[rooster1005]

We are hoping that some of you will have a little advice for us. Robert and I have three American Bulldogs. Zoe' our first puppy is 6 months old now. She is great. Since we loved her so much, we got two more. These two are litter mates. One male and one female. These two just turns 4 months old of the 4th. We have had these two puppies for about 7 weeks. They are inside dogs that go out to play and potty. Lots of time is spent inside though. Here is our problem, the new female is scared to death of Robert's wheelchair. Any time that she can see him she is trying to get away. We crate the dogs at night and when we are not able to watch them at every second. (this is for housebreaking) Even when she is in her crate she hunkers down if she sees him come by her. I know that some of the spook is in them since both of them scare easy as does another of their litter mates that our friend has.
My question is if any of you have dogs that you had to work extra hard to adjust to the chair. If so, what did you do? We know that we have to be consistant bu with what? We feel like all the things we have tried just haven't worked. Today she actually walked over to Robert but as he bent down to pet her she walked off. We are scared that we will make her too skiddish and wait too long to help her. Being a bulldog so many people are scared of her anyway, so we need to make her more of a predictable dog. Any thought will be appreciated.
Thanks
Laura

[juls]

i have two silky terriers, 1 is 16 yrs old and the other we got after a year of me being in a wheelchair. With our puppy i would have him on my lap for a little while throughout the day and if we went for walks, i would hold the leash so he got used to walking near the wheelchair. If they're going to get treats, andy gets me to give them to the dogs and i try and throw toys when i can and they're both fine with the wheelchair. Strangely enough though, they wont go anywear near andy if he is having a wheel around in my wheelchair!

[LadyPilot]

My husband is away alot and 6yrs ago I bought a Doberman (undocked or ears cut) bitch puppy. I was the one who taught her manners and house training etc.

Anyway, back to how you can get the puppy to be better around the wheelchair. Two things a dog responds to are playing and food. So, may I suggest that it is Robert who is the only one to give the dog treats, thus showing the wheelchair is a good place to be next to. One of the ways I exercised my puppy was to tie a light ball to a bit of string tied to a cane and swing it round the chair. She loved it, but she's too big to do it anymore!
I also gave her treats when she obeyed my commands.

I have a well mannered dog now but she's a total wuss as a guard dog!