New german shepherd puppy, 8 weeks old. Upon arrival yesterday she seemed surprisingly comfortable about being away from home for the first time. No whining, and she automatically followed me everywhere I went. We went for a number of short walks around the house and adjacent area (I live in the country) to familiarize her with her new home and she seemed at ease for the most part, although I did notice that at a certain distance from the house she became reluctant to go further.
However, that night after it got dark I noticed that she seemed reluctant to leave the house for bathroom trips and, once outside, she wanted to stay very close to the house. I attributed that to an unfamiliarity with the outdoors at night – she was crated inside with the other puppies during the night at her old home.
That night she seemed to do very well – no whining or accidents at night and she seemed happy staying in her little crate/den area near my bed.
However, today she seems somewhat timid about being outside. Although we went for a walk this morning, she seems reluctant to go outside since then. It takes much longer than yesterday to coax her out, and sometimes she wants to go right back in, as opposed to walking around the property behind me as she did yesterday.
I can’t think of anything traumatic that would have caused this change…she met several relatives and other people who live nearby, and she was friendly with all of them. She did seem scared of my father at first, but seemed to adjust to him pretty quickly after her initial fright.
So my question is: what are some suggestions for easing her out of this? I think it is very important that she go on regular walks with me, and I also have a number of tasks to work on that are a bit further away from the house than she seems comfortable with at this point. I’m worried that leaving her to run back to the house without me may exacerbate the problem. Ideas?
What’s the weather like where you are? Here in Ohio, it’s quite cold at night and very dewy/frosty in the morning. The difference in the feel of the grass between mid-day and after dark/early morning might be confusing her?
Yeah, I’m guessing when she first arrived, EVERYTHING was new, so there was no reason to fear any particular place. Now she’s been with you a while, home is safe, so now elsewhere is potentially not safe.
Make sure you are both in a calm state of mind when you prepare to leave the house, and walk out with the expectation that she will come with you. The more you cajole and coax and try to make her feel better, the more you are feeding her feelings that outside is SCARY. Every time you let her run back to the house, you are also confirming her feelings that outside is scary, so you really want to avoid that happening.
I think at this young age, I wouldn’t really expect her to be confidently walking out with you whereever, so maybe keep it to a confined boundary for now. She’s just a pup.
Yeah, I’ve been kind of thinking along those lines too. When I first got her, I was the only safe thing she knew, so whatever happened, she knew she’d better stay close to me. Once she realized where the safety of home was, I could see how that might change.
She will run out after a toy, so I’ve been using that to get her out. Once she is there she seems Ok being outside as long as she is close to the house. We sat there for a bit today until she fell asleep.
I didn’t like the idea of coaxing either. But I also wanted to make sure she got out so she could use the bathroom, work off some energy, etc.
Is she going out into the yard at night while you stay inside, or is a human going out with her? The toy-tossing thing may be making her feel tricked into going out alone and becoming separated from her new pack. Personally I would not have a dog outside alone anyway; too many bad things happen. But especially a puppy – they need so much guidance.
Try cutting up a hot dog or two into bits. Put them in a baggie in your pocket. Let her sniff one in your hand. Go outside. Feed her one every so often. Reduce the frequency as she becomes accustomed to being outside.
If she starts to demand treats, try teaching her to sit for one. Now you’re teaching her two things! (Continue to reduce the frequency of reward as the behavior becomes ingrained.)
My rat terrier was a major homebody when we first got him. We had to drag him down the sidewalk for walks and then as soon as we turned around he would drag us back to the apartment. Then one day it was like a switch flipped and he tried to sneak out the door all the time and the few times he was successful we had to rely on cooperative neighbors to rein him in because he wouldn’t let us near enough to catch him.