Timid adopted dog

Question
The first week of March this year I adopted a spayed, 7 year old female Boston Terrier from a breeder. I know she was just used for breeding and spent a great deal of her life outside. When she wasn't able to have puppies any more, it was either adoption or euthanasia. Since then, I noticed she is very scared of reaching sticks, other household objects and even little critters (frogs mostly) outside during a walk. If something falls or someone picks something up in her presence, she immediately jumps and runs away. Every time she acts like someone is going to beat her. I have never raised my hand nor my voice to her, and I reassure her in every way that she has nothing to be afraid of. I even let her inspect whatever it is I am picking up or putting down. She isn't afraid of people, just whatever we happen to be picking up or putting down.
Is there anything I can do to help her realize that she has nothing to be afraid of? She is also deathly afraid of thunder and lighting as well. It breaks my heart to see such a sweet little dog so scared and I want to help overcome her anxiety and fears. Any help you be much appreciated.

Answer
Becky, you've done a wonderful thing adopting an older puppy mill dog.  The challenge with these dogs is that everything in our world is foreign to them and potentially dangerous. Or worse yet, things falling or being picked up really WERE dangerous and hurtful in her old life.

There are certainly things you can do to help her learn that she doesn't have to be frightened in her new environment.

Let's start with one example of picking up and dropping objects.  Just before mealtime when you know she's really hungry, get a small container full of really good tasting food (small bits of chicken or hot dog or smelly cheese - pieces cut up so they are no bigger than a pea).  Go to a small room in which you can sit on the floor with her and close the door, taking an object that you can pick up that she might have previously been frightened by.  Put it on the floor near you.

Slowly reach for and lift the object 1 inch off the ground, then give the dog one of the treats with your other hand.  As long as she doesn't try and dart away and will take the treat, you may continue.  Lower the item to the ground and give a treat.  Next repetition, lift the item 3" off the ground, give treat.  Lower it, give a treat. Very slowly and gradually increase the distance you lift the object, always feeding afterward.  Once you've developed a rhythm and she's happily taking a treat each time, when you lower the object, allow it to fall to the floor from about an inch away.  Give multiple treats.  Make things that get picked up and fall magical events that make yummy food appear.  

This process is called desensitization - gradually increasing exposure to a previously feared stimulus always working below her fear threshold.  The key to moving forward with this process is the dog accepting and eating the food.  A hungry dog that won't take food is over threshold, so you should stop the process and back up a few steps.  The desensitization process may be slow as you always work at the dog's pace.  Don't move forward until she's looking at you happily looking for her treat each time you pick the object up and/or drop it.

Over the course of the sessions, move from a sitting position to a crouch, then up on your knees, then into a stand until you can bend over, pick something up and drop it and still have her accept a piece of food.  Do this work with various objects and she'll begin to generalize to anything that's picked up and dropped.  If there's something she's really fearful of, take it back to the starting level.

If you find you can't sit in a small room and be successful, work in a larger area and toss the treat to the dog while you work through the process.  Desensitization, done correctly, will change your dog's emotional reaction to a stimulus from something scary to something good.

You can use this same process when she startles on something unexpected outside.  A jumping frog makes treats fall from the sky - always carry a very high value food when you go outside so you can work on this.  Frog appears, food appears.  Frog becomes a predictor of food.  She may even begin to look at you after she spies a novel object in the environment expecting her food.  This is great and you should praise and reward her.  You could also do a u-turn and create a greater distance so that she's more comfortable and give her the treat further away.  Ideally, your dog never has a fear response during the process.

This will work on any object that she's frightened of.  However, don't force her into situations that you know will frighten her.  For example, if you're going to run the vacuum, put her in a quieter room.

I highly recommend Thundershirts for fearful dogs - www.thundershirt.com.  Check out this website for more ideas an insights:  www.fearfuldog.com.   

Please let me know if you have follow up questions or comments.  This process will not be fast or easy for a 7 year old dog, so have patience!  Good luck.