The key to success in working with this kind of dog is to take your time and keep your dog safe and to consult a professional if you have questions. On a seperate and side note, I was completely turned off by this article and didn't even bother finish reading it when the author mentioned a "fearful" dog could be useless. Which Dogs Are Most Likely to Be Afraid of the Veterinarian? It could have been caused by several things including a fit. I joined up when my dog was a puppy for about three months and have rejoined recently because I need a bit of a refresher. Dogs may suddenly become fearful and avoid things that previously never bothered them. Socialization is simply the process by which a young dog has experience with a variety of people, places, and situations while it is still young. Fortunately, the process of socialization is really quite easy and enjoyable. If the dog has already had obedience classes, clipping a leash on him during a thunderstorm and practicing some of the simple exercises he has learned will help assure him that things are normal. A fearful or nervous mother will often raise puppies with similar traits and research has shown that pregnant animals placed under stress give birth to young that are less emotionally stable. When I was gone he carried my socks and whatnot all around the house, luckily he didn't chew them to shreds. I just want to be able to help my dog - I don't want to see him live his whole life trapped by fear :( Consider the strange case of Allie. I would like to share your text (the link with the source of your website) on the fan page but I saw that you require to give permission. These are just some of the behaviors guardians of timid, scared … In June 2000, Elsa moved to the east coast and created My Wonderful Dog, a non profit that that engaged at risk youth in the care and training of service dogs. Help your pup overcome his fears and grow up to be a confident, friendly dog. In months or often only weeks, they appear quite normal and go on to continue learning about the world. If you do this it may backfire on you and your dog may wind up even more cautious around strangers. If there’s an object, area, or specific situation that your dog seems scared of all of a sudden, you might find yourself questioning why. It would be best to introduce Fido to strange men at a bit of a distance at first until he starts to warm up to them. Now What? Other studies have shown that when a pregnant animal is petted, her litter tends to be more docile, which helps facilitate relaxation and emotional attachment in her puppies. Classical Counter Conditioning That said, there are many things you can do to improve your dog’s (and consequently your own) quality of life. You’ve installed your Comfort Zone diffuser and you’re religiously putting your Rescue Remedy drops into Fido’s water, is there anything else to be done? And I also wish there were attention paid to this challenge (fear in dogs). I have learned more from this website than I have from anywhere else and I have recommended it to everyone I know who has a dog. Wrote a short blog to help my fellow dog owners with the same problem http://puppy-separation-anxiety.com/, You say that "Shy and fearful dogs can be rehabilitated to some degree, but it takes a lot of work, and they will never be as reliable as a well-socialized dog.". The pup should also be exposed to a variety of different places, different rooms, paved streets, parking lots, public buildings, gas stations, and any other places that the dog is likely to encounter. Some may feel threatened by new people, situations and surroundings. Those with targeted anxiety will take longer, and with generalized anxiety they may never be fully "normal" without medication. The second is greeting behavior. But jumping and play-wrestling is totally normal for a baby puppy (just like climbing and crying … Good luck! More likely a medical course that supernatural. While using socialization to prevent fears from developing in the first place is the ideal situation, there is always the possibility that a later traumatic event will cause a fear or phobia to arise. If your dog is untrained, it will be hard for him to receive well the presence of strangers … Illness. These can include startling briefly when a loud noise occurs or being weary when approached by a stranger. Some dogs even become afraid of July.” (We’ve heard of one dog who hated Thursdays because that’s the day of the week the noisy garbage truck came. They learn to accept discipline from their mother and to use submissive postures; puppies that have had no social contact may have difficulty bonding as they age. Author:  Elsa Larsen, Dog Behaviorist & Trainer | Owner: My Wonderful Dog. If your dog’s anxiety is serious enough, there are a variety of prescription medications … If your dog is often jumpy or nervous then it’s quite likely that it sees itself as being responsible for keeping your pack safe. You can help your dog … Fortunately I was able to treat it pretty well and now I can leave him alone without worrying too much. You find that a situation, circumstance, or event may frighten you, but more so … Remember that your dog might not trust your guest enough to want to be handled. Do Puppy Classes Have an Effect on Later Dog Behavior? In my experience, having something to do seems to help the dog overcome his/her fears. It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between … Then he prescribed Xanax, but this did nothing to help the situation either. Usually, a sudden change in behavior is a red flag for most dog owners. He discovered that the bell would cause the dogs to salivate. He got scared … Every single thing came back just fine. The idea is to condition the dogs to a neutral stimulus - in this case a bell - so that neutral thing predicts that wonderful things will happen. For example, suppose your dog is afraid of thunder. She will be exposed to different dogs, people and sounds and you will have a trainer there to help you help her through the scary times. The more it happens and you show them attention they learn to overcome the fear. Still, the majority end up just as reliable as a well-socialized dog. The unfortunate answer is, probably not. Once this is done the dog will come back to you for a treat. A safe place for the dog is useful for those times when you are not at home to deal with the problem yourself. Which in turn seems to affect her in other ways too, such as thunderstorms or too many visitors. If your dog has a hard time with new people coming into the home I would install a tin or a plastic container of popcorn treats near the entrance to your home where people are the most likely to enter. Best of luck to you and your dog! Elsa started her dog training career as a volunteer for an organization in Santa Rosa, California that trained dogs for people with disabilities. The mother’s temperament can have enormous influence on the emotional stability of the puppy. A nervous or “jumpy” and hyperactive dog is not a happy dog. Parenting a fearful dog is one of most rewarding things you’ll ever do. With dogs, however, this is exactly the wrong thing to do. Yes, there are certainly some things that you can do to help facilitate your dog learning to be more comfortable with things that make him or her nervous. During development there are two stages that are known as “fear periods” because this is a time when a puppy may become more cautious, may startle more easily and may become fearful of strangers. This cycle will last … I have to say that as the owner of a fearful dog, I keep coming across so much conflicting information. Stanley Coren, Ph.D., FRSC., is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia. So, why does my dog flinch when I touch it? If they are scared or something has frightened them you definitely want to scoop them up and assure them it's ok. Dogs are a lot more like humans then people wanna admit or acknowledge. © 2021 TripsWithPets.com. 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