I just picked up a dog that needed a good home from an hour s drive. The owner stated the 6 month old yorkie/spitz was in the house. The poor animal became very ill on the trip home vomiting, bm etc.. Once I gave the dog a bath and sat him in my lap awhile. He moved to under the end table and will not come to me. I have to reach under the table to get him out. I took him outside and he sat and would not move. I can't get him to eat or dink anything.. Should I give this more time due to travel trauma and a new environment?

Yes, please give this dog some time to get over all the changes. I've just recently adopted a dog (about 3 months ago, now) and it takes time for their true personality to come out. Since he is hiding under a table, this might be a good time to introduce him to a crate. You could probably even leave the door open, but it would give him a "safe place" to get used to the new family in.

It is quite possible the dog has been very poorly socialized. It may not have ridden in a car much or be comfortable around strangers. It may take a lot of work and time before it is comfortable with you and may continue to be slow to accept strangers. Try some of these things with it, but don't force yourself on it.

''Elevation for small puppies: Sit on the floor and gently put your hands around your pup's middle, below his front legs, and lift him up. He is facing you. Hold him for 15 seconds. Repeat until he no longer struggles. If he is past 10-12 weeks, lift his front feet off the ground, but don't pick him up.

Cradling for small puppies: Hold your puppy gently on his back, as you would cradle a small baby. If he struggles, hold him firmly until he quiets for 10-15 seconds. With larger pups, you can do this as your sit on the floor, with your pup between your legs.

Quiet lying down: Place your pup on the floor on his side, with all 4 legs pointing away from you. Use your hands on his neck/shoulder area and middle, to hold him in this position. When he is quiet, praise him. Lengthen the time that you keep him quietly in this position. When he accepts this position well, handle his paws and muzzle, while keeping him quiet.''

The quotes mean this isn't my original work. It is copied from my Puppy Raising Manual. I have long used these or minor variations of them, and they are very effective. You may want to give him a belly rub while he is on his back too. Helps bonding. There is a big difference between him rolling over and demanding a belly rub, and you choosing a time to roll him over and rub his belly. The latter cements your place as pack leader.

RubyPitbull has some very good experience with rehomed dogs.

Another thing that you might want to consider is what is the basic personality of the dog. So Dogs are naturally shy while others are not.. I have actually written a good bit about the subject and expanded upon the basic personality traits of dogs here... PAWS Dog Daycare Start-up Manual (http://www.pawsdogdaycare.com/business_services_start_a_daycare/startupmanual.htm) (labman don't delete it's reference material) about 2/3 of the way down the page you will see a section called handling large groups of dogs, under that you will find the personlaties and how I explained them... I would like to post the text here, and not just a link but Google would see it as duplicate text and may penalize both sites..

I would also welcome any comments on my explanation of the personalities..

Paws, please don't take offense but it is against site policy to get off topic. If you would like comments about your write up, please start a new thread. I am sure many people will be happy to take a look at it and comment.


I just picked up a dog that needed a good home from an hour s drive. The owner stated the 6 month old yorkie/spitz was in the house. The poor animal became very ill on the trip home vomiting, bm etc.. Once I gave the dog a bath and sat him in my lap awhile. He moved to under the end table and will not come to me. I have to reach under the table to get him out. I took him outside and he sat and would not move. I can't get him to eat or dink anything.. Should I give this more time due to travel trauma and a new environment?

All of the above posts contain very good advice. As labman stated, if a dog isn't used to riding in a car, it can be a very traumatic experience. I have had the same problems with a couple of the rescues I have fostered. It is pretty upsetting to see them go through the vomiting & pooping. Right now he is extremely confused and frightened. It is going to take him at least a few days to start to relax a bit. Part of the help you can give to him is to provide good leadership. He needs to have his confidence in himself and in you, built up.

Froggy makes a good point about using a small crate with the door left open. It will give him the security he is craving right now. Do not force him to come to you. Do not reach or grab for him under the table. The best thing you can do to coax him out from under the table is to take a couple of smelly treats, like a lamb/rice stick, small bits of cooked hot dog, chicken, or ham (don't overdo the treats - very small pieces and keep it to a minimum), sit on the floor by the table with a few treats in hand, and wait for him to come up to you. If you need to keep yourself from getting bored, grab a book or newspaper. You need to be on his level physically, but doing something other than focusing on him. Make sure that he gets a whiff of the good smelling treats. Softly say "Come" and wait. It will take him a few minutes, but if you don't make any sudden moves, no direct eye contact, he will eventually come up to you and check you and the treats out. Don't try to pet him when he comes. Just tell him "Good Boy" and give him one of the treats. If he won't take it out of your hand, place the treat on the floor. When he picks it up, again say, "Good boy". Keep doing this until you see that he no longer hides from you. Then you can start some of the other confidence building exercises that have been posted above. When you get him to the point where he will accept you handling him without his flinching or pulling away, you can start in on turning him over on his back and giving him a relaxing belly massage.

Don't worry too much about his not eating immediately. He won't starve if he doesn't eat for a couple of days. As I said, this is all about his confusion right now and the need to build up his confidence in himself and in you. Being a strong leader is what is needed. When you take him for a walk, don't allow the leash to be slack thinking he will want to wander. You need to walk with a purpose and he needs to follow you. Exercise will help to get him to relieve himself.

I am sure when labman sees my post, he will be kind enough to post his information regarding being the Alpha in your pack. It is very important to the mental welfare of your dog right now.

I wasn't sure for now you should push the leadership thing too far. I did paste in some of the gentler ways. Leadership does help build confidence. Start with obedience training. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete (http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/) As you praise the dog for following your commands, it will build its confidence. A dog must have a leader, or be the leader, and some dogs don't want the responsibility of being leader. For life to be right for such dogs, you must be the leader.

Play tug of war with the dog and lose. However at the end of the game, take the rope or toy and put it up, less the dog becomes confused about who is top dog. Ropes from the pets' store quickly turn to hazardous shreds. Ones I made lasted much better. Go to a hardware or home center that sells rope by the foot. Buy 2' of 3/4" poly rope. Melt the ends, and tie knots in it. Get them as tight as possible, put it in a vise and pound it with a hammer. Watch carefully, and be ready to discard when it comes apart.

Fetch, or just throwing things without insisting on having them returned would be another way of showing you are a nice person without crowding it. A fenced back yard with a bunch of sticks would work well.

Finally, make sure it has a den to live in. If you are not using a crate, buy one. The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house. It relaxes, it feels safe in its den. It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self. Dogs that have been crated all along do very well. Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open. I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling. Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew. Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work.
Start just putting its toys and treats in the crate. Praise it for going
in. Feed it in the crate. This is also an easy way to maintain order at
Feeding time for more than one dog.

Labman, being a leader from day one is very important when we are dealing with rehomed dogs. If they are as scared as this one is, that means they are very omega and very much in need of an alpha. The sooner they see someone else is in control, the sooner they relax and accept their change in circumstances.