First, I want to say that giving your dog away will only reinforce her anxiety. Do you like her? Then keep her and work with her.


I would take 15 mins and do this...

Put a choke chain on her and a leash. YOU go out the door first, then let her follow you. Go for a short walk, keeping her at your heel. Give a short quick yank and a NO if she pulls ahead of you. If she does well, you can practice SIT (Say it, put your hand out and tell her good girl when she does it), Stop, and all that stuff.


The walk is important to get her mind away from THEN and here, to NOW, with you and her new people and home.

Don't dwell on how bad her life was. Don't feel sorry for her. Don't talk about it. That was THEN, this is NOW. She is safe, you are in charge.

She will be confident on her leash because she has a pack leader. She will feel good about that. She will respect you when you have that leash in your hand..

And she will respect anybody else who has that leash too.

Put a picture in your head about how you want her to be, without anger or frustration, you tell her NO when she does wrong, tell her Good when she does right.

Expect her to succeed.



DO NOT pet or hug her when she acts afraid or upset, or gets agressive. This will tell her you want her to do those things.


If NO is not enough to stop her, you can keep the leash on her when she is out of her crate (I don't crate, I only put them in the bathroom at night because I'm here allllll day lol) and just a quick yank and release and NO should stop her.

My dogs mostly respond when I snap my fingers and say SHHH! If I have to say HEY! They know they're going to the bathroom if they keep it up. Like little kids.... the naughty corner.


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Rudy had been beaten. He is about 10lbs - who could do such a thing?

But the thing is, he used to fear nip. He picked up other people's sense of how he was supposed to react, and fed on that. If WE felt he was going to be afraid, he was.

You'd go near him thinking he should fear you, and he would.

Now, you can bathe him, brush him, anything, and he sits there smiling. Why? Because I expect him to be happy - and so he is. I think *I'm a nice person and nobody is going to hurt this dog as long as I live. He is safe. He's a cool dog.*

And Rudy believes that.