Dutch Shepherd Forum

I apologise in advance for being long winded. Just want to get all the details out.

I adopted my Dutch Shepherd at approximately 3 months old. Not much of a back story other that she was found in an ally way with 2 siblings. (Not sure if this was true or they were just trying to seal the deal by making me feel bad for her.) She had worm's when we got her so we fixed that. She was also already fixed. She now 5 years old wieghs 55 lbs and has many great quality's. There are a few things I would love to change about her. Mostly for her own good.

She has a mental radius of property that she doesn't like to leave. Our neighborhood is divided into blocks. She walks to the same street corner then stops. She will not go further unless I talk her threw it. Or pick her up...
When we pass the 50% mark of the walk and are heading home she starts pulling. It takes constant correction to get her to stop. She is notably scared or nervous. Nothing bad has ever happened on the walks.
Any change in scenery from the day before or a noise and the behaviour gets worse. Triggers are not limited to but include large vehicles, noise, any moving vehicle, visual change (construction cone added to the road).
She will avoid these areas if possible. She tucks her tail and pins her ears back. If she is force to experience something she tucks her tail and starts shaking. Example we were hiking on Sunday and on the way to the car a fire truck passed. My poor dog looked like she was in negitave 30 degree weather with no fur.

When she is in a fun environment she is 100% fine. If we are at the river or dog park she is full of life, confident, having a great time.

She exhibits the same behaviour in the car and at my shop. I can't take her anywear without her shaking in the car and trying to get under my seat. She is a little better on the way home from a long day. I feel as though she is loosing years off her life due to the stress on car rides.

She is great at home for the most part. Doesn't destroy anything, will not deficate in the home, doesn't do anything bad. Great at guarding the house.

I am kind of at a loss. She won't take treats outside of the house if it's a situation she is uncomfortable in. It's difficult to positively reinforce her.

I'm not sure of the proper way to bring her confidence up because it is up one minute then she hears a noise and we are back at square one.

I have seen 2 different "specialist" but didn't feel comfortable with them. I'm pretty stubborn and I don't want to throw the towel in and just deal with her. I want to fix this myself. I'm not really sold on the give my dog to someone for 2 weeks and bang new dog.

Any tips would be helpful. Along with an estimate on time to see improvement. I know every dog is different but I hate to try things and subject her to stuff she dislikes for no gain.

Thanks for your time.
I'm not stupid, I'm just grammatically incompetent. Please excuse my errors.

Sorry I don't have any suggestions but I hope you find out what works for her. Poor baby

I had similar things with my dog Venus. (we got her when she was 2, 2 years ago) I think she was from the country as she was terribly freaked out when we had to use crosswalks, joggers, bikes, buses, hear sirens, using electric doors, and the worst was walking under an overpass... (she actually turned into a dog helium balloon I was trying to pull her down and keep her from jumping over the trail barrier onto the roadway. She would not even want to walk on the same block as a business with an electric sliding door, (and batting cages were on the inside) so if it wasn't the door opening it was the cracking of balls. (it was a former grocery store) and I often used the trash receptacle outside when we were walking so I liked walking by there... You would have thought the sidewalk was red hot the way she acted...
I've done weekly dog obedience at Petco, they run 50% off packages and we have been going weekly for about 9 months. Somehow along the way a lot of things have been improved! We do something each week and we practice the activity. For the electric doors, I had to get her the most special treats as she would clamp her mouth shut and that was that... (Say there was a rabbit in the front yard and we tried to 'treat her' well good luck shoving anything between her teeth! ) They were clamped tight... Keep trying to find something even more and most tasty... I think Brie cheese was the winner.. for us! . I gradually could get to walk near the electric doors with a taste of Brie every 30 seconds... It was slow, we had to start in the parking lot and gradually work our way in closer... 10 minutes tops each day.. and she would sit in front and get treats for a few minutes, then we would go on our way. . I think it took about 3 weeks and now it's not a problem... Just tonight as we were walking home a rabbit ran in front of us and she looked but that was all.. I was shocked!!! I just said 'good girl' . A year ago I had to do a Fosbury Flop in the air when she took off after a rabbit and she pulled me airborne. (on a prong collar) I was so high in the air, I looked down at the sidewalk and I kicked my legs sideways so I could land on the lawn. A guy driving a car slammed on his brakes as he thought I had a heart attack... Well I just constantly worked with her with treats in my pocket to try to distract her if there was a cat or a rabbit .. (we had one about every other block) I was pretty discouraged for a number of months... We walk 5 miles a day so this was quite a problem.. I didn't know how I could manage if my life would be in danger every time we saw something.. and I would go flying sideways. . You can send me a private message and I can walk you through it. if you have more questions.... But basically you need better treats and do it for 10 minutes at a time (several times a day as you work on these various things) Maybe someone else can treat while you are driving... and you would need to be a 'treat machine' like every 30 seconds for 10 minutes, praise, (use the clicker too) and treat... They will eventually open their mouth for treats and the special Brie can become something normal like chicken jerky. (some dogs need BBQ steak in little chunks) It's funny when I read your note I realized what a long way we have come in the last year... I just had forgotten how bad it was back then... All my coats have little bags of treats in them and once I started carrying them at all times then she got more treats and things went better... She doesn't get treats at other times ....so it's special... I do remember having to pry open her jaws to make her take a treat but really that part didn't last long as she learned to like it... I am doing it with the Dremmel, now if I turn it on she comes running for cheese...Just be calm about the whole thing...and only pick one or two situations per day to work on... So for the walks when you hit the ' boundary'start clicking and treating... The new obedience style isn't about correcting as much as treating for good behavior... The other thing is that changing one of her fears will also help the other ones, ie she got treated for one thing but at the same time she got adjusted to the other fears... (so you won't have to do this for everything , ) I went to a place with joggers for a while, and I treated her whenever a jogger passes us, and now she is fine with joggers... Hope this helps! I think you can change a lot of this in just a few months! good luck, Nancy

I appreciate your help. We are going to try figure out what treat will make her happy. Probably going to start on the walks first then move too the car.