Can someone help a first time Norwegian Elk-hound owner?

Question

My Norweigan Elkhound puppy Sky, is 3 months old. I never had a puppy before, normally I have cats. I had to bring her in because there is a snake in the neighborhood and it bit her brothers and sisters and she was the only puppy to survive. I brought her in Tuesday, January 23, 2007 and she was really sad and uncomfortable. I understand she is scared and misses her mom. I try really hard to get her to excersice because now all she wants to do is be in my room. Everytime she gets scared she tends to pee unintentionally everywhere. I don't want anything bad happening to her so if someone can maybe give me some guidelines on what to do, it will be a really great help and I will appriciate it so much. I want Sky to get a second chance but how can I do that If I don't know how to communicate with her?

Answer 1

Hi Nena!!
Most puppies are hesitant or reluctant when introduced to new situations and new places. This is a normal reaction - part of their survival instinct!

You will need to help your dog find the way to a healthy new position in the social order.

Get some help, either from a class that uses positive methods or from a private trainer, to learn the training skills yourself..

Create rituals the dog can look forward to each day. Spend 15 minutes grooming the dog.

Please look article: Feeding Your Puppy - http://www.askedweb.com/askedweb/Feeding_Your_Puppy/
also
Puppy Housetraining Basics -
http://www.askedweb.com/askedweb/Puppy_Housetraining_Basics/
Jason Homan

Answer 2

Wow, good question. Good for you to recognize that something's not quite right! The submissive peeing is fear-based, you're right. Try to have your whole family work on this : don't look her in the eye, and don't come at her suddenly. Instead, if you want her to come, have some tasty treats stashed on you somewhere, and turn to the side and kneel down while inviting her to come. What you are doing is using calming signals that dogs use with each other when they want to say, "Calm down - I am not going to hurt you." Turn to the side, kneel down, touch the floor with your hand, and yawn. This is far less threatening than approaching a fearful dog straight on. I've linked below to a site about dog body language.
Be sure that her interactions with you are very rewarding. I would not even give this dog's dinner to her in a bowl - I'd hang out with her and hand-feed her every bite. I'd work on progressing to her doing a simple trick for every bit of food - sits, downs, touching her nose to your hand, spins - easy things that she will perform quickly for her food. She will gain confidence a lot this way.
Play tugh with her, and let her win. A dog like this would probably respond well to a paper bag that has smelly treats in it (like, liverwurst or roast beef bits) When she grabs the bag, she'll be rewarded immediately. You can eventually start using 'real' tug toys (might be good to scent these with food smells, too)
Very important to take a training class with her where only positive- reinforcement, reward-based training is used. I'd recommend visiting a class first and speaking with the instructor to explain your situation. A good trainer will be able to accomodate you and your dog so that she is comfortable in a class situation. Good luck!