I need advice

[Fergus]

Hi I am a new member, and I have joined in hope that someone can give me advice. My husband and I adopted a rescue dog. He's thought to be about 7-8 yrs old, though we think he might be more like 9 - 10. We have had him for nearly two years now and he is very much part of the family. We have learnt how to read his moods, when he is tired we leave him alone and dont pester him, when we are playing, we make sure that he doesnt get over excited and always stays in our control, and for the most of it we have a very good understanding of each other and he is a very loving pet. However, we dont know what his background is and at the moment he is in the car! He has been in the car for the last 6 hours and is refusing to get out! From past experience we have learnt that we can not simply pull him out. For some reason he is very scared and will attack. He has done this before and after I take the car out for another spin he usually jumps out as if nothing has happened. Tonight he is flatly refusing. I sat on the edge of the boot to try and comfort him, in hope that he would come to me, but instead he curled up as far away from me as possible, shivering with fear and snarled and growled at me. At this point I want to let you kow that myself and my husband have never hit him, but it does appear that somewhere in his life he was treated very badly. I have no doubt that by tomorrow morning he will jump out quite happily as if nothing has happened, but if anyone has any tips for me tonight or to stop this happening again, I would love to hear from you. By the way we have tried to coxe him out with food and play but nothing seems to work.

[natalieandweiley]

have you tried standing out of sight with the boot open maybe then he will come out? has he always been like that in cars? maybe he sees that as his safe place i am not sure but if i was you i woud contact a behavourist because if he refuses to come out when the weather is hotter he could dehydrate really quickly and alot of dogs die through being left in cars when it is to warm.

[Fergus]

Thanks for your reply. He has done this once or twice before but never for so long. We take him out in the car nearly every day and usually dont have a problem, theres just something that seems to triger him, only we cant work out what it is. I think a behavourist might be our only solution.

[k9mania]

I agree that a behaviorist is probably your best bet. My rescue has done much better with an excellent trainer who can identify triggers and blends her knowledge of the person and the dog to find the best way to work with both to help the dog and companion function better together. She also goes to an accupuncturist that helped me change her diet and add some herbs that my vet said has made a world of difference. Good luck. Let us know how it goes. Put a picture up.:)

[Carol]

Oh my goodness! Hope this problem got resolved.
Every rescue has a story that we may never know about.
Sounds like the "Dog Whisperer" could be helpful here.
Oprah used him to correct personality problems in Sophie I believe.
He has a book out that is being raved about on the web.
Good Luck.
Hope this story has a happy outcome.

[Fergus]

The outcome so far is... We put more blankets in the car that night and left him there! In the morning he still refuused to get out so we drove down to the shore and he got out no problem and went for a really good run. He jumped back into the car and we drove home... and he refused to get out!! So we took the car to the end of the next street and he got out no problem and I walked him home.

But the same has happened again.

I will look into the dog whisperer book and I have an appointment to meet our vet and talk it over with her, hopefully she can recommend someone who will help.

Thanks for all the replies. I'll let you know what the end result is.

[Carol]

This dog is sure telling you something....unfortunately nobody knows the language he is speaking in.
Hope you find a behaviourist that has the skill to unravel this mystery.
Good Luck to you ( I think it is hilarious though that he got you to drive him out of that driveway)LOL