Yeah, a new thread might be great idea!!
I myself, think some dogs are inherently "shy", born that way, and most breeders and geneticists also identify there are dogs who are BORN shy,
and will be somewhat shy for life.
We can make such dogs better,
or
worse,
but, the dog will always be shy on some level, for life.
But, no way to know if your dog IS a shy dog via online, but, shy dogs usually try to avoid having
unknown humans TOUCH them, or
lean over them, or sometimes, even stare at them. There is a vast spectrum of shyness,
from mild/barely noticable to severe.
Some shy dogs will cower away from a human leaning over them, or reaching for them, and the human cries out, "Oh, no, this dog has been abused!"
even if the dog never ever way abused, and it's owner who raised the dog from birth, is right there, and can vouch, this is just a "shy" dog,he's never ever been hit, not ever. Lots of shy dogs just do that, sudden movements and leaning over them, etc, startle these dogs.
Still, you CAN indeed make continued progress with helping Ripley become her best possible self, and by removing as many fears for her as you can!!
My dog is NOT shy, not at all,
but, he
also feared being hit for quite a while, if we walked by him with anything stick shaped, like a broom, a rake, or large flashlight, he'd cower and run away. Even very large items being carried seemed to freak out Buddy back then.
Broke my heart.
However, he still loved toys.
My dog, like most dogs, has certain types of toys he LOVES, and certain types of toys he has zero interest in.
My dog dislikes rope toys, and frisbees, and balls. Just little to no interest in THOSE types of toys. We can get him interested, but, it takes effort, and sooner or later he defaults back to "this toy is dumb".
My dog ADORES squeak toys, stuffed toys, rubbery toys, any toy that makes sounds,
itty bitty tiny stuffed toys,
toys with many textures,
and giant sized stuffed toys,
and containers, like bowls, baskets, etc, loves containers.
and by now, we can about look at a toy in a store or in a yard sale, and know, "Yeah, THAT is my dog's kind of toy."
Probably not all dogs love ALL kinds of toys.....
Anyway, overtime my dog got over his heart-stopping panic when he saw stick-shaped objects. But his love of toys seemed unrelated, for *my* dog anyway. NOw i can scratch his back with the rake if i wanted to.
) and this happens that, as said in previous posts, she decided this because of another dog, that was there, playing fetch with the sticks and helped her overcome her fear of going deeper into the water. I plan now to phase out the sticks and hopefully find a floating toy that will keep her interested in the swimming. Thank you for the link to the safe stick toy, it looks great!! I hope that her newly found interest in fetching from the water, may, just help her instinct to play with other toys too! Thanks, Sara!
that he hasn't played with for a while.
