing when they got home.No hands on with the dogs. So of course they breed the good ones to the good ones . The young ones learned from the older dogs.How to load and unload bark at the cows get back in the trailer.From 4 to 8wks you can tell if a dog is going to be shy or not. If you stand over them and they do not come and crawl all over your feet but go get back in the house that pupis going to be hard to touch. IT IS A CULL jmo

I agree... But first it could be the environment. A pup needs proper socialization, especially in the first 8 weeks. The pup needs enough human contact and always bang pots, pans, shoot a cap gun during feeding time etc. etc.. However, the breeder needs to keep a close watch to see which pups are naturally timid and which ones are not. The timid pups tend to be gunshy, get rattled with high commotion but can stick if socialized right. But these dogs will always need special treatment. Some of these dogs make top strike dogs. But I am all about root cause analysis and root cause fixes. These type of dogs are not fit for breeding.... Not fit for breeding because if you have to give this dog special attention then the odds go up that some of its offspring will have the same issues and need the same type of special treatment and then the following generation will produce even more. IMO this is somewhat common in the cur dog breeds.