We have just recently rescued 3 year old male beagle. He is a very lovable dog. However he is scared of everything. If you walk towards him he backs away with his tail between his legs. We have even tried to just ignore him as we walk towards him and he just bolts. He has become very attached to me already (i am the mom) and we have only had him a week. If i send him out with my husband he cried by the door and scratches. Like he is looking for me. I left for an afternoon and my husband said he went crazy... crying and barking and shakin and when i came back he got all excited to see me. However, within ten minutes he peed on the floor this is new also.

Not sure what to do here.

Any suggestions would help.

I have a two year old male Bullmastiff who has a big problem when I leave the house. I've tried letting him stay outside while gone but he always follows the car or runs in front of the car and stops. When I leave for the day and leave him inside, he often chews remote controls and/or shoes, scratches the carpet/floor, etc. I would like to be able to leave him outside while gone. what can I do to ease his anxiety? Any suggestions?

Blake

Dear Cesar,
Sasha is a rescuer dog who found my sister (Nita). Sasha is a sweet, loving dog with tons of personality. She loves the dog park and gets along with all the other dogs. The problem (and it is a big one) she's the Great Destroyer.
I need to go back a few months. Sasha is about 19mon old and had 3 different families before Nita got her. Nita is am amazing dog owner. She is treated like a princess and she is loved. A few months after she got her Nita best friend got sick and she needed to go out of state for a month. During that time, my bother-in-law (Paul) and I took turns caring for her. She did o.k. ripped up a few things, but nothing to bad. Nita came back and everything was o.k. Recently Nita went away for the weekend. Paul and I took care of Sasha and on Sunday I went over took her to the dog park and stayed with her for 3 hours. When Nita got home she had pooped and pee'd all over the house and ripped a big hole in the leather couch. My poor sister doesn't know what to do.
Now every time she leaves for a few hours Sasha goes for the couch and pee's and poop's. Nita loves Sasha and wants to keep her, but she can't be with her all the time. What can she do?

Hey Cesar,
I need your help badly! I am fostering a Norwegian elk hound for the time being and she is a lot of work. I walk her for long periods of time I take her to parks to socialize and I do everything you say and everything I've read I apply to her and my other dog. I establish my leadership, I master the walk and do all the right things but recently i got a Head lead leash and as I was putting it on she bared her teeth and I corrected her and still bared her teeth eventually she bite me very badly on my hand (bleed and tears) and she ran to her cage. It seem the cage is her safe spot. It empowers her nerve/aggression. I think her last owner uses it in a negative way or didn't disciple her right.

The reason I am writing this is because I think i am in over my head, not just with her but in general. I go to school for dogs, Ive read your books and studied your methods. I even work at Best Friends Pet Care here in New Jersey. But I feel like I am doing everything wrong. I feel like reading and watching your show isn't good enough. I am surrounded by very unbalanced dogs and naive humans and it frustrated me which effects my energy everyday.

I have just bought a dog. He is 11 months old and has taken to me well in the past 3 days. I bought him to give as a gift for my friends mom, but the original owners NEVER let him outside and NEVER house broke him. He is SO nervous, and does not like my husband. I have tried taking him out and for walks, but he will not use the bathroom outside. He did finally pee, but no poo poo. I walk him around after he eats, but NO. If I leave the room, he totally panics. He is a beautiful dog and I really want to get to where I can give him to her, but he has too many problems. I can't sleep since I got him as he just wants to sleep with me and I know that the lady I was giving him to would not have that. I have gotten him a bed (laundry basket) and he stays in it well until I leave the room, then it is panic time again. Can he be rehabilitated?

Dear Cesar,

We recently rescued a dog from the local shelter, he's called Woody and he's a Lurcher (I don't know if you use term Lurcher in the US, but in the UK a Lurcher is a sighthound crossed with another dog, usually a herding dog or terrier). We believe he's a Greyhound / Lab cross. He was picked up as a stray. We've had him about 4 weeks now.

He's a very gentle and affectionate dog and his rehabilitation in coming on great, but we have a few problems we could really do with advice with. He's very submissive, perhaps overly so, but the biggest problem is that he will, if given the chance run out the door and no amount of commands no matter how assertive we are, he'll run off like a rocket. Having Greyhound in him, it is impossible to catch up to him. He'll ALWAYS return several hours later. But he acts scared to come back through the door in to the house. It takes hours and hours of coaxing him with food and treats to get him back in the house and when he finally does come into the house, he expects to be punished by rolling on his back and shaking.

He also has a problem with other dogs, he gets very worked up when going past other dogs, but he's coming from a very nervous angle and not an aggressive one. He's not an aggressive dog.

It goes without saying, we are following Cesar's Way to the letter, but perhaps there is something we are missing. We can't have a door open without having Woody on a leash.

Are we just being impatient and should we just give him more time, considering he is a stray?

It's also important that I mention that he is very respectful of us and the house. He walks on leash very well when there are no dogs; he's excellent with the small pets and is very respectful around food. However, despite this respectfulness, his tail stays between his legs a lot of the time.

Any advice would be very gratefully received!

When I saw the episode with Luna, I could relate, because I recently adopted a 3 year old German Sheperd/unknown mix, Cora, who had a fear of everything. She was caught while pregnant and had her pups the next day. She remained at the SPCA for 3 months and was adopted once but returned within a week. I was told that she most likely never lived in a home and any sudden noise scared her. She would freeze on the spot and shake and she had never barked. She would stare at thin air and avoid all eye contact. When i brought her home she was scared of my cat, who gently decided to take her under his wings. I noticed that his calm energy relaxed her as well as long walks, music, watching The Dog Whisperer ;) and she LOVES chasing rabbits. I also started socializing her with other dogs. So after three months of great progress we finally decided to get a puppy, a Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees, Clayton. After only two weeks, he finally got her to bark, at him, but at least we know she has it in her. Cora is still on a long road to recovery and still shies away from some human attention, but she's getting there. Our main problem now is the Clay won't leave our poor cat alone and that is dangerous for both of them :(, he's only 11 weeks, but he begins puppy obedience classes on Sunday...

Thanks to The Dog Whisperer I was able to cure Cora from her fear of cars, other dogs, cats, loud noises, even vacuums and baths. I learned not to baby her fears, to reward wanted behavior and streghthen her trust in me through our daily walks and stimulated her with knew challenges that allowed her confidence to grow :)