[Help] After months, my rescue dog still stays under the bed in our spare room about 90% of the time. Lately I've had limited success in getting her out a little more, but could really use some ideas! Thanks!

Have you consulted with your vet about anti-anxiety medication? For a dog who is so fearful, it can be a life-changer.

I would take away access to that spot. If you offer other alternatives that are closer to the family she can escape to still and basically just ignore her except for offering an occasional treat for being out to keep her from feeling “on the spot” she will adapt much more quickly.

It sounds to me what you're doing is good. She's starting to spend more and more time with you. It can take a long time to overcome trauma for people let alone dogs who have no language to help them learn quicker.

Keep rewarding her for hanging out with you. If she likes treats, then treats are good rewards. Some dogs like toys or attention more, but it sounds like for this dog treats would be the top of her list.

Let her come to you. Don't force yourself on her. And hopefully she will continue to come out of her shell.

u/oreosprinkles has experience with adopting a very fearful dog.

I honestly would just let her be. If she feels comfortable in the spare room then let her have access to it when she wants. Maybe she’ll come out of her shell, maybe she won’t. Either way is okay.

Encouragement will help, as will slight pressure or a nudge in a direction. But no need to force it.

My Boarder Collie sleeps under my bed although he can sleep on the bed if he wants. Dogs just like dog caves, I guess. As to being more social, my two rescues took about a year or more to become comfortable with me. All other humans were suspect to the day they died. Patience. Scritch her behind the ears as this is a gesture to show love and affection and try to meet her gaze. If you can get face to face, eye to eye, she will bond with you and want to be with you always.

If you can take the mattress & box spring off the frame & rest them against the wall so she can’t crawl under it. This should help her look for a new place, hopefully in the open

I would contact a veterinary behaviourist, not a trainer who says they are a behaviourist or an ordinary vet. They should come to your home and assess the situation and give you tools to work with. It will likely be an ongoing process where you see how she responds to things and then the behaviourist helps you to modify your training plan to what works for the dog and where their progress is at. It may or may not involve medication.

My dog was scared of everything when I got her from the shelter at 4 months old, and trainers basically said she was a lost cause because she was so shut down. The veterinary behaviourist was a godsend. Helped me understand my dog, and read my dog but also helped me work on her problems with so many different tools, games and ways to establish trust between us. Now she is 2 and a half and like the perfect dog, confident, sociable, great with kids and dogs and cats, well behaved and with all the training we did primarily for trust and to create a bond she is amazingly well trained. The only thing we are still working on is her fear of roads. We ended up moving to a rural area by a beach and she is slowly overcoming her fear of roads. Even the behaviourist said my dog was at the very extreme edge of anxiety and could make no promises as to how she would respond or if ultimately she may need to be put down. her siblings also have anxiety, but not as bad, it's an I herited trait for her rather than from neglect. We were fortunate she is of the flight and not fight variety of anxiety or she definitely would have had to be put down.

She was put on medication, and I really didn't want to, but after 6 weeks when it was fully effective it really did help he so much, and it was wonderful to see her personality emerge, she finally began to discover what play was (as a puppy not playing was hard for me to see). The medication only helps to allow you to be able to work with the dog to address the issues, it doesn't solve the problems on its own. But in her case it made a world of difference.We are weaning her off the medication slowly now and so far so good. It's been a long road, and so much work, time, tears etc but we saw one of the trainer's by chance recently who initially tried to help and they could not believe it was the same dog, they have never seen a dog go from what she was like to such a happy well adjusted dog. They were totally blown away by her transformation, and asked for the contact details of the behaviourist in case they ever meet a dog like her again. Seeing my dog so happy has made it all worthwhile.

For starters an adaptil diffuser, in the family area and in her safe space may help her feel more secure. But really your dog sounds not too extreme and so with some professional help from a behaviourist you will probably get quite a lot of improvement. Best of luck, the dog sounds very lucky to have such a caring owner.