Lauren,
Good for you for adopting this little fellow. He has obviously had bad
experiences being handled. What you need to do is teach him that being
touched will not hurt him.
Start slowly and quietly. Sit near him and offer him a small treat. Do
not try to pick him up or grab him, just let him sniff the treat and
take it. Tell him, :Good Boy!" Repeat this over and over, until he
understands that you are a source of good things. Gradually, as he
comes to you willingly to get a little treat (just a kibble nodule,
nothing bigger), touch him. Do it in a non-threatening way, do not
attempt to pick him up. This might take a while, in a number of
sessions. You are undoing over a year's worth of bad experiences!
Build up to the point where he allows you to pet him all over, handle
his feet, his ears, all the while telling him he is a good boy.
Eventually you should be able to put on his collar. Do that, give him
a treat, then take it off. Be casual about it all. You should
eventually be able to put on his collar with no fuss. He should
realize that this is a good thing, because he gets a treat and petting
and nothing bad happens to him.
When he accepts the collar (or harness), work up to teaching him to
walk on a leash. Again, reward him for every little step forward.
I suggest you find a book by Victoria Stillwell, who is excellent in
retraining dogs with problems. She uses kindness and positive
reinforcement.
You must be patient and not let anyone be rough with your little guy.
That's what has made him so fearful. Make every interaction with you a
pleasant and rewarding experience---do not yell or frighten him. This
is going to take time! He is not being bad on purpose, it's the only
way he has to defend himself from the people who hurt him.
Good luck!
Nancy Kaminski
On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 7:57 AM, LaurenE <lelu1236@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I adopted a 1 year 5 month old male dachshund on Tuesday and Well the just shy quiet stage has ended. After a nap in his cage this morning he finally stepped out of the cage and then I had to try to corner him it was the only way I could pick him up. He thrashed around and tried to bite me when I tried to pick him up. Same thing happened when he was done outside in his fenced in area. I attached his leash to his halter and put him down. He of couse does not like being led around on the leas while I tried to do some things So he thrased around again and actually got loose of his harness so I had to quietly try to put the leash back on his collar and my brother spend a few minutes with him but then my brother left him without letting me know so I had to catch his leash then again he thrashed around and got loose of his collar. So I tried again to put his collar back on and pick him up. I did pick him up but not without him trying to jump around and bite me again. And during the minute he was loose he tried to scent mark again. I know he did not heed to pee as he was just outside and peed 4 times and pooped. I got upset and started to cry I dont know what to do except keep him either outside or in his crate. I cant have him marking everywhere and he wont stay on a leash. HELP!!
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Nancy Kaminski
zinnia@gmail.com
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