5 month old puppy-afraid?

Question
I have just been given a 5 month old mutt. She is adorable. The previous owner told me a family member had the dog, but there were too many kids. They would play very rough. She was never kept inside, she slept out side. I went to reach for her and counted her teeth, she raised her back and crawled underneath the table. After a couple of hours, I was able to give her a bath, boy was she dirty. She is very thing and all I can see is pure fear in her eyes. She has nipped my husband and I. She has finally come out from underneath the table. I don't want to give up on her, but how can I make her feel safe?

Answer
Sadly, this puppy has never had the proper socialization that she should have had, and will never be the dog that she could have been if she had been given the proper care and training.

If you want to bring this puppy around, it will take LOTS of patience, but I am concerned with her biting. Since she never learned to inhibit her bite and is very fearful, she is pretty much an accident waiting to happen at this point. She needs to learn that biting is unacceptable, but I'm guessing that she really cannot handle any corrections at this time. She needs to learn to trust you first, and any necessary corrections can come later. If she is temperamentally soft, verbal corrections should be sufficient, but she does need to learn that you will not tolerate nipping/biting. (I would *never* leave this dog alone with small children.)

Once she gets used to being inside, then you need to start socializing her in different places and with different people. Be careful with the people... a biting, fearful, dog can be dangerous. If she likes to eat, use treats to get through to her, and have people feed her. Just go places and hang out, without letting anyone touch her initially. Once she is reasonably comfortable in going different places, the touching from different people can come next.

Always practice "Nothing in Life is Free" with her, and everyone in the family should participate in this. http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Like I said... **lots of patience**... but if this dog doesn't eventually come around sufficiently to be comfortable around people, and SAFE to be around, please do the right thing and put her down rather than placing her again.