Oh, now I understand..."spookiness." She gets spooked easily. It may be something only time will change. You can take her to training classes, socialize her at a dog park but it might just be something she needs time to overcome. I have a three year old doodle girl, Ginger who came to me about 5 months old & was the same way. She had never been trained, never been , she on a leash, didn't know grass or how to behave around people. She was afraid of everything, especially men. At about 2 she finally started coming out of her fears. She now is secure & happy.

The best advice I can give you is give her lots of patience & take things one step at a time. Be repetitive. Ginger had a fear of someone touching her at all. I started playing a game with her a few times a day, where I'd index finger touch her paw, then her other paw, then her body somewhere & after about a week of doing that, her nose was allowed in the game. All the while I would sing or say something sing-song sweet. By about a month, she let me pet her. Eventually, I could brush her & now I can do anything to her. I got her in Winter & remember sitting in the snow with her for about an hour, to get her to not be afraid of it.

You might have your husband do that game if she is spooky with him. It does take a lot of patience, but it does work out, eventually. The training classes might be a little scary for her until she is really comfortable with you. If she is still afraid of you, she will find it hard to trust the strange trainer. Find a great treat like pieces of boiled chicken that she really likes & every time she makes even the tiniest progress give her the treat & tell her what a good girl she is.

You sound as though you really want to save this sweet girl & if that's the case, you will succeed. This shell-shock is actually common in puppy mill dogs. It takes much patience & a lot of love. If they know you won't hurt them they really do want to please you. Once they do trust, they become the most loving, wonderful dogs because they remember where they were.

Hi Mary Pat. What do you mean by she is "spooky?" Is there something we could help you with? Start a discussion in the main forum, we have lots of doodle experts here who should be able to help. On the Home page. about 1/2 way down you should see "Start a discussion." Or you can click on my name and leave me a message and I will try to help. Welcome Aboard and I look forward to talking to you.

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