HELP needed please!

[gimmiedoodle]

Hello,

Sorry this is so long, I wanted to provide as much detail as possible.

I just posted a couple of days ago in the "Introduction" forum that I might be adopting a Labradoodle, Fancy, on Sunday. Well, we drove 2 hours to meet her, and she was even more beautiful in person than I could have imagined I was a little concerned as she was a tad shy for the first couple of minutes, but she did not bark, growl, nip or any alarming behaviors. She came up to sniff us and ran back to her mom. And after a few minutes she brought us her ball to play. And by the end of the meeting seemed comfortable with us. She loved our kids, had a very gentle mouth, seems in great health, and let me touch any part of her body, tug on her ears, etc. Her previous owner said she occasionally watched her mom's and sisters dogs and they got along well, but she did not know about other animals, such as cats. She said she has never displayed any aggressive behaviors, even around food, was great during bath time and at the groomers, and only barked if people peeked their head over the fence. So we went ahead with the adoption. She did great on the two hour ride home, with the exception of barking at some cows

We brought her home and introduced her to our other dog, they got into a scuffle so I decided to bring it in the house, even though they say to do it outdoors on common ground, because I felt like I would have more control inside. Sure enough, in the house with leashes off, they did fine. They have been playing well and even ate dinner and breakfast right next to each other. They also went on a nice long walk together this morning, with zero fights even though they were on leash.

Fancy is 9 months old. She was purchased from a breeder by her previous owner at 8 weeks old. Her owner put her up for adoption because she had never owned a dog before and didn't fully understand what it took to take care of one, and poor Fancy was spending most of her time in the backyard. She was well fed, updated vet records, regularly groomed, but not much socialization beyond children and dogs coming to visit her in her home.

Inside our home she is a WONDERFUL dog. I can see the intelligence in her eyes, she is constantly looking up at me to make sure she is "doing it right" She learned "sit", "no", and "off" just in the few hours we've had her and inside the home she listens every single time, the first time. She may try again right after but it's very obvious she is trying and wants to be a good girl. She is GREAT with my kids and is doing just fine with our other dog. She is also very quiet, no barking.

However we are having two big issues. One, she is obviously very stressed out. She has been heavy panting since bed time last night and has not stopped. She only slept a few minutes last night and spent most of it panting, and getting up and laying back down repeatedly. The only time she relaxes is during food times, or playing. I have purchased her some heavy duty chew objects, in hopes that would help, and mixed them in with her toys, for familiar scents.

Problem two, she is an absolute nightmare outside of the house. I don't think she has ever seen outside her backyard, much less been on a walk. She barks and starts to lunge at anything moving: other dogs, bike riders, joggers. Most cars don't bother her, but when a loud garbage truck went by she was obviously upset. This morning she actually got out of her collar to try and chase a jogger, luckily I caught her and got her into a sit position. While she is outside treats have ZERO impact on her. She is way too excited. I am off to Petco today to buy her a halter type collar so I hopefully have more control. I honestly do not think she would do anything more than lick the guy, or try to play with the dogs, but I don't really want to find out. Plus she is BIG, obviously it will be very scary to have such a huge dog running toward you.

I already registered her online for puppy obedience, but classes don't start until the end of February, and I think she might need a private lesson or two before she can go to group classes so I am looking into that today.

If anyone has any tips to help ease her stress inside our home, and help make walk time easier until I can get a trainer to come to our home I would be very grateful. Again I apologize for the length of this message, but I thought the more information, the better.

Thank you, so much.

[lindamarie]

WELCOME!!!

Actually, at 9 months, it sounds like you have a good doodle there.
Not having been out of the yard, she WILL react as you are describing. It's an entirely new world to her.
I am sure that you will be able to get this under control. The panting should stop soon as she gets use to you and her new environment. Poor baby is just anxious.

Bogart's trainer now resides in Southern California. He is fabulous and comes to the house. If interested, send me a private message. I can put in a call to him and maybe expedite the training.

[gimmiedoodle]

Thank you so much I am actually in Northern California, but thank you for the offer! I have found a wonderful trainer that will come to our home and work with us, and he also offers inexpensive "walk & train" sessions, where he will take your dog for 30-40 minutes to get exercise and training at the same time. I think I am going to hire him for a few sessions of both the private training and walk & train. I am really looking forward to having a dog I can take with me on hikes, swimming, kids baseball games, etc!

Unfortunately I discovered a little blood and worms in Fancy's stool yesterday so we have to go to the vet before we can start training Hopefully it's nothing more serious than taking a dewormer!