Working With Abused Dog Behavior

Kyra was 2 years old when I got her. She came from a long distance musher and was not trained to live in a house. Larry was 6 months old, and had been neglected. I used the same technique to train both of them.

Patience. Exercise. Patience. Exercise.

The main thing to keep in mind when dealing with abused dog behavior is to create structure for the dog. Structure means have a schedule. Feed at the same time everyday, walk the same route, have the same friends visit. You can introduce changes over time, but your dog needs to have a sense of balance at first.

Dogs learn from other dogs, it can help the situation tremendously if you already have a dog that has bonded to you and your family, and has good behavior.

That said, make sure the abused dog gets along with the other pets in the family or you will have more problems and cause even greater stress for everyone involved.

Trying to connect with an abused dog on your own is possible, but it takes much longer because we don't speak dog as well as ahem...dogs. On the other hand, if you already own a dog who is hard to handle, adding a second dog with abused dog behavior will add twice the problem.

Why?

Because dogs learn from other dogs. If your original dog has behaviors you have trouble handling, a second dog will not help the situation. It will make the situation more stressful for everyone and no one learns well under stress!

Remember that abused dog behavior is just behavior. The labels such as scared, shy, or fear biter are words humans use to name the behavior.

What does this have to do with training the abused dog? An abused dog does not know he was abused...he knows pain and he knows what worked to keep himself alive. Do not treat an abused dog like a victim. You may accidentally reinforce the behavior you are trying to resolve. Train an abused dog using positive reinforcement methods. Exercise is another wonderful way to bond with an abused dog.

Our dog Larry was always scared, and that was his abused dog behavior. He was severely neglected and isolated and it made him terrified of the outside world.

His reaction would be to glue himself to the ground whenever he was unsure. We did not coddle him when he did this. We simply slowed our movements down (if we were trying to approach him), and respected his space until he accepted us. Sometimes we just ignored the behavior if he was reacting to a loud noise, or something that did not involve him.

Emotionally, the biggest issue for an abused dog was living with chaos or isolation. Chaos meant no structure and isolation meant no companionship. Structure is what helps bring solid ground to these insecurities. Without structure, you might get aggression fear or shyness. The structure must be allowed to change and bend as your dog gains confidence.

From a dog's perspective it boils down to survival. Survival is the name of the game. In the case of our dog Larry, he figured out if he didn't react he survived.

Take Home Message: Give an abused dog structure. Do not coddle them or ignore their personal space because they were abused. They want to count on you to be consistent and respectful.