Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone has ever taken their wolfdog to the groomers to be groomed? Was just wondering since I have a new job as a groomer's assistant and wash my puppy once a week and force dry her. Force drying is basically like blow drying. I like it cause it gets the loose fur off and fluffs out the coat. Midnight did not like it the first time i force dried her. She spazed out. The second time she peed and pooped everywhere. So I take her outside first from now on. That's been working so far. She still doesn't like it, but it seems like she's becoming more tolerant of it.
Now I think I did a crappy job in socalizing her. I had put her in boarding at place I work at and I don't think they interactted with her much, if any. She's afraid of new people and will pull the leash (if she's on one) trying to run away from people she doesn't know. She seems to freak out at the most random stuff, black SUVs for one, bags for another. Anything I can do to help her? What about that DAP stuff that's suppose to have a hormone in it that mother dogs give off to calm the pups. Would it work for her? Anyone tried it? Anything I can do? She's 4 months old now.

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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)
0.1.0 Emperor Scorpion
0.0.1 Vietnamese Centipede (Miles)
0.1.0 Doggie-dog (Jubei)
0.1.0 Wolfdog (Midnight)

Unless she's messing up her crate and in turn her coat, Midnight shouldn't need a weekly bath. That's fairly excessive for a double coated dog. It will dry out the skin and make her itchy.

4 months old is not very old. Puppies go through stages of fear. Wolf dogs probably have these stages cluster even more than their canine cousins. Still, you need to work through the fear appropriately. How are you handling Midnight when she freaks out at something? If you are focing her to deal with it, you may be making the fear more intense. When a black SUV approaches, before she has a chance to react in any way, give her a command to "sit" and give her a treat for following the command and paying attention to you. If she can't sit reliably, then just have her look at you and give a treat. She should not be able to panic when she's concentrating on you. If she does, increase the distance from the problem object and work through it.
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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

I use the gentel soap free shampoo's for her which aren't suppose to dry out the skin. I'm basically just trying to get her use to it now. It's easier to control a 40lb puppy than a 100 pound dog you know. That way if I ever needed to have her groomed she'll atleast be ok with it. Now for the SUV, it's parked and it off. Which is where I don't understand the fear. Moving vehicals, i can understand and I wouldn't really try to get them over that fear anyways. Noisy ones, ok I can see that. Parked off ones, why?
I don't really know what to do if she's frighted of someting. If it's something in the home, I try to feed her next to it or whatever so she knows not to fear it. But otherwise I just try to ignore her and move on if it's outside.
Now I have another dog who I swear, knows no fear, and she's with Midnight alot of the time. Shouldn't she pickup on the fact that she's the only one freaking out?
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)
0.1.0 Emperor Scorpion
0.0.1 Vietnamese Centipede (Miles)
0.1.0 Doggie-dog (Jubei)
0.1.0 Wolfdog (Midnight)

I can only speak for dogs, and I really don't know anything about wolf behavior. In the dog world- Yes, this pup should be picking up on the other's dog's lack of fear and mirroring it. I really don't know what to say. How early was this pup taken from it's mother? It sounds like a very timid puppy that may have been a solo pup as well. That scenario makes your work very hard and if that's not the case, you still have a lot of work to do. I've dealt with fears in dogs and puppies. She needs a puppy socialization class, but I don't know if they allow hybrids in those.
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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

Truthfully wolfdogs, vehicle rides, traffic, dont mix too well. Those I know with real wolfdogs, and with federal permits to keep wolves have to sedate them to take them to a vet or transport them anywhere.
Im not saying that your dog may or may not be a wolfdog, but I see a black shepard in the picture you posted, nothing that says wolf, or wolfdog about that pretty pups appearance. Its common for people to spend thousands on what they were told was a wolfdog, to find out that they have a mixed breed dog.
Usually the owners in many areas have used genetic testing to prove a dog as being a wolfdog, but not long ago the authorities used genetic testing to clear a dog owner from accusations that others made about his dog being a wolfdog (it was a hsuky, shepard, malamute, collie, etc etc mix). If it were, they would have taken the dog away or euthunized it, most local areas do not allow them not, many states require permits.
Theres a website that educates people about wolfdogs, it has a quiz to take which asks questions about canine behavior. Theres another that shows many examples and describes whats is a purebred dog, a wolfdog, a mixed breed dog, and a wolf. That site has a example with a picture of a canine, it asks the question, pure dog, low content WD, mid content WD, high content WD, or pure wolf, most people who try it get the answer very wrong.
I can tell you that from experience my northern breed dog, other northern breed dogs Ive cared for, and my northern breed mix need bathed maybe once or twice a year at most. Also a wolfdog needs the raw diet, no dogfood. I wouldnt feed dogfood to a dog let alone any WD.