MomofRighteous
Member
Hi all! First time CC owner.. sooo this guy is going through his second fear stage - unfortunately he hasn’t had the best past- was a dumped dog by a backyard breeder and finally found us - his forever home, in July. He apparently wasn’t socialized prior to us. I’ve done a lot of reading and research on our boy but I’m not sure other than not to coddle him how to reinforce confidence in him. We recently pulled out a space heater and put in kitchen just to take chill off and he stood in our living room and barked and growled at it from there I’m leaving it there and have tried to give him treats by it - nothing, won’t go near it, and had to put his leash on him to get him to walk past it (as he hugged the wall the whole time). What do you do? Do you just ignore it and hope he’ll get used to it? Winters coming and we have a lot of things that go off and on (fireplace and gas wall heaters) .. do I slowly start introducing him to these things now?? And what do I do when he starts the barking - no lunging or trying to get at it -he seems to be the fear flight dog - which I’ll take instead of the fear bite). He was in training and was doing great but now his heartworm treatment starts this Friday and he’ll be done that for awhile because he can’t have any activity. Also, any ideas for mental stimulation besides Kong’s (which he loves) and a sniffle may (which he will destroy) while he’s undergoing this would help immensely!