Jules80

Thanks everyone. I appreciate you all taking the time. I think she is actually very happy living here for the most part and enjoys being the only dog because I can give her lots of affection without any competition from other dogs (I think that stresses her more). I just don't like seeing her stressing about my partner. I've been suggested some form of natural tranquilliser to calm her and may look into that or a pheromone spray? Has anyone had experience? The fact is she wouldn't be suitable for most homes trust me (even breeder confirmed this), she is a very special case. She is bonded very strongly to me and does not do well with other dogs (due to the attention factor). She cannot be with males either (i've seen her with a variety of males and still the same). After speaking to the breeder over the past 7 months I'm thinking more and more it has to do with her experience with a Vet, she has been debarked and apparently scared of Vets ever since. I guess time will only tell and hopefully heal. We take her to the small dog park several times a week and she LOVES it, I think a big part of her problem is she wasn't socialised much but now she is and its definitely helping her confidence around other small breeds. The dog park has proven to be important therapy for her, at first on arrival she was timid as they get but now she is running around freely with other dogs enjoying herself. She is quite barky and I'm still trying to identify what bark means what but it's hard when she has been debarked :-( What a cruel ugly procedure.

I have a beautiful little Iggy, 'figsy' she is a total sweetheart but I have a few problems that I'm hoping will go away. My partner and I have had her for the past 7 months, she is an ex-brood bitch, nearly 5 years old and this is the first time in her life that she has been away from the breeder. It took a full month for me to even be able to touch her at all. She is now fantastic with me, no problems at all but with my partner (who is very gentle by the way) she is always snorting, barking and growling somewhat at him, sometimes are worse than others. There is very small progress. I just can't stand to see her stressed all the time at him, i would love her to sleep in our bed with us but she is just too freaked out to do that. He feeds her, takes the lead while we are walking etc does a lot to socialise with her. Do you think he should start totally ignoring her? Maybe that will help? I tried to upload a picture and I'm not sure what happened

I have a beautiful little Iggy, 'figsy' she is a total sweetheart but I have a few problems that I'm hoping will go away. My partner and I have had her for the past 7 months, she is an ex-brood bitch, nearly 5 years old and this is the first time in her life that she has been away from the breeder. It took a full month for me to even be able to touch her at all. She is now fantastic with me, no problems at all but with my partner (who is very gentle by the way) she is always snorting, barking and growling somewhat at him, sometimes are worse than others. There is very small progress. I just can't stand to see her stressed all the time at him, i would love her to sleep in our bed with us but she is just too freaked out to do that. He feeds her, takes the lead while we are walking etc does a lot to socialise with her. Do you think he should start totally ignoring her? Maybe that will help? I tried to upload a picture and I'm not sure what happened

Hi there Dogmad, thanks for your concern, everything is ok, it's actually going very well and I'm not allowing her into the yard without me there. I appreciate your offer, I have sent you a message :)

Ok thanks :) haha I would love a pic too! She is just too shy right now and don't want to frighten her more with the camera. Sure that will all change.

ok excellent thanks ladies. Will look into the recommendations, great stuff. Another thing, our fence is 4ft, iggy is about 13inches, is there a chance she may scramble over? She looks so tiny when standing beside the fence but I don't want to underestimate her. I am not looking to leave her out there alone for any lengthy periods of time but would love to give her the option to go out there if she wants to (temporarily unsupervised).

Thanks so much :) I don't have a behaviourist yet no but trying to do as much research as I can. She is going through a stage right about now of jogging into the room then barking at me and grumbling and then running out, each time getting a little closer and sort of sniffing (but not really threatening just timid barking). I think she feels I'm a little bit of an intruder in her home. I am taking the advice to just ignore her barking and not give her attention and reward that behaviour, hope that's the right way to go, she seems to be gradually losing interest in it. Ok so it took quite a while for your little one, that definitely helps keep my confidence up. Can I ask one more thing, did you ignore her to start with (not in a mean way just to let her be) or did you try to comfort her with 'there there it's ok', I am not sure which is best to be honest. Thanks for the contact too.

Thanks Megan, appreciate that. How long did it take before you could touch her? Or have her eat out of your hand? How is she now?

I have just received a mature Iggy (ex brood bitch) 5 year old and she is understandably extremely timid. We have only had her going on 2 days and so far can't touch her/attach a lead or feed her out of our hands (not that I'm pressuring her). After deliberately ignoring her in the house (comforting method didn't work), she started to come out of her shell and explore around a lot more. She did a few pee's and a poo (not house trained) and that was fine. I went outside to the yard and left the door open and she eventually followed me out and started exploring the back yard, she seems to be quite happy doing that. Then she came back to the door before going back in and suddenly started barking at me a fair bit then went back inside. Did this a few times. I'm thinking she was just confused at who I was and scared of course. Back inside she is alternating between her crate and wondering around, sniffing my elbow and the ground, sometimes seems to be growling at me but I just can't really tell. My question is should I tell her to stop barking/growl when she does? Or should I just let her? And what is the best command/sound to make? I of course don't want her to feel she is dominating me because they won't help anyone involved but don't want to frighten her more either, kind of a strange situation right now. Should I continue the ignoring method until she feels comfortable to come up to me fully or should I go up to her and try to get a lead on her? (highly possible she may bite). Thanks for any advice you can give me!