What should i do?

[Guest Anonymous]

Hi...my dog has a certain problem that i cant seem to break him from. I found him one day when he was about 6 months old and have had him ever since. He is now about 11 months old.His previous owner must had beat him pretty bad because whenever i try to put his leash on or touch his neck he will act like im going to hurt him and cower down on the floor. this makes it hard to put the leash on beacuse he covers his neck with his chin. His does this at other times but mainly when i try to put his leash on. I have tried sayin good dog and have tried giving him treats when he doesnt resist too much, but he still does it bout every time. has anyone else had this problem? thanks and any info would be helpful.
Max.

[gooeydog]

This behavior doesn't necessarily mean he was beaten (although it definitely doesn't mean that he wasn't, either). Many dogs are submissive/shy by nature, and even though they've been loved all their lives, they still are handshy or fearful of people. My mom's Chi also used to do this, and what I did was get down on the floor with him, a paper plate with a glob of peanut butter on it, and his leash. I held out the plate, and as he licked off the peanut butter, I snapped on the leash and praised. Then I sat the plate up, walked him up our hallway and back, and held the plate in front of him again as I unsnapped the leash. After that, the plate went back up, and we both went our ways. I did this several times a day for a few days, then just put the peanut butter on my hand and did the same as I would with the plate. I stayed sitting the first day of that, then the next day I kneeled, the next I stood, and bent down to hook on the leash with one hand as I held out the other at a comfortable level (with the food on it). By doing each "phase" several times a day, he caught on fairly quickly, and now comes running out and crams his nose into my hand when he sees the leash (which puts him standing on his hind legs, so it's easy to get the leash on). Hope this helps a little :lol:

[eric]

I think Gooeydog's advice is excellent. You need to break the past association and make a new one. Once your dog associates the leash going on as a good thing, I think he will act much differently.

[Guest Anonymous]

Thank you all for the great advice. I will have to try it on him and hopefully he will get over it soon.
Thanks
Max.