Dutch Shepherd Forum

I haven't posted much lately, as I am in dire need of a vacation. Bramble is doing fine, though like us I think she is ready for a break.

We took Casper for an evaluation with the trainer, and are trying to decide if it is fair to keep him. We've never regained a dog, and he is such a sweetie. But he has (part of why he was returned to the shelter) bite. He is just a very fearful little guy. He and Bramble got over excited twice and Bramble ended up with little two scars. We think it's a problem of his willingness to bite and her intense play drive. Mixee with just how skittish he is....which in a home with a "severe" ASD kid is a lot for a dog. Ours may not be the best home for him if can't find a way to help him relax some.

The trainer gave us some tips and my mother has been trying them, with success. She is going to give it another week or to decide, we are leaning towards a full training program.

The trainer said this little guy does have a real potential to bite my son, unlike Bramble, which is a real worry, even with training. Casper is a very nervous dog.

We did let the shelter know that his behavior indicates some real abuse history so they screen the prior owners if they try to adopt again.

((On the safety side Casper is not allowed in my son's room, there is no interaction between the two, Bramble always herds Casper to keep distance from my son, and my son's need level is 24/7, so he is never unsupervised. The bite risk for him is very low. Our concern is Casper's stress level.))

It has gone down. When we first got him, he pretty much just cowered in the furthest room from the front door for 3 days. We started seeing some improvement, when he started responding to some play approaches fron Bramble. Their play tended to escalate though to the point he was covered in blood-all Bramble's one day. Then we took him to the eval and he was so stressed he left little sweat footprints.

Since then we've worked hand feeding, made a point of trying to figure out (and hide) things that scare him. As a result, he is now choosing to spend most of the day in the living room with the family and he is now coming to us for affection. Still, though, if something moves, he is out like a shot. And we have to be careful not to bend over him or move to quickly. He even pulled a little on a tug with my mom yesterday.

Oddly he watches TV, intently. We think he may have been kept in a small kennel at all times. Worse, it is pretty obvious he's been hit.

Most of it is genetics, and the dog is pretty much what you see. You can’t fix it. It will continue to raise its head at any interruption in his routine.

Ahhhhhh, see I'm an a-mom (adoptive mom); I don't believe all behavior is genetic. I see everyday just what trauma does, and I know recovery is possible.


On a lighter note, we are working the first step in retrieve for service work, which it turns out is different than other retrieves. I'm to be getting her to at least touch items of different shapes and textures. Yesterday, I offered Bramble the lid part of a small box. She looked at the box, and from about two inches away opened her mouth.. Thought about it for a second, opened her mouth wide again, looked at me, looked at the box...and at me again, giving me "the eye". Obviously, the box was too big, so why was I showing it to her. I think if she could talk, I would have heard, "my human isn't very bright."

I’m not saying some dogs can’t be rehabilitated. Your trainer should be able to differentiate between a nervy dog or one that has seen some abuse. What conclusion did he come to ?

The trainer thinks Casper can learn to enjoy life. The challenge is our home isn't exactly calm. Casper is probably naturally a shy dog. However, it is very obvious much of his behavior is neglect and mistreatment. Casper didnt even know that he could run, until Bramble showed him. His movement was totally off. He didnt know what wind is, and only now stays relaxed and doesn't try to hide when it blows.

So anyway, we are working it right now.

My malinois has severe anxiety. She's overly nervy, every loud noise, thunderstorms- it's absolutely ridiculous that the breeder didn't test the female they used for that breeding. The male was solid, a border patrol dog that I watched several videos on hitting a decoy with full pressure. Why they didn't bother testing the female used in that breeding was absolutely careless. You don't breed nervy dogs- ever.

We think Casper is either a whippet parson mix or an Italian greyhound bully bred mix. I suspect the later. If course it could be an intentional breeding as both crosses lead to "designer" dogs.

For me, the biggest issue is that whoever had him should not have mistreated him.