Need Help - Escalating Fear (?) Response

[kja]

My Tilly has always been a bit of a freaky skittish thing but lately it's getting worse.

For instance: she will hide under her safety plant in the backyard and there's nothing that will bring her out. And randomly she'll look like she's in trouble (she isn't, I haven't raised a voice or acted menacing or anything out of the normal), head down, tail tucked, big ol' puppy dog eyes then lay down and refuse to come to me when called. Sometimes she'll come to me (either of her own volition or because I've called her), I'll give her some pats or a treat or a cuddle or whatever and she'll jump away and go lay down 10 or so feet away, refusing to move. I joke that she hears voices...

This morning she knocked something off my desk and startled herself. She will not come to me in the office at all yet.

She's been doing very well when we're out on the beach playing and I call her.

I don't think I'm explaining it very well but I hope maybe someone can nugget out some sense. I'm concerned because she really does need to come to me when I call her and I just don't think living like this where she's so timid is that great for her mental health.

Before anyone suggests a trainer etc, please note that I do not have any of those resources available to me where we live.

Thank you in advance!

[megan_]

Sudden fear can mean thyroid. The problem us that the Australian tests don't pick up subtle changes so you can send the blood off to Jean dodds in the US. it costs about the same as the Aussie tests anyway. If you PM erny she has all the details.

[Salukifan]

How old is she?

[kja]

Just over four years old.

These are all behaviours she has been doing forever, but lately they seem to happen more often for no reason I can see.

One other thing she does quite often is come when I call her, but stop a couple of feet away and either sit or completely lay down.

[Weasels]

Poor Tilly I can sympathise Kja, I too have a scaredy-dog He will do the hide-when-called/run-to-the-other-side-of-the-room-and-stay-there thing with OH, plus at the park sometimes he will just freeze or go stand next to the car park until I go get him.

Excluding medical problems, I'll write what I do with Weez. I can't make any great claims, since he still has good days and bad days, but at least if it isn't helpful you have empathy from me :)

He is afraid of sudden noises, so if I make a noise e.g. flipping out a plastic bag and he flinches, I will then hold the object still, call him over and let him sniff, give him a pat, then let him go off, making as little fuss as possible. I have noticed the most recent thing that scared him (he tripped over the pool skimmer and it made a small crash) he went back on his own and sniffed it, decided it was nothing and trotted back and forth on that side of the pool again quite happily :) So proud.

I mark and reward him investigating new things. This means bending the rules in other areas such as LLW and approaching strangers, but if he wants to investigate something new I will generally let him as long as it's safe and reward him for doing so. He is slowly getting closer and closer to other people when we are out on walks.

I generally don't let him completely avoid things he's scared of, but I'll let him give them space. If he is unsure what to do I will put him in a heel and get him to focus on me with lots of treats to get past whatever the problem is, so he has an alternative behaviour. I've spent a lot of time rewarding him for hanging around close to me over the past year to make walking at heel a safe & comfortable place to be.

Again I make no great claims to success in this area, but things I would try in the situations you described above would be:

• When she's sitting under her plant, I'd go out and sit next to her for a while, and try to feed her treats/a meal until she forgot she was scared in the first place.
  
• With the 'trouble' look, I'd go over to where she is and give her long slow pats or a massage, or try to engage in play. If I was able, I'd try to turn the jumping away into a game of chasey.
  
• With the startling, I'd pick up the object straight away, let her sniff, then put it back and try to call her into the office. If that didn't work, I'd leave it and try again tomorrow, perhaps leaving the office door open with something tempting just inside for her to think about getting in her own time.
  

Sorry about the long reply, it breaks my heart to see Weez being scared but then it makes me so proud and happy to see him overcome his fears :) He's my little fuzzy rollercoaster :laugh:

[kja]

Weasels - thanks for the detailed reply! You've given me quite a few things to think about and hopefully we can find something that helps the Til-Monster