Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My fiance and I have just agreed to adopt a female 5 year old Powder Puff Chinese Crested. She is calm, well-behaved, and knows basic commands. However, one thing that my fiance noticed is that when we walked in to meet her she growled at us and avoided us for some time before finally warming up. She did finally warm up, but she is very nervous about new people/situation. How do you train or socialize an adult dog to be more open to new things? We would really like to work on this because we would like to be able to take her to parks, on trips, and on errands with us where there will be folks she doesn't know without her being terrified. Thanks.

Do you know the people you are adopting the dog from? These dogs can be very friendly but need to be socialized in order to not be wary of strangers.
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Bob

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

We didn't know the woman until we started looking at adopting the dog, but we have been talking with her at length. She has been around house guests frequently but has not been out of the house much. According to the woman (and our own experience meeting her). She's non-aggressive, never bites, only growls and keeps her distance. She warms up to pretty much all animals and people who are kind to her eventually she's just afraid of them for the first couple of hours. This is exactly how she responded to us. Terrified at first, and then eating out of our hands by the end of the visit. What I would like to do is find a way to make her less frightened of new things. Trips to our family's houses and jogs in the park aren't going to be very much fun for her or us if her first reaction to everyone and everything new is terror.

Chinese Cresteds can be a bit surly with strangers- at lest the ones I've met. Although, I've also noticed they have great appetites and easily warm up to anyone with a treat.

Your job with this nervous soul is to teach her that new things bring great treats. My vet has always given the advice of "everything can be fixed with a bit of hot dog." Overall, that advice really does work well.

So, when you bring this lady home, don't push it, but when she approaches you, give her a treat. Don't force the issue. Be casual and just let her learn to trust you.

There's a book called 'The Cautious Canine' and it will go through lots of steps to teach a dog to be more brave. Overall, you as the leader will learn to recognize your dog's signs of stress and while understanding a dog is stressed, you'll work out a system to make the situation better. You control the interaction. Don't coddle, baby, or validate the emotion, but work with it. It takes some practice, but the book will help.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles

Thanks soo much for the advice. I'll try to find the book on amazon!