Had the weirdest walk with Sachi that ended up being very, very stressful and she was super skittish on our "normal" neighborhood trek so was definitely off back home. She ate out of my hand as normal but then needed some personal space (she crashed out just out of my eyesight but I am in hers).
She's so darn cute! Not sure what could have spooked her. There could be a lot of things. I would keep an eye out for some sort of pattern to see if you could figure out what's setting her off. At the same time stay calm and don't let her see you get anxious, she can feed off it.
It's only day 3. There will be a lot of set backs and do overs. Remember she comes of a place with very little people traffic, and a home with a large yard with 20+ dogs. Being in a house with roommates in a city could be a lot for her at the moment. You're doing great! Keep taking it slow and brushing off the set backs.
Don't worry about her needing space. ChoCho stayed in her crate (with the crate door open) not wanting to come out for a whole month and only came out for walks. Silly girl.
@hinata23 thanks. Still no pets (im afraid if she doesn't get one soon she could come to never want one! (maybe I just need to pet her and am making up excuses). She has started following me at a distance around the house and currently she laid down next to me butt to me (I'm thinking that's dangerous, you can make a blow torch from one of her winds) so perhaps I can het a pet in while she's chilling *steeples fingers in thought*.
@cdenney I would pet her very gently when she's laying next to you. Slow and soft so it won't scare her off. Have treats with you. She'll probably let you when she's tired. Don't be scared, she'll sense it and feel unsure. Sit on the floor with a book or something and ignore her. If she comes by you pet her. If she runs away, wait a bit and sit by her and try again.
Will do! She seemed okay to have her back to me (she almost always approaches me straight on) but she was facing the open bedroom door so she could hear everyone as they putter around and could explore the hall way (it is gated so she cant leave that area). I know she was jumpy as my landlord came down but he didn't come in the room and she only stood up so I guess I will make my attempt once she settles again.
Chin up! Always remember to take a deep breath - literally... as it calms you it will travel down to her as well! With skittish horses: when times would get stressful, I would stop everything and just breathe - as long as it would take to see the physical tenseness diminish some in the animal. It travels through the leash/lead rope to the animal as it calms you as well. There's an actual physical reaction in the brain to deep breathing but I won't go into it too much!! lol You're doing great! She might be anticipating the first pet too, maybe once she knows your soft touch she'll calm more? Keep up the good work!
The voyage has been both eventful and anti climatic 72 hours in. The beast in question is developing new "startle" habits and a real stubborn streak while also developing trust...
On a real note yesterday when everyone was in, and no longer opening exterior doors, and were puttering around doing their thing I opened the bedroom door and the gate to the living room so she could explore at her leisure. The roommate who I'm moving to a quiet apartment with (end of Dec) wanted to see Sachi so I cautioned her don't expect much make sudden movements or look at her. We sat on the floor near the gate to my living room in Sachis eyesight but not pressuring her with our presence. Sachi sniffed.for awhile but wandered out sniffed her shoes greeted me (noses my knee for treats) then walked between us to sit just on the otherside of the gate where she could still take treats from me but see my roomie and my landlord installing a gate. Win!
Petting did not go as smoothly. The first pet was a light single finger stroke center on her rump, she startled, whipped around saw me holding a treat then gave me the stink eye as she settled down again. Did it again alittle before her hind quarters, she stood up and very deliberately walked from the room to my living room and parked there. but ive a new plan so I'm not worrying!
It could just be one of her quirks. Meaning she doesn't like to be touched when she's not comfortable. Like I said, when we visited Brad's she kept her distance and we never touched her. I would ask Brad if she's ify about being touched or if she's just being shy. Either way, it's understandable since she's gone through so much in the last few days. I would give her a couple of weeks. I'm sure when you move out she'll settle down a bit more. From the sound of it you seem to live in a pretty busy setting. It really took ChoCho 5 months to be somewhat comfortable in the house (with the in-laws gone for 6 weeks) and us moving to Florida to really come out of her shell.
Give her a few weeks to get acknowledge you as her new best friend and a few months to settle in.
I am/will .I can see improvement from three days ago so i will keep taking every little win I can. plus her tail was full up during parts of our walk this am.
Awesome! I always took the "tail up" as a good sign! Yay! That means that she's enjoying her walks... or at least part of it. Oh I remember getting so excited when ChoCho would put her tail up in the beginning! It's all about little wins.
Hang in there. Each dog progresses differently. I can remember though that first day Ritsu was really excited to see me and gave me his first kai hug. I almost started crying. I now get a kai hug from him every time we come in from outside.
@sjp051993 thanks. I'm just afraid she will be afraid of touch if she isn't touched regularly at the same time she is afraid of being touched so petting could be more detrimental at the moment. I'm sure I'm over thinking it but she is the most unique dog I've ever had and I've had a feral dog before. She forsakes soft sleeping places (her dog bed, couch, chair.) unless she's home alone and my bed completely (though i understand that) and surveys alot. 20 min in a door way just looking around when nothing is there. What's a kai hug?
@cdenney I don't think Sachi will be afraid to be touched in the future just because you're not petting her now. She'll be ok Kais are really affectionate, you'll get plenty of love when she's comfortable and I'm sure she'll want to receive it too.
Yeah, people really can't grasp how different the NK are from other dogs until they have one. I was definitely one of them! Any dog knowledge we had gained over the years were thrown out the window when we got ChoCho... It really was like bring a wild animal into the house. They really are something else.
It sounds like she's still nervous and unsure of her surrounding, which is totally understandable. ChoCho obsessively paced around the house in the same pattern: front door-> kitchen-> kitchen window 1-> kitchen window 2-> back door-> dinning room-> living room-> downstairs-> back upstairs-> repeat. She would do this for 30-40 mins nonstop at a time. After doing it a few times we would try to stop her and take her downstairs to her crate. We didn't want her to get worked up and go over her threshold. Sachi is doing wonderful compared to her!
Has she gone in her crate at all? I would really try to get her to stay in her crate when you leave. Losing her crate training is not something you want. She'll feel more secure there. At least ChoCho did. For example, when Jeff's parents would come home ChoCho started to pace our room and started clawing the window to try to get out (she messed up all the blinds)... When we put her in her crate she laid down and calmed down a bit.
I really have nothing helpful to add about the petting. She loved being petted here, chase could hug her and everything. She would sleep on our bed... so, she likes to bet loved on. I think it will just take time. Dogs are strange. They do dumb shit when they get stressed... and Kai are emotional.
@ayk my land lords lab teenager but while they've met through a gate I kept them from playing (or him molesting her) as he might be more stress on an already well dog. I was going to work with my landlord on Sunday about doing a real meet with his dog and see how it goes.
@hinata23@sjp051993 I feed half of breakfast and dinner in her crate (handfeed the other half) and keep her toys and occasionally a rawhide in there. She goes in happily enough but has yet to reside there. Should I just lock her in after breaky? I don't want her to resent being there and refuse all contact.
@brada1878 why I'm so worried about the petting is I want to get her tags, a tracker and a harness (this preferably as needed but perhaps for a day or two at a time) on her and she won't let me touch her ain't no way I can play with her neck to do all that.
I hear you. I talked to Jen and she mentioned that she was not cool with the vet touching her either. So, I guess that is a Sachi thing - only people she trusts can touch her.
If she takes treats from you, then I would use that as a conditioning mechanism for getting her to allow you to touch her. Make a motion as if you are going to touch her, but don't. Stop shy of touching her and then just giver her a treat. Keep doing this until she doesn't react to you doing the motion. Once you are at that point then push it a little further and touch her, then giver her a treat. Rinse and repeat.
The other option is to put a muzzle on her and do what you need to do (or have someone else do it). Then start the conditioning after you have the harness and such on her.
@brada1878 ill start conditioning. If I muzzle I can see this putting us back. I don't want to expose my roomies to a bitey dog to do this ill see if I can call the company I sit for and see if one of our trainers can do a home visit. What was the crating schedule at your house? Going to try and get her on a semblance of it here
@cdenney Good idea in asking Brad their crate schedule! Though their crate schedule might be due to the fact that they have so many dogs and want to control how many are on the loss at a time (could be wrong). I would close the crate door with her in it. She'll be fine. She grew up sleeping in a crate. Lock her up when you leave and at night if you like.
I agree. When she goes in, just shut and lock the door. She is use to being crated so it will not be overly traumatic for her. It will help give her a sense of security. I woul look for calm, quiet dogs to introduce her to. Also have those dogs and owners go on walks with you. It can help calm Sachi having another dog with her. It helped ritsu when I started walking kazue with him. She is a confident young dog that is very comfortable on our walking route. After one walk, ritsu really opened up and relaxed. Ritsu was shy at first about me reaching for his collar. I just walked up to him calm and confident, reached down and took hold of his collar. After that, we never had another issue.
She's spent a lot of time in her crate the last few weeks here since she was recovering from her spay (we had to keep her from playing with the other dogs). Her typical schedule was - let out of her crate (in our bedroom) around 6am to potty, then brought back in around 8am. She had her first meal around 11am, then back out to potty around 12pm. She was brought back in around 2pm and crated till her next meal at around 5pm. Let out again at 6pm for a short potty break. Then she chilled on the couch with us till bedtime. She was let out one more time before bed around 10pm, then crated for the night in our bedroom.
Just after her spay she had a hard time holding her bladder (which was VERY strange for her)... so that is why she had kinda a strict schedule for a few weeks. By the time she left she was having not potty issues at all.
@brada1878 We have had a couple of accidents because we couldnt work in tandem to get out fast enough (she wont let me approach her straight on and was having fun sitting in doorways for periods of time) or I missed her signal (if it is at the back door she noses it a couple of times looks at you then the door then you are on a short countdown...didn't know that). It sounds like she was crated often so I will start crating her when I go out then. Was there a command like (go home) to get her in?
@sjp051993 I will try that. the tracker came today so I would like to finally collar her for real. The issue is to get close to her unless with treats and im sitting I have to corner her then she makes her cat-esq noises of warning.
@hinata23 did first day of crating was happy to get out of the crate and doing better on the walk (not sure if a correlation) but less freak out and bolt everytime she sees a human more of lets just see how this is going to progress.
Comments
Some pics from this am:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/715/wtfwalk1.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/685/wtfwalk2.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/22/sachinolegs.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/850/yetilovessachi.jpg
It's only day 3. There will be a lot of set backs and do overs. Remember she comes of a place with very little people traffic, and a home with a large yard with 20+ dogs. Being in a house with roommates in a city could be a lot for her at the moment. You're doing great! Keep taking it slow and brushing off the set backs.
Don't worry about her needing space. ChoCho stayed in her crate (with the crate door open) not wanting to come out for a whole month and only came out for walks. Silly girl.
You're doing great! She might be anticipating the first pet too, maybe once she knows your soft touch she'll calm more? Keep up the good work!
The voyage has been both eventful and anti climatic 72 hours in. The beast in question is developing new "startle" habits and a real stubborn streak while also developing trust...
On a real note yesterday when everyone was in, and no longer opening exterior doors, and were puttering around doing their thing I opened the bedroom door and the gate to the living room so she could explore at her leisure. The roommate who I'm moving to a quiet apartment with (end of Dec) wanted to see Sachi so I cautioned her don't expect much make sudden movements or look at her. We sat on the floor near the gate to my living room in Sachis eyesight but not pressuring her with our presence. Sachi sniffed.for awhile but wandered out sniffed her shoes greeted me (noses my knee for treats) then walked between us to sit just on the otherside of the gate where she could still take treats from me but see my roomie and my landlord installing a gate. Win!
Petting did not go as smoothly. The first pet was a light single finger stroke center on her rump, she startled, whipped around saw me holding a treat then gave me the stink eye as she settled down again. Did it again alittle before her hind quarters, she stood up and very deliberately walked from the room to my living room and parked there. but ive a new plan so I'm not worrying!
Give her a few weeks to get acknowledge you as her new best friend and a few months to settle in.
Is there another dog owner around whom you can walk Sachi with?
Yeah, people really can't grasp how different the NK are from other dogs until they have one. I was definitely one of them! Any dog knowledge we had gained over the years were thrown out the window when we got ChoCho... It really was like bring a wild animal into the house. They really are something else.
It sounds like she's still nervous and unsure of her surrounding, which is totally understandable. ChoCho obsessively paced around the house in the same pattern: front door-> kitchen-> kitchen window 1-> kitchen window 2-> back door-> dinning room-> living room-> downstairs-> back upstairs-> repeat. She would do this for 30-40 mins nonstop at a time. After doing it a few times we would try to stop her and take her downstairs to her crate. We didn't want her to get worked up and go over her threshold. Sachi is doing wonderful compared to her!
Has she gone in her crate at all? I would really try to get her to stay in her crate when you leave. Losing her crate training is not something you want. She'll feel more secure there. At least ChoCho did. For example, when Jeff's parents would come home ChoCho started to pace our room and started clawing the window to try to get out (she messed up all the blinds)... When we put her in her crate she laid down and calmed down a bit.
@hinata23 @sjp051993 I feed half of breakfast and dinner in her crate (handfeed the other half) and keep her toys and occasionally a rawhide in there. She goes in happily enough but has yet to reside there. Should I just lock her in after breaky? I don't want her to resent being there and refuse all contact.
@brada1878 why I'm so worried about the petting is I want to get her tags, a tracker and a harness (this preferably as needed but perhaps for a day or two at a time) on her and she won't let me touch her ain't no way I can play with her neck to do all that.
If she takes treats from you, then I would use that as a conditioning mechanism for getting her to allow you to touch her. Make a motion as if you are going to touch her, but don't. Stop shy of touching her and then just giver her a treat. Keep doing this until she doesn't react to you doing the motion. Once you are at that point then push it a little further and touch her, then giver her a treat. Rinse and repeat.
The other option is to put a muzzle on her and do what you need to do (or have someone else do it). Then start the conditioning after you have the harness and such on her.
@sjp051993 I will try that. the tracker came today so I would like to finally collar her for real. The issue is to get close to her unless with treats and im sitting I have to corner her then she makes her cat-esq noises of warning.
@hinata23 did first day of crating was happy to get out of the crate and doing better on the walk (not sure if a correlation) but less freak out and bolt everytime she sees a human more of lets just see how this is going to progress.
She would go into her crate very easily by just pointing to it and saying "crate". No baby talk or anything, just simple and direct "crate".
I would mos def crate her when you are gone. Then she will look forward to seeing you as you = freedom.