We now have two shelties from Texas

S

sheltersheltie

Forums Regular
Hi, all. We adopted a 7 year old, spayed sheltie from our local shelter 2 years ago. We also have a golden retriever. They are wonderful dogs!

This week we adopted a second sheltie from the shelter, a 4 year old, spayed female. She is extremely shy, and we are her third home in her short life. Poor girl. We will be her last home, however.

We are committed to be patient and give her time to adjust. After having 8 shelter dogs during our previous 20 years (we adopt older dogs usually), she is the first who wants no contact with us, however. I know shelties are notoriously shy and want to help her in any way we can to feel safe in our home.

She is hiding under a chair 23 hours a day, so far. We are taking the approach to totally ignore her until she is ready to engage us and would appreciate any advice from those of you who have adopted an extremely shy shelter sheltie.

Good to be here and have some help with my new little shelter sheltie. She has her forever home and we already love her.
 
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Welcome to SN. Your super shy little lass will come around with time.

Years ago we adopted a little 6 year old sheltie boy who would not move from anywhere he was set down for 6 full months after we adopted him...he would just lie there and shake uncontrollably. He had to be carried to go outside and to come in or to move from room to room in the house. He had been found thrown into an overnight bin at a local shelter. With time and love he became a happy, playful little guy whose favorite game was to play hide and seek with me around the base of a big old maple tree in the dog yard. His rehab was a slow process but well worth the time and work... he had 7 wonderful years with us before he died from kidney failure.

Glad you have joined us. :smile2:

Trini
 
Congratulations!! If you look for the threads on Claire, owned by Woodbender, you'll find great advice on acclimating a she girl.
 
Sophie isn't coming out from her hiding place unless we are in the kitchen fixing a meal. I have given her a few treats of people food, which I don't usually do for our pets. People treats are the only way we can catch her to leash her. I hate to have to grab her at all, but she has to relieve herself. Once in the yard, she will potty if off leash only. Luckily, we have high fenced yard and she comes back into the house with no problem.

Barely eating for several days, but that is expected.

We will continue to ignore her as any eye or voice contact is upsetting to her. Time and patience....we got plenty of both around here....and not expecting miracles.
 
Welcome! What's your new girl's name? There are lots of posts on shy rescued shelties here, Woodbender and Tagg have both posted lengthy progress reports on their rescued dogs. I highly recommend reading them.

Also, most Shelties are highly motivated by food, so throwing little yummy tidbits her way without forcing any interaction will help to give her the idea you are the source of all good things. Good luck, it will take patience but it sounds like you are prepared for that. Please keep us updated on her progress.
Thanks for adopting this poor sweet girl!! :hugs
 
Welcome!

Austin Sheltie Rescue might a good resource for you to contact. They've gotten very nervous pups through the years. She'll come around. My sheltie who we adopted through ASR, took awhile for her to figure out her new living situation but now she's fairly well adjusted (I say fairly because she still thinks roadkill is dinner :ick)
 
Hello and welcome to Sheltie Nation. First let me say a big WAHOO and thank you for adopting this sweet little soul. She apparently has been damaged in ways we could only imagine and your trust will be hard won, but when that light finally clicks in her smart little Sheltie brain and she realizes what a wonderful place she is in, she will be your BFF for life. I've never dealt with a shy baby before so I don't really have any sound advice other than patience is a virtue. Good luck, it in the end it will all be worth the rewards. :fl :hugs
 
I had the same experience with a rescue sheltie boy name Bouscotte. He was so afraid of everything that we call him Bou! Bou!:biggrin2: At first, I sit next to him on the floor reading sheltie forum in the room he have adopted. I used his bowl of food moving it each day closer to the living room. He didn't want to be outside but I increased the time. Small steps after small steps. Having an other sheltie help a lot too. Be patient. After a year, he is a wonderful normal sheltie. Sometime, he want to show me that he is a brave sheltie barking too much when we have visitor:lol:
 
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