Australian Shepherd Extremely Afraid And Antisocial

by Michelle
(California)

We got our boy Australian Shepherd when he was 4 months, he’s now 10 months. He had been in a very abusive home and the owner just wanted him gone so we took him in.

Took him a few weeks to warm up to us. He was very happy and loved walks and cuddle time, everything seemed to be going well then one day it’s like a switch flipped and he stopped coming up to us, didn't want to be in the house, and became afraid if we even walked in his general direction.

It almost seems like he hates having any type of human interaction now, though none of us has abused him in any way just been showing him love and trying to earn his trust.

He has started peeing when he sees anyone and if he does come up to us after 30 mins of coaxing if we try to put a leash on him or hold his collar he immediately freaks out peeing everywhere and yanking away.

It's made vet visits almost impossible. He does fine with other animals, like our Golden and the cats. It just seems to be human contact that he doesn’t like.

Any tips on how to stop this skittishness and bring him back out of his shell again?

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