Hi everyone, so I took my four legged daughter Leyka to doggy daycare today and I was very disappointed and sad to see that she wouldn’t stay!, this it’s her:

She is 9 month old, she has always been shy around other dogs but not barking or anything, she will just walk away from them, we took her a few times to the beach on summer time to play with other dogs when she was around 3 ½ or 4 months, we waited until she got all her shots and that’s when we notice she was a little shy. She is very submissive, when approaching to people in our walks she will lower herself to the ground and show her belly for a rub, and after they do she will try to jump on them to kiss their faces, she loves kissing, we still working on her to stop the jumping part; she just do it sometimes, but when someone comes to our house is another story, she starts crying of happiness and goes crazy, and jumps when greeting, she gets super excited!!!  We working on stopping that, but anyways SHE LOVES PEOPLE!! She always seem more interested for people then their dogs, when a dog approaches her she does the same thing, (lowers herself and shows her belly), she also lick a dog ones on his nose and then walked away.

So when she was around 5 months, I took her to doggy daycare for the first time, she walked in with no problem, and I handle her to one of the girls and she followed her very excited, she was greeting everybody, this place have cameras so  I can look at her while she is in there, and that’s what I did, she was just in a corner not really playing, but not freaking out either, she just follows the people that work there, I only left her there for 4 hours and they told me she is very loving but shy around dogs but not a problem, so after 2 days I wanted to take her back there but they were fully book, and it was my baby shower day so I bring her in this other place that had no cameras, she stay prob around 5 hours and when I went to pick her up they told me she did fine, just not interested in playing with other dogs at all, (I notice this two times she wouldn’t even drink water there, as soon as she got home she drank the whole bowl) she started to bark after she went to the doggy daycare as well, before she never did but she still doesn’t bark at all, only when excited but still very rare.  

She enroll obedience classes right after this, and there was no socializing activity just training but she wouldn’t mind the other dogs around her (the other dogs will bark at her etc, and she will just get in play mode and then keep with the training) I planned on having her spayed when she turn 6 months and I made the appointment just a week after she turned 6 but lucky me she was on heat by then so I couldn’t have her spayed (I didn’t want her to missed her last class) I took her almost 2 months for her to be done and have the surgery because I told myself as soon as she was done I had to do it, I cancel 3 times because it felt she would never stop bleeding, when she finally did she was almost 8 months, in all this time I couldn’t leave her in daycares or be around other dogs at all, but we still exercise her, we still walked her around our neighbor and play with her in our backyard.

The day of surgery, she walked in with no problem and was greeting everyone as always, when we went to pick her up that’s another story, she was still out of it, and of course having her with that cone was very traumatic (for me not her) but she was back to her normal self after 3 days, so she recover just fine! My son was born in Oct, and it’s my first and everything was fine, honestly I got very busy with my newborn and it was a little stressful at first, now it’s all back to normal, but I never forgot about my baby girl Leyka, always keep taking her for walks and in our walks when encounter with other dogs she did and still does good, she gets in play mode, a little shy still, nothing bad. So I decide to bring her back to daycare so she can play with them and now she wouldn’t walk in, she hide behind my legs, she greet the girl in there but wouldn’t follow her for nothing, she just lay on the floor and didn’t want to move, she didn’t want treats from her or anything (because when I gave her she took them from me) I try to walk her in with me and she did follow me but as soon is she hear other dogs she just run away, so the girl decide to clean up an area and introduce her one by one with the dogs, but it didn’t work, she told me she was to shy, and all the dogs follow her everywhere!!!    , my girl never react like this before or hide between my legs, she did a few times when she was younger but not freaking out like this time, THIS TIME she was very scared never saw her like that, was whining, running away, hiding, look at me in the face and I don’t know now I feel guilty for not socializing her more!!!  I want her to be happy and play with other dogs.

I’m planning on going back to work soon and I wanted to leave her twice a week to daycare so she would not be bored at home and now I don’t know what to do, is she still scared because last time I left her somewhere was for surgery???  She also started to get car sick and before she didn’t, I’m also planning on having  another dog, not yet, but eventually, probably in another year (when my son is a little bit older) so Leyka can have a friend to play with every day! And I hope is not too late for her to fix this problem, she is my life, I love her and I want her to socialize. Anybody knows what is going on? What could be happening??? Or what I did wrong? And how to help her? She is super lovely! I don’t know why she won’t  play with other dos,  Thank you and sorry for my spelling!

It's never too late to fix a dogs "problem." Having said that- some dogs are just more social than others. I work in a doggie daycare and I can tell you first hand- sometimes daycare is more for the owner than the dog. If you really want to take her to daycare I would recommend finding a small daycare in your area that YOU'RE comfortable with. Go in, ask questions, and check it out first without Leyka. Explain to them you're situation- you have a husky that is not aggressive, just shy and she takes a little longer to warm up to other dogs so you're looking for a small facility that can cater to her needs. I'm not surprised by anything you've said so far- the majority of it sounds pretty normal She's been to two different daycares one time? So she hasn't really ever gotten a chance to get used to the facility, people, or its dogs. It's completely NORMAL for her to drink A LOT of water after her first day- she's trying to acclimate to her surroundings and a bunch of people and dogs she doesn't know- if she runs around a lot her feet might be a little sore too. My recommendation would be to find a small daycare you're going to be comfortable leaving her in. After you've checked it out, bring her in for her first day and be happy and excited when you bring her in- don't think about the what ifs! Don't say "ohh goobye Layka, I'll see you later blah blah blah" and make a big deal about leaving either. ^ By doing that you're getting her attention and then leaving- so instinctually she will want to follow you. By not saying goodbye, it makes it easier on the staff to get her to follow them Which makes her day easier too! Check in while she's there and see how's she's doing- do they have any concerns? My point is, I wouldn't worry too much- it sounds like she's acting pretty normal given the few experiences she's had! As soon as she gets used to a facility, its staff, and the dogs there- she will probably be playing in no time! Good luck!

The above advice is quite excellent and the same basic idea can apply to scenarios across the board.

The key component to your story is what your reaction was when she showed fear or shyness and ran to you? If you comfort her here, you're moving backwards from where you wanna go. If you show her that you disapprove of her fear or shyness and persistently encourage her to go in and interact with the dogs, she will eventually get it. You've got to be her role model towards confidence and assurance, not her comforter or care giver at this time.

It seems counterintuitive from a human psychology standpoint but so often the very best thing we can do for our dogs when teaching them to take on new things is ignore them and push them away. This way they can learn to be confident and secure in new environments without our constant love and affection.

Good luck! I think this can be.tackled in no time with persistence and a little tough love encouraging her forward.

Thank yo so much for the advice, I took Leyka for a walk in a place where a lot of dogs run free but is not a fence place so LEyka is on a leash, and she was fine around all of them, I feel when she see me there with her she feels more confident, she was shy at first but then she try to run and follow the other dogs, she seems somewhat interested, maybe doggy daycare is not for her, tomorrow I'm taking her to a dog park in the woods, and is all fence, and we will see, and it's true I have to be with a calm mind and not remembering the bad situation at the daycare, it's kind hard to forget but I know I have to do it. thank you