Scared 6month Old Pup

Gunnar_&_Me

Active Member
I recently got a 6 month old Black and Tan coonhound I have alot of hounds for hunting and have noticed that most hounds are pretty nervous dogs as pups but can be easily bonded with, this pup was apparently never messed with and just lived her life in a kennel because she will not come close to any person but will go straight in her kennel whn I bring her inside an just sit on the floor she will run around everywhere but never come near me I have been working with her for a week and made no progress I could really use any tips or advice anyone has to offer!
 

Evie

Experienced Member
When you say you've been working with her what have you been doing? What have you tried to get her to be your friend? :)

Is she scared/nervous around you or is she just uninterested in you? If you touch her how does she react or can't you get that close? If she is afraid to be near you or to be touched by you, DONT force her to be touched as this may increase her fear/shyness rather than decrease it.

Where do you feed her? Personally I'd be trying to gain her confidence in you with food. Food is the key to so many animal's hearts LOL. My suggestion would be to do either (or both) of the following: make sure that when you feed her that you are in sight. To begin with (Once again i'm not 100% sure just how shy/uninterested she is) have her food bowl at what ever distance she decides is far enough away from you to eat, and just sit there quietly as she eats... every time she has a meal. Then you can slowly start sitting closer and closer to her as she eats. But if she ever feels uncomfortable at how close you are (eg. moves away or refuses to eat) then you need to back off and give her more space until she's comfortable again.

Alternatively, if she is more uninterested than shy, I'd be using treats of high value (eg. cooked chicken) to get her more interested in you. You could start by just randomly throwing her pieces of chicken as you walk by, so she starts to associate you with really awesome food. Then once she starts to become a little more interested you could just reward her (by throwing her chicken) when she comes towards you or pays you any attention. But never push her boundaries and always let her make the decision to come near you and then heavily reward her with food or playtime (I'm guessing at this stage she hasn't yet learnt to play with people so food might be your best bet :p)

Hopefully this can be of some help.

Goodluck!
 
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