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pat_b
Feb 14, 2009
Fallen Rib
Okay so I adopted a dog last week. It's a beagle mix, female, and the shelter thinks she's about four.

She's great in a lot of ways; she doesn't bark, is very friendly with everyone and everything (but very shy and submissive), took right to her crate and appears to be housetrained. She loves walks and runs too. There's a number of things I have questions about however.

One, she won't poop consistently. I've had her since Friday, and she's only done it twice. She pees fine, I guess, but just doesn't seem to want to do number two. She did it the evening I took her home, and on a walk Sunday morning. Is there something I can do to get her to do this consistently?

She also barely eats. She'll eat a few kibbles here and there. I've been feeding her once in the morning and evening, and I only leave the food out for a little bit. Will she start eating more? This worries me because I have been taking her for quite a bit of exercise and I don't want her to get malnourished.

Another thing is, I have no idea how to reward her for good behavior. She doesn't respond well to anything that is a convenient reward, like praise or treats. When I give her praise she either ignores it or is submissive, though I can't read her mind so I don't know if she is enjoying it or not. She reluctantly takes a treat or two from me but will stop taking them altogether after that. She loves pig ears and walks but those are not small rewards. She also HATES the clicker. She just shuts down when I use it, and stops responding to whatever I'm trying to associate it with, even the pig ears. So I'm not sure how to use positive reinforcement with her.
I haven't tried every treat under the sun, but I've tried the following to little success: pupperoni beef, milk biscuits, venison jerky treats, and honey nut cheerios, and some cheese, which she didn't want at all.

Finally, she has no idea how to play with a ball or a stuffed toy. These are the only toys I've tried so far, because they aren't cheap. Can I teach her to play with them? It wouldn't be a big deal but I'm worried that she gets bored laying around the house in between walks.

Any suggestions? Should I just give her more time to get adjusted? I've enrolled her in a training course that starts in April but it's hard to train her when I don't know what she responds to.

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pat_b
Feb 14, 2009
Fallen Rib
I'm not sure where to ask this but I think that this is good because I've only had my dog for a couple months.

I'm having problems walking her. Not like she's unruly or anything. She walks great, but will only go, at most, 100 yards from the house before she stops and will not go another inch. When I first got her, she walked for miles, but she is terrified of loud noises, traffic, people yelling, etc, and I think after being exposed to all that on her walks, she doesn't want to go out anymore. It's not like I'm walking her down busy streets in the city or something like that. We walk down bike trails that go through parks.

This isn't to say that she doesn't want to go out; whenever I have to leash she gets super excited. However, we can only go so far, to seemingly arbitrary distances. A few houses down one day, around the block the next, and then back to a few houses.

It makes getting her exercise in a pain in the butt, because the only activity she'll do is walk. She doesn't play fetch or anything. I've taken her to the dog park but it's very stressful for her.

Any idea how to get her out and about again? She stops taking treats well before her threshold, so coaxing her into going farther seems impossible.

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