Dogs may become fearful or have a strong emotional reaction to loud noises such as thunderstorms, fireworks, or garbage trucks. Some dogs fear being alone, while others become reactive when confined.
Different dogs have different temperaments and will react differently to various stimuli. Shy dogs may escape or run away at the first sign of trouble, while more confident dogs may decide to stay and fight. A naturally confident dog will recover from new and fearful experiences much faster than a naturally shy dog.
Young dogs tend to be more open to new experiences, and bounce back more quickly. This is why we want to socialize our dogs to many positive new experiences when they are young, so that they will grow up to be a confident and balanced adult dog.
However, we can train any dog to better handle stress or fear, and become more confident. All it takes is time, patience, and a lot of repetition. One of the best ways to calm a fearful or reactive dog is through the desensitization process.
Dog Desensitization – A Good Way to Calm a Dog
The desensitization process works by initially exposing a dog to very low levels of the problem stimulus. Once the dog becomes accustomed to the low level stimulus, we very slowly increase its intensity. Over time, our dog will learn to tolerate and be calm at even higher levels of the reactive stimulus.
Patience is key because we do not want to raise the stimulus potency too quickly and cause our dogs to lose control. Frequent loss of control (from fear or over-excitement) will not only set back our desensitization work, but also make our dog mistrust us, and become even more reactive.
Dog desensitization exercises are commonly combined with counter-conditioning techniques.
In addition to getting our dog calm and comfortable with the problem stimulus (desensitization), we also help him re-associate a previously negative stimulus with something positive (counter-conditioning).
Counter conditioning is achieved by engaging our dog in focus/eye-contact training and other simple dog obedience commands (e.g. Sit) during the desensitization process. When our dog stays calm and follows our commands we reward him well with affection and his favorite treats. In this way our dog learns to re-associate the ‘bad’ stimulus with calmness, yummy treats, and affection from us.
Note – We only reward good behaviors, i.e. our dog following commands and staying calm. Do not give treats or affection to your dog when he loses control, or when he is showing fear symptoms. If you do this with the wrong energy or technique, it will only encourage his reactivity and fears. Instead, just remove him to a quiet area where he can calm down on his own.
Calm a Dog to Noise
For a dog that is fearful or over-excited of loud noises such as fireworks or thunderstorms, the trigger stimulus is the noise. Therefore, our noise desensitization session would go something like this –
- We get a recording of fireworks or a thunderstorm and then play it (in loop mode) on our stereo at a very low volume. Make sure that the initial volume is low enough that our dog is able to stay calm.
- We engage our dog in focus and obedience exercises while the recording is playing and reward him well for staying calm and following commands.
- If everything is well, we increase the volume of our recording slightly and repeat step 2.
- If our dog stops accepting treats, or is no longer able to focus then we have moved forward too quickly. At this point we want to lower our volume by a few notches. Once our dog is calm again, we can repeat step 2.
- It is important to keep desensitization sessions short, positive, and rewarding. In this way, our dog will start to associate fireworks and thunderstorms with positive experiences rather than something that is threatening and stressful.
Calm a Dog to People
Dogs may also become anxious or over-excited when people come into their space and pet or hug them. Dogs are not humans, and they do not have the same communication cues as we do. When meeting a new dog, especially a shy dog, it is best to first ignore the dog and let him approach us.
We can help our dog become less fearful of people by desensitizing him using distance, focus, and rewards –
- Ask a friend to sit under a tree in our backyard and read a book.
- Meanwhile, we have our dog on-leash and stand far enough away from our friend that our dog is calm and relaxed.
- We get our dog’s focus and do some simple obedience exercises. He gets rewarded for staying calm and working together with us.
- If all is well, we move one step toward our friend and repeat step 3.
- It is important that our friend totally ignores the dog, which means no talking and no eye-contact. Eye-contact can be seen as an invitation to interact, or as a threat, especially by a shy dog. Either way, it can trigger an excited or fearful response.
As always, we want to keep desensitization sessions short, fun, and rewarding. In this way, our dog will learn to re-associate people with calmness and positive experiences.
- After several sessions, we may get close enough to our friend that she can throw some high priority treats to our dog. However, it is still important not to initiate eye-contact.
- If our dog is calm and does not have a bite history, we can let him come over and sniff our friend (still no eye-contact).
- Once our dog is comfortable with the scent of our friend and is calm, then we can bring her back a few paces and repeat the desensitization exercise with brief periods of eye contact.
In later stages we can repeat the desensitization process for –
- A person who is moving slowly.
- A person wearing unusually clothing, big hats, or carrying an umbrella.
- A person on a skateboard or bicycle.
- A person who is talking softly.
- A person who is talking in a high-pitched tone.
- A threatening person who is talking loudly.
The more things we desensitize our dog to, the more confident he will become and the more prepared he will be to handle new experiences.
However, patience is extremely important. The key to the desensitization process is to help dogs re-associate previously stressful or highly emotional situations with something calm and positive. Going too fast can scare our dog and cause him to become even more reactive of people.
Calm a Dog to Confinement
Some dogs may get reactive when they are first confined in a crate. Confinement can be stressful because the dog loses his ability to escape if a threat should arise.
Before confining a dog in a crate for any length of time, it is best to first get the dog calm and desensitized to the crate.
- We start by showing the crate to our dog and letting him smell and examine it.
- Next we put some food near the entrance of the crate and let our dog step in to eat it.
- When he is comfortable with that, we throw some food deeper into the crate.
- We continue until our dog is cheerfully going into the crate on his own. At this point, make sure to leave the crate door open so our dog can move into and out of the crate freely.
- Once our dog is calmly moving into and out of the crate, we can close the door briefly. Wait one second, and then open the door again.
Finally, we slowly lengthen the time that our dog spends in the crate.
Desensitization vs. Flooding
In addition to desensitization, there is another technique called flooding that can also be used to deal with dog anxieties and fears.
With desensitization we expose a dog slowly to low amounts of the fear stimulus. We get the dog comfortable with the low level stimulus, then gradually train him to accept greater levels.
Flooding, on the other hand, exposes a dog to large amounts of the fear stimulus right away. The dog is then forced to experience the fear stimulus until he calms down.
Like us, a dog’s body can only keep pumping adrenalin for a fixed amount of time, i.e. there is a time limit to a dog’s fear response or panic attack. Theoretically, both human and dog will calm down after some time, realize that there is nothing to fear, and start to associate that new feeling of ease with the previously fearful stimulus.
Flooding may be faster than the desensitization process, but it is risky, more traumatic, and may cause the dog to just shut down and stop responding.
Flooding is a psychotherapeutic method for overcoming phobias. This is a faster, yet less efficient and more traumatic, method of ridding fears when compared with systematic desensitization.
~~[Wikipedia]
For this reason, most animal behaviorists recommend using desensitization and counter conditioning methods to treat dog anxieties and fears. Desensitization may take more patience and more time, but it is safer, the results are long-lasting, and it helps to build a strong bond between us and our dog that is based on trust and respect.
The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.
~~[Arnold H. Glasgow]
How do I stop a dog for going for other people
I have a 3 year old Aussie/Collie mix who we adopted from an acquaintance. When we move the couches in our living room he gets excited and wants to jump on you and sometimes barks. He doesn’t like it at all. Recently he tried to bite my mom when she moved the couches, she is scared of him now. I’m not sure how to approach this. Either to desensitize him or put him out whenever we move the couches. I don’t want my dog to be able to fly off the handle at such a small issue. Any suggestions out there? TIA!
Hi! My daughter has a greyhound and recently he was attacked by another dog while walking in a local park. He is recovering well from his substantial wounds but is refusing to walk in the local park anymore or anywhere from home location but will happily walk if we drive him to amother suburb. What can they do to regain his confidence to use the local park again. This has been going on for about a month now and he just does not move from the front of their apartment. What can be done? Moving house is not an option.
I have a 2 ans a half yr old pug bitch she is very outgoing and not shy at all. I do not let her off lead very often unless in safe surroundings although she does recall quite well. On a walk i started chatting to a friend in a field near my home i was getting tangled in the lead so let her off for 5 mins!! My friends male jack russell started to chase her very forcefully which scared her and she ran!! No matter how much i called her she would not come to me! She ran the same way i walk her and never went on the road thank god but i am most upset as too why she would not come to me?! I had to get a passerby to grab her!! What did i do wrong in this situation?! Not that it will be happening again.
Lie down where you are, make sure she sees you, when whine loudly like a puppy in pain. She’ll come back so fast…. 🙂 Works for my 4 month old puppy every time no matter how far. It’s instinct.
Hi!
I’ve recently rescued a 7 year old Shih Tzu from The Dogs Trust (UK), she was used for breeding on a puppy farm in Ireland and was just bread and bread until she was no use for breeding anymore, which was when she had her pups taken from here and either abandoned on the street or dumped in a kennel (we never got to the bottom of it)
I have another Shih Tzu that i’ve had from a pup and wanted a friend for her, Doris (the rescue) needed to be rehomed with another dog, as she’s always been around dogs and really enjoys the company.
However.. she hates us humans, she doesn’t like going for a walk, wont come to me when I call her (although she does acknowledge me) and she completely refuses to come out from underneath the coffee table,
She’s a very anxious little soul, she will let you stroke her but looks absolutely terrified when you do.
She excessively pants, and runs in circles on the odd occasion, I’ve only had her two weeks (tomorrow) and I can see little improvements in her, but could anyone suggest how I can possibly get her to start to trust me?
she loves treats and food, however you have to put it down in front of her to eat, or put your hand under the coffee table for her… if she treats are outside of the coffee table she ain’t interested.
all thoughts and advice welcomed,
beth xo
Hi beth,
I’ve had a few pound dogs now..and honestly…I just think it’s time. The more mistreated they were…the longer you have to give them. But to give you a time frame…the dogs I’ve cared for took anything from 8 weeks to a year to come out of their shell. They eventually trust and figure out you’re a good guy..but some I think will forever have trouble with sounds, other people etc…but they all have come good to me as an owner.
Treats and patience x
Best of luck with your shih tzu, Beth. I have the same situation with my Sheltie, Ida. She was a breeding dog for a back yard breeder until she was five, then dumped at a rural shelter when too old for use. I have had her for a year and a half now, and she is still extremely reactive to everyday situations, even ones experienced on a daily basis. She has become somewhat attached to me, but will still flinch when I first touch her. Other people still terrify her. When someone gets a puppy from a puppy mill, I wish they could see the damage and pain to the mothers left behind.
Keep doing your best with your little dog, but you may have to accept that some of the damage can never be undone. At least she is safe with your family and will never be harmed again.
My dog is extremely nervous. He is a 2 yr old huskymute and hes scared of loud noises, some other dogs and even the wind… This is to the point where his stool is extremely soft, he wont eat and wont even go for a walk. My neighbours have just installed a hanging parasol today which blows in the wind (you can imagine how much fun that must be for poor Storm) and now he wont even go into our conservatory or outside. My neighbours are neighbours from hell and when their parasol was encroaching onto our property my dad asked if they could move it back so it wasnt on our land. (A reasonable request if you ask me) and straight away, they started shouting (which only scared the poor boy more) and becoming very aggressive towards my father and myself. They were even f-ing and blinding which I didnt stand for and lost my cool. I just dont know how to adjust my dog to this new horrific nightmare… Its cruel cause he cant play outside or anything….
Hi, I recently rescued a 1 year old border collie from a friend (she couldn’t keep her anymore). I also have a 15 year old shiba Inu (which is my baby) my shiba is so afraid of the 1 year old, when she barks my shiba jumps and runs away shaking, when the pup gets near him (the shiba) he goes the other way with his head and tail down. The door we let the dogs to go out of to go potty is on the lower level to our house. If she’s down there he won’t even come down the stairs, it takes a lot of “cmon, it’s ok” talk to get him down, which before it was never a problem. Then when I finally get him out, he won’t come back in. The border collie is good with my shiba, wants to play naturally but for the most part she really leaves him alone. What could I do to help my shiba calm down and not be so nervous? I’m just worried that something may happen to him because he’s 15. I just want him happy and comfortable. Please help
Thanks
Kim
Hi, I have adopted a 5year old puppy mill spoodle. she gets along well with my 8 month dog.
she does have trust issues but we overcoming them slowly. my main problem is that as soon as a leash is pit on her she freezes. No treat or enticement works. she will drag the lead around, but as soon as she feels a tug or restraint she freezes again. When I take the leash off she stays still for a minute or so, and then slowly starts walking and realises freedom and becomes herself again.
Do you have suggestions on how I can slowly remedy this issue? I would love to take both dogs to the beach but without a leash I’m unable to.
She’s a beautiful dog, becoming to love cuddles, jumps on the bed in the morning fir attention
Thanks for any suggestions you can give.
Cheers
Patricia
I have a poodle that I adopted from the city pound 1/2/16. She is about 3 years old and was emaciated when we adopted her. Very skinny and sickly. I have never been around an animal that has so much anxiety. She is a really sweet dog. I can’t use positive reinforcement, yet, with this dog because she is too out of control to even want a reward. If I were having a panic attack, I wouldn’t want a reward either unless it’s a tranquilizer. She paces when she hears the toilet flush, she barks incessantly when the phone rings and she goes insane when our other dog barks. By insane, I mean she hears a couple of barks, she jumps up, runs in circles, tries to nip the other dog, barks uncontrollable and wont stop until we catch her. If we don’t catch her, she would probably run in circles for 10 minutes barking hysterically. If we don’t catch her, the other dog, a Chihuahua, will attack her. I see why because it annoys the humans as well as the dog in house. Once we catch her, after her pacing tantrum, we walk her to a quiet area. While I’m walking her out of the room, she little barks upside down (and all different directions), while her body is almost convulsing out of anxiety. We’ve tried “doggie zanax” and she paced like an intoxicated dog (bumping into walls). We had her on a leash in the house for the first couple of weeks to prevent a lot of this, but it seems cruel to keep her on a lease in the house forever. It seems like there are too many stimuli to identify. She paces, air licks and her head bobs back and forth when she walks outside to use the restroom. She’s too nervous outside to use the restroom during the day, so she secretly sneaks off to pee somewhere in the house. I’m assuming she is afraid to be attacked. If I was a stay at home mom I could dedicate 24 hours a day to her, but at this time I have my 77 year old mother spending time with her during the day and then in the evening I will spend time with her. I know some behaviorism, but my mother does not and she is going insane with this dog. Cupcake has improved slightly without meds. We have a decent size bathroom area, where she can go to relax when she is out of control. Then we bring her out when she stops barking hysterically. We also have a large pen outside that gives her outside time. We live on two acres, so she does not have any city loudness to deal with. We don’t lock her in with any of our other dogs, but she socializes with them throughout the day. That was a nightmare at first too, however, now she seems to tolerate the other dogs. She does not know how to play like a normal dog. She wants to play but she seems scared when the other dogs try to play with her. She doesn’t know how to be a dog. I’ve been teaching her how to play around the other dogs. I use therapeutic massage with her and it works. When I have days off, I take her hiking in to woods to work off the excess energy. Even after a 5 mile hike, she comes back home and paces back and forth. She has noise phobia from almost everything. The only time she is calm is when there is no sound. She will curl up and sit down next to us. What are your suggestions?
Sounds like my new rescue dog was caged indoors as broader dog in puppy mill, very long road in training her, trained therapy labs before so process is very difficult goog luck
Hi, I have a 6 month old border collie, that I recently “rescued” from a hell hole. I suspect that he has never been out and potentially mistreated.
He cannot grasp even the simplest of tasks as he seems to be in total fear.
I have attempted to take him out on a leash and he is ok when there’s nothing around, but when he sees people he is uncontrollable. Totally freaks out.
I have had dogs in the past, but never experience such behaviours before.
In the home he is loveable and affectionate, but seemingly non reactive to any basic learning.
He is also totally food focussed.
Have you any advice that may help?
Thank you
my 7 year old Biscon hears n noises from my cell phone and she starts to tremble ( almost out of control ) What can i do to help he get through this. Thankm You
Hi I have been doing desensitization/counter-conditioning with my year and a half old pitbul mix who was reactive and aggressive towards strangers. I have been doing it for about a month now and I am seeing a little bit of improvement but he is still reacting at times. My question is how long does the desensitization/counter-conditioning process usually take?
Hello.
Four variables are on the table: trainer, trainee, stimulus and reward.
You can easily control stimulus and reward. Let’s work on them.
If the stimulus is strong enough, any dog will react to it. Every dog is a reactive dog. Some have a higher threshold. Let it sink for a moment.
Desensitization ain’t a process with a definite result, it’s a method to adequate the threshold of a dog’s response to a stimulus. How long does it take? We can train a dog in a day to love a popping balloon (Fido will have a treat every time a balloon pops nearby, then on him, then when he pops the thing himself), but it takes closer to a year to prepare a dog to a war scene (Fido eats his daily ration if and only if there’s strong gunfire around). But it can be done.
Avoidance is still the most human-convenient dog response to a perceived threat. The alternative is fear aggression. Both are siamese twins in the called Defense Drive.
If the reward is strong enough, any dog will bite the bullet to chew/play. Regular kibble is enough for a highly food driven Labrador or German Shepherd (due to genetics) or for my Belgian Malinois (that has eaten nothing but kibble in her life, from my hand, no exception). You’d need tastier food for a pet.
You can speed up the whole process with a systematic approach, e.g., for the same high stimulus give high value rewards on a fixed schedule, then on a variable schedule, then regular dog food or play time; then go for a higher stimulus and keep on the track until the results fit your fancy.
Regards,
Shibe San
Hi, i have 18 months old stafford who became reactive about a month ago, i dont know why i havent seen someone to do him harm,…when i walk him and strangers come close he begins to pull/bark/growl/jumps at them, even when he’s in the yard and someone walks by he begins to bark very aggresive and runs toward the fence usually if that person talks very loud, also he runs towards bycicles. He’s not aggressive with other dogs or with someone he knows, only with strangers and only adults not children. He also pulls when i walk him, i tried to stop everytime he pulls and/or changing directions but theres no improvement. And there’s his annoying habbit to jump on me and other family members when he wants to play, i tried to turn back and raise my arms but that doesnt work, how to stop him from jumping on me and others…? he’s also very afraid of fireworks he begins to panic and run in the house very fast when something like that happens
For the pulling have you tried a harness.
Some if his reactions sound exactly what my dog was doing, it turned out to be a thyroid problem. If you do get the test done do it through Dr. Jean Dodds, she is the thyroid expert! http://www.hemopet.org
My dog is much better since she is now on medication for thyroid just switched her to RAW diet. Even better. Good luck!
i have a sheltie and my dog is scared of everything… she loves me but if i make her do something or stand by someone she doesnt like she shakes and acts up.. she hides under tables.. she doesnt listen to anyone but me and i dont know how she got this way or how to fix it, i feel like she doesnt fully trust me and i dont know how to change that.
I gained my Shiba Inu’s trust through consistency and setting him up for success. I create a fixed routine, consistent rules, and a consistent way of communication. In this way, he knows exactly what to expect from me and what I expect from him in return. This creates certainty, and certainty helps to reduce stress and anxiety.
I do desensitization exercises with my dog, in a structured and controlled environment. I start small with a very weakened version of the scary stimulus, so that my dog is able to remain calm, and learn positive behaviors from the experience. The more calm and successful experiences my dog has, the more confidence, trust, and positive associations he forms. Similarly, panic attacks and reactive experiences will undermine that confidence and trust, set back our training, and worsen his anxiety behaviors.
Therefore, a very important part of helping my dog with his anxiety and earning his trust is to manage his environment very carefully. I try to always set him up for success and I *do not* expose him to situations that he is not ready for. I talk more about how I desensitize my dog to people in the article above.
These ASPCA articles have more information common anxieties-
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/fear-people
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/neophobia-fear-new-things
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/fear-other-animals
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/fear-noises
Given what you describe, I would get help from a good, positive-based trainer as soon as possible.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
https://apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/
Meanwhile, I would manage the dog’s environment very carefully, always set her up for success, and not expose her to situations that she is not ready to handle. Building trust with my dog involves consistency, management, and protecting him from what he views as threats.
More on how I build a strong bond with my dog.
Cooper is our 8 month boxer/lab who is a complete joy. He has been socialized since 9 weeks with people and other dogs but because we don’t know a lot of children, he has had very limited exposure. Two nights ago, we were on our nightly walk and a child on a scooter came to close to him; he got spooked and bolted out of his collar and ran. I thought it was a one off, but tonight we were on our walk again, he was anxious but I thought it was just because of other night. We walked through the park and a child was running about 10 feet away and Cooper bolted again. This time thankfully, he was still in his collar and I had a hold of him. I want him to feel comfortable around everyone. Is it too late for him to be comfortable around children? He is delightful in every other way. I don’t think he will bite as he bolts as oppose to charging, but I want him not too be in fear. At some point, we are hoping to have kids around and I want him to be able to enjoy their company.
I do desensitization exercises with my dog to get him used to different types of people. We do training in a structured and controlled environment, and I always make sure that everyone is safe. This is, of course, especially important with children. I start with older children who can be more calm and who are better at following instructions, then I slowly build up from there.
The key with my dog is to always set him up for success. The more successful and calm greetings he has with people, the more confidence, trust, and positive associations he builds. Similarly, negative events will undermine that confidence and trust, set back our desensitization training, and worsen his fear symptoms in the future. Therefore, I also manage my dogs environment very carefully.
My young Husky used to be afraid of scooters when she was young. Therefore, as soon as I hear the scooter sound or notice her start to become a bit anxious, I move away from the source/direction of her anxiety. Distance will help to weaken the strength of the scary stimulus. My dog also feels safer in a driveway, with a wall behind her and barriers in front, so sometimes we do that. Some dogs may not like being in an enclosed space like this, so it depends.
Once we get far enough away that she is more calm, then I redirect her attention onto me, we do very simple commands, and I reward her very well for it. My dog is very sensitive to my energy, so I need to stay very calm the entire time. Otherwise, she will pick up on my stress, worry, or frustration and get even more reactive herself.
I walk my dog during off hours and we go to more quiet areas to walk if necessary. In this way, I can manage our walk environment, maximize successful walks, and minimize reactive episodes. At the same time, I do frequent desensitization sessions in a controlled environment to raise my dog’s reactivity threshold. Management was a key part in helping my dog overcome her anxiety.
I am wondering how I can help my 5 month old pionter/lab puppy . He has had puppy classes for basic obedience sit,down up stay watch me touch …he did pretty well actually in the class but recently when we go to the dog park I have notices he seems to really react negatively when a hyper dog comes into is focus. He begins to solely for us on that dog and the acts out by charging ,barking and completely ignoring all commands. DUKE is a fantastic puppy and I want to help eliminate his fears. He was a rescue puppy and I have had him 2 monthes . He plays with multiple size ,breeds ages and altered and non altered pups all the time. I am not sure why this is now emerging as a fear.please help
Yeah, I am not a big fan of dog parks. They tend to be extremely high stimulus, chaotic, unpredictable, and not well supervised. My Shiba Inu learned a lot of bad lessons from being at the dog park, his behavior worsened, and he became a lot more reactive. Sephy does a lot better in smaller, structured play-groups, with clear rules and good human supervision.
More on our dog park experiences.
I also did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with Sephy to raise his reacticity threshold, and help him be more calm around other dogs.
Some articles on dog socialization-
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-socialization-what-why-how
http://www.badrap.org/dogdog-tolerance
http://www.badrap.org/smart-socializing
http://www.badrap.org/dog-parks
Hi, we have a male Akita that is now 11 months old. He has always been a bit intolerant of people and we tried to socialise him as much as possible since we first got him at 8 weeks. During the last few months he started to increasingly show unwanted behaviour towards people. Outside, during walks or at parks, he is usually fine and also lets people (almost only other dog-owners) pet him and cuddle him, but when it comes to people coming to visit inside our house or in our garden, he freaks out and would not stop barking at them. He does not show aggression or anything like that, he just barks no-stop and does not allow anybody (except us) nowhere near him. This happens with complete strangers (like delivery guys, postmen or whoever knocks on our door) and also with people he knows since he was 8 weeks old (like our neighbours).
We are to the point that we cannot have guests in our house, unless we want to get massive headaches from 1 hour barking straight – as in the end he will eventually stop and “sort of” settle, but this cannot be the acceptable way of behaving.
We tried to ignore him, putting him out in the garden, giving him commands like sit or down, but nothing changes and he does not even pay attention to our commands. We don’t know what else to do!
With my dog, I always start small (at a level that he can tolerate) and set him up for success.
The more positive and calm experiences my dog has, the more confidence, trust, and positive associations he forms, and the better his behavior becomes. Similarly, reactive experiences will undermine that confidence and trust, set back our training, and worsen his behavior.
My younger Husky, Lara, gets over-excited when people come to visit and she becomes reactive. Therefore, one person is always assigned training duty with her. In addition, I give instructions to my guests as to how to interact (or not interact) with my dogs. No eye-contact is very important.
At the same time, I do desensitization training with my dog (in a structured and controlled environment), to raise her reactivity threshold and teach her to be more comfortable and calm around people. I talk more about how I do desensitization training with my dog and people, in the article above.
The key is to start small and to use distance to weaken the “people” stimulus. I need to start far enough that my dog is calm, able to listen to me, and learn. Once my dog becomes reactive (crosses her threshold), she is no longer capable of listening, and the negative experience will only worsen her anxiety and future behavior. I *do not* use punishment because that introduces more stress into the situation and worsens my dog’s anxiety.
My dog is also very sensitive to the energy of the people around him. If I or others around me are stressed, angry, frustrated, or otherwise not calm, my dog will pick up on that energy, get more stressed himself, and his behavior will worsen.
Therefore, I always try to set my dog up for success by managing his environment, controlling my energy, doing desensitization training in a controlled environment, and not exposing him to more than he can handle at the current moment. Socialization is about creating positive experiences, as well as minimizing negative and stressful encounters. Even during walks, I do not expose my dog to situations that he is not ready to handle. Most of the time, we ignore other dogs and people, creating neutral experiences. I only do greetings with very calm people who can follow my instructions. We avoid over-excited people, people who cannot follow instructions, and people who will worsen my dog’s anxiety and behavior.
More on dog socialization.
ASPCA article on how to deal with fear of people.
I have a 1 year old husky who I adopted at 6 months, as far as I know he wasn’t properly socialised. I have issues walking him outside my street because at the street corner, there is a dog behind a fence that always barks when we walk by and my husky starts whining and crying and I’m not sure what to do. This wasn’t an issue earlier because the dog behind the fence would rarely ever react but now it does.
He often loses control at this point and tries to sniff wildly at the fence and loses his focus on me. It’s particularly bad when another dog owner just happens to walk by without me noticing. For instance, this morning, a woman caught be off guard with her dog. My dog noticed them before me and began to pull and freak out, wanting to free himself from the leash because he obviously wants interact with the other dog.
His walking in general is okay-ish, not perfect but he will walk close to me 60-70% of the time. I often have to redirect him by walking in the other direction to get him beside me; it’s just when there’s another dog around he goes nuts.
I help my dog to be more calm around other dogs by doing dog-to-dog desensitization exercises. With desensitization, I start small and then very slowly increase the challenge as my dog gains confidence. I use distance to weaken the “other dog” stimulus, so that my dog is able to stay calm, listen to me, and learn.
The more successful and calm experiences my dog has, the more confidence and trust he builds, the more positive associations he forms, and the better his behavior becomes. Similarly, reactive experiences will undermine that confidence and trust, significantly set back our training, and worsen his behavior. Therefore, I manage my dog’s routine and environment carefully so that I set him up for success.
For regular walks, we go during off-hours or we drive to a quiet, low stimulus area, if necessary. I use distance and barriers to weaken the other dog stimulus. When appropriate, I engage my dog in doing very simple commands and reward him well for it, so that he is focusing on me instead of the other dog. We generally learn to ignore other dogs and create neutral experiences. I try my best to manage his environment and not expose him to situations that he is unready for.
More on how I create neutral experiences and did desensitization exercises with my dog.
More on dog socialization-
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-socialization-what-why-how
http://www.badrap.org/dogdog-tolerance
http://www.badrap.org/smart-socializing
We have a Bug (Half pug, half bull dog). He is 2 years old, and gets over excited when someone different becomes in his line of view, or opens the front door. He barks constantly and huffs, jumps backwards, and dodges your touches. It’s with people he is familiar with too. It takes some time for him to remember you and calm down. He’s very active and we walk him regularly. He is crate trained as well. Any suggestions?
I did people desensitization exercises with my Shiba Inu to teach him to be more calm around people. I talk more about how I did people desensitization in the article above.
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog#people
My dog is also very sensitive to the energy of the people around him. I make sure that the people who visit are calm and that they also follow my instructions.
I have a 21 month old male Caucasian shepherd that won’t mount a dog in heat even when she is receptive. He would sniff and lick but won’t mount. He is also scared and I’ve been working on desensitizing him. Is his inability to mate also a sign of fear?
I am not a breeder so I don’t have experience with breeding related behaviors. Best to consult with an experienced Club registered breeder.
Hello, I have a rescue German Shepard/ Lab Mix, he was beaten by a man for a year or so of his life, then take to a foster home where he was with other Shepards. We bought the dog in March of this year, he is still very fearful of me. I am the male in the house, no other dogs, and my girlfriend who is staying of multiple days in the week. He is very attached to her and excited to see her and be around her. When I come home I approach him, and scratch under his chin and belly and let him know everything is okay, also give him a treat to associate me coming home a good thing. He does listen to basic commands from me as in sit, or lets go for a walk/car ride and bathroom. That is when he is excited with me. Most of them time when we are at home just him and I he sits in the other section of the room in the corner and doesn’t move. When I get up off of the couch or chair to go in another room not even looking at him he darts in the section of the house. I understand that being patience is a huge part in rehabilitation. I just wish he could be relaxed in the house with just me in it, and not always on guard. We have thought about getting another dog, a dominant female that is not a rescue dog, only due to the fact that when we take our dog over to my girlfriend’s house, he plays with the other two dogs and is so excited to see people, he acts like a completely different dog. He follows me, runs up to me, and other people, licking everyone, playing. It is absolutely night and day. Any advice on anything would be very helpful..
Thank you.
Adam
Some things that help with my shy dog-
1. Start small and go slowly.
I make sure to always set my shy dog up for success. The more positive and successful experiences my dog has with me, the more confidence and trust he builds. Similarly, fearful or reactive events will undermine his confidence, set back training, and worsen his fear symptoms. Therefore, I manage my shy dog’s environment carefully so as to minimize fearful events.
2. I talk softly and control my own energy.
My dogs are very sensitive to the energy of the people around them. If I get angry or frustrated, they will pick up on that, get stressed themselves, and their behavior will worsen. I also make sure not to make eye-contact with a shy dog because that can be intimidating.
3. Give my dog space
I give my shy dog enough space to be comfortable and relaxed. From time to time, I may toss him a treat from far away (no eye-contact), while he is calm and relaxed. This helps him to associate me with food and rewards, but from a safe distance. As my dog gets more comfortable with me, then I may *very slowly* decrease my treat throwing distance. I let my shy dog come to me when he is ready, rather than approaching him, which can also be intimidating.
Petting and touching can also be scary for a shy dog, and is a more advanced move. At the start, I only work on distance. This is similar to the people desensitization process described above.
4. Fixed routine and consistent communication.
I set up a fixed routine and communicate with my dogs in a very consistent way. They know exactly what to expect from each other, what to expect from me, and what I expect from them in return. Routine and consistency help to create certainty, which helps to reduce stress and fear.
I waited until I resolved most of my first dog’s behavioral issues, before getting a second dog. I think that getting a second dog before that is risky, because it may make the problems worse, and there may be new issues with the second dog. This can quickly become overwhelming. In addition, a new dog will introduce a fair amount of change and uncertainty, which can be stressful for everyone. If my first dog is already in a good place, then I can focus on helping both dogs get along, and whatever issues my second dog may have. More on my second dog experience.
These articles have more on how to help a shy dog-
http://www.homewardtrails.org/resources/dogs/helping-the-shy-or-fearful-dog#.Vcgy7vlVhBc
http://www.nicolewilde.com/how-to-help-shy-anxious-or-fearful-dogs/
http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_Shy.php
However, dog behavior is very context dependent. When I was having troubles with my Shiba Inu, I visited with several professional trainers who could observe Sephy within his regular environment, read his body language, and help me identify the key things that trigger his problem behaviors. They also helped me come up with an effective plan for desensitization and counter-conditioning.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
I need some advise for my 11 year old male shiba inu.
I took Oskar to the vet last week to get his leg examined. Oskar was traumatized as they tried to obtain the xray they needed by trying to straighten his leg. They were not successful because of the pain and trying to force him and a nearby the machine was beeping. They eventually sedated him to get the xray. They determined that he has pretty bad arthritis. A pain killer with an anti-inflammatory was prescribed which has reduced the swelling. We finished the meds two days ago.
Ever since the incident Oskar has been scared and paranoid. Although always sensitive to loud beeps, he has always been very active, playful, solidly confident dog. He loves outside and spends hours looking and watching.
I now have to pick him up and take him outside. His tail is down and he retreats to a corner of the deck and stays there. I have to pick him up and put him the grass so he can do his business. He walks around a bit lays down and stays there until I go and get him. I understand the trauma he experienced and have been spending time with him trying to coax him. I am sometimes successful in the house getting him to the back door and then he retreats. He is not shaking just tail and ears down. He is eating and drinking, sleeping. He seems depressed.
I want to know if I am on the right track. Any suggestions will be very much appreciated
How was he acting before the vet visit – i.e. when he was in some pain from the arthritis but before the x-ray? I would first try to determine the source of his stress, whether it is from the pain in his joints or whether it is from the vet visit. How is his behavior inside the house? Does he only get stressed about going outside? Is it noisy outside? What kinds of noises are there?
Sephy is usually pretty depressed when we get back from vet. Part of it is from the sedation, and the other part, I think, is some loss of trust. With Sephy, I leave him be and let him make the decision of when he is ready to do stuff again. I *do* try to create many many opportunities to get him interested in doing stuff, but I do not directly coax him. He usually does better when he makes up his own mind.
For example, Sephy is very curious and really loves new things, so I may start opening boxes and act excited about the things I find in there. If he comes over, I’ll put some really good stuff in the boxes for him to find. I do things inside the house first, where he is more comfortable. I also do fun stuff with my other dogs, and that usually catches his interest as well. He loves smelly fish, so I may also try using that to engage his nose. What are the things that Oskar likes to do best?
After Sephy gets back to more of his usual self, then I can start desensitizing him to scary beep sounds and to the outdoors. I talk more about how I do noise desensitization exercises with my dogs in the article above.
My schnauzer Russell cross has been with me since 9 weeks old. Shes now 3. We have relocated alot but we’ve been here a year. We try to keep as much routine as possible but we work shifts and gets left alone quite often for 8 hours sometimes and she doesn’t like being alone. But she is a happy healthy affectionate pup. Recently my partner and I went on holiday for a week and left her with my parents who are retired and she adores them. Upon her returning home she was fine until they left and after a few hours turned really jumpy and nervous and wont come near us. She wont make eye contact and is growling quietly if we get too close to her. I’m worried about her and think she may be anxious over the change in circumstances.
What can I do to ease her back Into her home?
Yeah, my dogs really need a fixed routine and consistency. Changes in schedule, environment, and more, causes stress and anxiety. However, consistency helps to create certainty and certainty helps to reduce stress.
After our last move, I set up a fixed schedule right away and a very consistent set of house rules. If I am unable to provide a consistent schedule on my own, then I look for help, for example from a good positive-based dog-daycare center or a good sitter. Since you have parents living nearby, perhaps she can visit your parents on a more consistent basis. This would make her schedule more consistent, she would not have to be alone for as long, and having stay-overs at your parent’s place would become regular/normal.
I did notice that my Husky would sometimes act a bit distant after a multi-day stay at the hospital (when she was young). I just give her space to get comfortable again, and I let her come to me. I encourage her to come to me by having her favorite food in my pocket, and perhaps scattering some around me, while I sit and read a book. I let her come to get the food on her own. I make it as low stress as possible by not looking at her, and not trying to physically interact with her until she is ready, and lets me know that she is ready by making the first move.
After my dog is comfortable again with me, I make sure to give her an outlet for her anxiety. For example, my Husky loves taking hikes outside, so we would go on longer walks, in quiet areas, during off-hours. I want to make the experience fun, positive, and low-stress, so she can relax and release her stressful energy by doing something that she enjoys and loves.
However, it is most important with my dog to try to break large changes up into smaller changes, and introduce those changes one step at a time so that consistency and certainty can be maintained. Frequent and constant changes can cause a lot of stress and can cause fear and anxiety symptoms to worsen.
Dog behavior is very context dependent so the temperament of the dog, daily routine, past experiences, and more will all play a role. This makes each dog and situation a bit different. Therefore, when in doubt, I get help from a good professional trainer/behaviorist.
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/finding-professional-help
http://www.apdt.co.uk/dog-owners/choosing-a-trainer
So I have a 5 year old Husky. She’s been with me for almost 2 years now. I adopted her from the rescue kennel. Lately, there have been repeated fireworks in our neighborhood on account of a festival celebrations. Lasting for a week of so. On one of the nights they went on for late into the night. I know that she used get anxious due to firework sounds / loud noises, but used to bounce back in a couple of hours from her safe zone i.e. the kitchen. However, for the last 3 days, ever since the fireworks, she is reluctant to come out of the kitchen or eat her meals or go out for a walk in the morning. She absolutely refuses to come out in the evening and night. Whenever I manage to drive her out in the morning to the usual walk trail, she almost violently pulls back or refuses to come out of the car to go to the trail. While, I understand that fire works caused the anxiety / nervousness, but I have never seen her so nervous. So her usual signs are – panting, nervous body language, refusal to come out of the kitchen, not accept the usual commands, reluctance in eating her normal meals sometimes even her favorite treats. She lies on the kitchen floor like a lifeless body not responding to any commands. I have tried giving her treats, peanut butter, her meal, yogurt. Except for peanut butter, she does not accept any other treat. I almost have to feed her with my hand at times. I have tried keeping a loud exhaust switched on to cover the firework noises, exposing her to some noises within the confines of our apartment. But she has not yet responded. I live in a highly populated area in the city. For our walks, we used to go early every morning to a Forest trail, which she now refuses to go on.
Eagerly awaiting a way out of this for my child. Please advise.
Dips.
So she hasn’t eaten anything for 3 days except peanut butter? Has she been drinking? Has she been eliminating? Does she show nervous behavior all day? Is the fireworks still going on? Is it only fireworks sounds that she is anxious about, or other loud sounds as well? What was her behavior like before the fireworks? Did she enjoy her walks? Did she get anxious during walks in the past? Were the fireworks less intense in the previous 2 years? How was she affected in the previous two years?
The first thing that I would do is make sure that she is physically ok.
To help my dog with noise anxiety, I do desensitization exercises. I talk more about how I do noise desensitization exercises with my dog in the article above. However, the key thing with desensitization is that we MUST start small and *very slowly* build-up our dog’s confidence and tolerance. I.e. I need to start desensitization in an environment that is quiet and calm enough that my dog is comfortable and able to relax.
ASPCA article on noise anxiety-
https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/fear-noises
This article is on thunder phobia, but many of the ideas are also relevant for other noises-
http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/thunder-phobia-in-dogs
More on dog anxiety.
If my dog is totally unresponsive, and not eating or drinking, I would first get help from a vet. Then, I would get help from a good dog trainer/behaviorist, one who uses positive based training. This is because dog behavior is very context dependent, so a dog’s temperament, past experiences, routine, environment, and more, all matter.
Hi–I was curious if you have had any success with your situation? I have recently had very similar experience with my Greyhound. We had a wonderful routine in past 7 months and no serious fright issues. Two weeks ago she had a fright in early morning from a flock of gulls across the street. It was the noise they were making. Since then, she has basically shut down our normal routine. We used to drive to the park for first walk of day. Now she shakes in the car and will not get out. She eats and then retreats to her bed in the bedroom. She is not motivated to come out of her safe spot. We shut the bedroom door last evening to keep her from retreating. If she hears a gull squak outside–she leaves the living room pad to go to her bed.
Any advise would be wonderful!
Hello there. I have a problem I’m hoping you can help me with. My wife and I have had a pit bull named Dexter for quite some time. He is a wonderful dog. no problems. About a year ago my wife learned of some dogs that were rescued by the police from a dog fighting ring near us. After several months at the pound a judge ruled they could be adopted out. We adopted a sweet female and named her Lily. We were told she was a puppy when she was rescued. Later we saw a picture of a dog that looked suspiciously like our Lily all scratched up. This dog looked about the same size as our dog. despite this she has been a good dog 90% of the time. we have grown to love her. we keep her and Dexter in a fence in the back yard when we’re at work and in the house most of the evening after we get home.
Our problem is that when another dog is if Lily sees another dog or some one walking on the street or the neighbors out in their yard, she gets all worked up and occasionally she attacks Dexter. Dexter is a very calm, gentle dog despite looking big and tuff. When these attacks occur, Dexter and Lily fight and although it is usually only for a few seconds often Dexter comes out of it with an injury. Lily is great with people and usually with Dexter. They often play together and get along fine.
We met with a certified trainer and she said we should crate train both dogs. My wife and I both work long hours. I’m gone from 4:00 am until about 6:00 pm. We usually turn in at about 9:00 pm. If we do this, the dogs would only be out of the crate 3 hours a day. That seems abusive to my wife and I. We don’t want to rehome Lily and certainly don’t want to take her back to the pound to be euthanized. She’s too good a dog for that. If we could be sure she’d be in a good home we’d be willing to rehome her with good people. she’d be great if she was the only dog in the home. As I said, she is great with Dexter most of the time but we hate for Dexter to be hurt like he is. Can you give us some advice in this matter.
How is Lily during walks? Is she reactive towards other dogs?
What you describe sounds like barrier frustration combined with redirected aggression.
http://www.scafshelter.org/education/tips-from-the-trainer/1196/tips-from-the-trainer-barrier-frustation
http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/how-do-i-manage-my-dogs-barrier-frustration
http://www.dogforum.com/training-behavior-stickies/reactivity-leash-aggression-barrier-frustration-12538/
Hi there, I’m wondering if you have any advice for us. We have a 9 month old Siberian Husky and our problems are mainly outside on walks. Our trainer says he’s just socially awkward but I’m not sure about that as a response to his behavior.
When he sees a person or someone walking a dog, he zeros in on them and gets focused. Granted, I see the person/dog first so I already have him pulled off to the side, sitting or laying down… Trying to get him to be calm, ignore it, distract him or not look. Well, when the person/dog gets closer, he literally loses his mind no matter what I do. Jumping, barking, growling (more because I’m holding him back and he wants to go play) and throwing a doggie tantrum. It’s not aggressive, no hair standing or anything, he just gets overly excited and wants to meet everyone, jump on them and play. Well, I can’t get his focus on me, I’ve tried the spray bottle, the compressed air “Quit It”, his commands don’t work (leave it, sit, stay, down) nothing. All he wants is to go to that person/dog. This behavior scares people which I think feeds his reaction even more.
At home, he’s perfect minus chasing the cat at times and jumping – which my husband and I are stern about not allowing, he’s just stubborn and not getting the hint yet.
Yeah, my Shiba Inu was also reactive to other dogs when he was young. The closer the other dog comes to him, the stronger the stimulus, so he is less able to keep control of himself.
I did a lot of dog-to-dog desensitization exercises with Sephy to help raise his reactivity threshold, and that was helpful for us.
The key with Sephy is to always manage him properly, so that I do not expose him to more than he can handle. In this way, he stays in control and can learn from the experiences. When the “other dog” stimulus is too strong (e.g. too close), he just goes into rear-brain mode and is no longer capable of listening or learning.
During our walks, I try to maximize success by using distance, visual blocks, and more to weaken the “other dog” stimulus. The more I prevent Sephy from going rear-brained, the more his behavior improves. Similarly, reactive encounters will worsen his behavior and set back our desensitization training.
Thanks! We’re working on that now, he was completely unmanageable outside because he was just so excited about everything, people and dogs. I purchased a gentle leader collar to see if it would help and he’s an ANGEL! I’m hoping it helps teach him how to behave and we eventually won’t need it. So we’re going to be trying the desensitization training from here on out that he’s not going wild.
He even got to meet and greet other dogs and people calmly when we went to PetSmart for puppy class. He’s been having issues with other dogs, especially pitbulls, and when one came into our aisle he just sat nicely and watched… Whined a little but did 1000% better than before!
Glad to hear that things have worked out so well. Big hugs to your fur angel! 😀
Wondering if you might have some advice for us. We have had a shepherd/lab mix for a few weeks. She is about 6 months old and a rescue. From day 1, she bonded well with my wife, and is very fearful of me. Whenever I enter a room, she growls and barks. After she calms down, I can pet her but she is still wary. She is fine with most people, but has had the same negative reaction to several other men, who look kind of like me, gray haired men. I suspect that she was at one time abused by someone who looks like me.
I have tried rewarding her when she is calm, and ignoring her when she carries on, but we seem to be getting nowhere.
Any help would appreciated.
What has worked well for me with my shy dog is to let her approach me.
I always start small and then very slowly increase the challenge. For example, if my dog is fearful of me, I would sit down, a ways away from her and maybe read a book. In this way, I am not staring at her, as eye contact can be threatening especially for a shy fearful dog.
I make sure my energy is good (calm), and I have some of my shy dog’s favorite treats. Smelly treats usually work well for me. I then place a bunch of treats around me. Initially, I place the food farther away from me so that my dog can get at it without coming too close. I just keep repeating this several times a day and let me dog come on her own to get at the stuff. I don’t say anything, don’t look at her, don’t touch her. The more successful she is, the more confidence she will build, so I want to always keep things positive.
Once my dog is totally comfortable with this, I start placing the food a bit closer to me, and so on. It is similar to the people desensitization exercises in the article above, except that I can do the training myself. This is of course assuming that the dog is not aggressive towards me or people.
In general, I try to maximize successes. The more successful positive experiences my shy dog has, the more confidence she will build. The opposite is also true, so I also want to minimize any negative encounters. Therefore, I start small, go slow, and try to be very patient. It takes time to build trust and confidence.
This ASPCA article on how to care for puppy mill dogs is a more extreme case, but it has some good information on shy dog techniques.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/adopting-puppy-mill-dog
Another ASPCA article on how to deal with fear of people.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/fear-people
Hi, stumbled across your website through google and am wondering whether you can offer any advice on a problem we have with our GSD. Mostly she is perfect. Things start to go wrong, however when she’s in the garden. She pays no attention to is whatso ever, takes a long time to settle down and relax (sometimes she’ll be bounding round the garden for hour+ before laying down), she barks at any bird flying over head, our neighbours dog when he barks, neighbours fence even when they are not there. I know its due to her own fear when she’s outside (on walks,etc she is calmer than when in the garden). I don’t really know how to try and combat the fear so that she can become calm in the garden and we can leave the doors open for her to come in and out at will. We try as much as possible but sometimes we have to just bring her in and shut the doors. Trying to distract her with sit, stay, etc doesn’t work as she doesn’t pay any attention and is more interested in the garden and reacting to all the stimuli. In friends gardens she is still on the go a lot but appears to be less stressed.
I’m just after some advice on things we could try to help but don’t really know where to start.
Thanks
How old is she? When did this behavior start? Did it start gradually or suddenly? What is her body posture like while in the garden – is her tail up or down, head up or down, posture hunched or leaning forward? Are that cats that get into the garden? Are there other animals that get into the garden? What is different about your garden vs. friend’s garden? When you open the door to let her back in, does she rush back into the house or does she still want to explore in the garden? Does she show this behavior all the time or more so at certain times of the day? What is her daily routine like?
With my dog’s reactive behavior, I first try to identify exactly what triggers the behavior. I try to observe closely, get as much detail as possible, and be as specific as possible. For example, is my dog reacting to a certain smell – if so is it the smell of cats, raccoons, other dogs, smoke, perfume, or something else. Or perhaps my dog is reacting to moving things, people, noises, etc. Is my dog’s behavior the result of over-excitement, fear, or something else?
Once I identify the trigger stimulus or stimuli, I can take steps to manage my dog’s environment, and slowly desensitize him towards those problem stimuli in a positive and structured way. The key is to start small and go slowly. In this way, I only expose my dog to situations that he can handle, so that he learns to stay calm and in-control of himself. The more calm and positive experiences he has in the presence of the trigger, the more tolerant he becomes of it. The opposite is also true, so I try to always keep things structured and positive.
Hi there! My Labrador is nearly 7 and is getting more and more anxious when we are out walking. This is happening in places we have visited many many times and is usually sound related (children playing, footballers…) It’s particularly bad when we stop for a cuppa, this may be at a cafe or just on a bench His tail drops and he starts to shake violently. Occasionally he will run off which is very frightening. I am worried that this will get worse and worse until there will be no where we can walk without this display of fear! I don’t know whether to keep visiting these place when it’s quiet (this involves forcing him to go) or to avoid them for a while then gradually reintroduce. I would welcome your advice. Many thanks. Rachel and Henry dog.
Did his anxious behavior start suddenly or has he always been anxious and it has gradually gotten worse?
To help my dog with anxiety, I first try to identify the source of his anxiety, as accurately as possible. Sudden changes in behavior can sometimes also be the result of physical pain or some physical impairment (hearing, vision, etc.). I rule those out first.
Once I am sure that the anxiety is environment based, then I try to identify exactly what triggers the anxious behavior. Is it noise, smell, moving objects, large objects, or something else. If it is noise, I try to identify exactly what sorts of noise triggers the behavior. Is it high pitched children screaming, sound of traffic, lots of voices, dogs barking, etc.
After I identify the anxiety triggers I *very slowly* desensitize my dog to those triggers. For example, if it is a certain sound, then I start by making a recording of that sound. Then I play it at very low volume while at home, in a safe, structured, and controlled environment. I want to start with a very weak version of the stimulus (very soft volume) so that my dog it able to tolerate it while staying calm and in control. Then, I can reward my dog for staying calm in the presence of the scary stimulus (very weak version). I talk more about noise desensitization in the article above.
By starting small, my dog doesn’t go into panic mode and is able to listen and learn. It also allows me to keep sessions positive, and help my dog re-associate the scary stimulus with being calm and positive rewards. The more successful and positive experiences my dog has, the more confidence he builds, and then I can *very slowly* increase the strength of the scary stimulus as his tolerance increases. Similarly, my dog loses confidence and becomes more fearful the more negative experiences he has. Therefore, I only expose him to things slowly, when I am very sure that he is ready for it.
Hope this helps. Big hugs to Henry!
Hi, I have a puppy that was flown to me from VA to FL. She was very fearful. When I asked the breeder she blamed it on the flight having two aggressive dogs crated beside her in the plane. I think it’s just either her mom was timid and passed it to the pup or she wasn’t exposed to anyone or anything until I got her at 3 months old. She’s a King shepherd. I’m overcoming 1-shepherd (owner protective) 2-Malamute (does not care about people in general) 3-Great Pyranees (owner protective).
I have a 5yo Shepherd also. He has never shown any fears. He greets people fine and the puppy backs off. I have been asking people to pet her on our daily morning walks, I hold her and lead her forward or hold her. They are the same people every day and she’s getting over her shyness little by little- I’m desensitizing her and they give her a treat or sometimes I do with praise. No one else around here understands this concept (desensitizing). They think the puppy should approach people on her own. That would never happen in her lifetime if I allowed her to decide.
I wonder if you consider this: The pup shows shyness, people don’t work it out by praise/treats and a little force, so they allow the pup to approach on her own and it takes years to overcome. I believe this is a form of dominance on the pup’s part. The pup figures if I behave this way, everyone will leave me alone. She wins. I’m the dominant one not her so I ask her to behave how I expect her to. She is complying. Do you see it as a form of dominance? She is very dominant with my 5yo male. She’s also very very smart.
I am somewhat afraid of heights. Therefore, I do not go up tall buildings and look down. Some people like that stuff, but I don’t, so I don’t do it. If someone were to try and force me up, and then force me to look down, I would probably be resisting most of the way. This is not dominance, it is fear. I am not trying to boss around the other person. On the contrary, instinct is just kicking in and telling me to run, because I am not ready yet.
There are two main approaches for dealing with fears or phobias – desensitization/counter-conditioning and flooding.
With desensitization, we always start with a very weak version of the problem stimulus and then *very slowly* work our way up. For example, when desensitizing my dog to people, I use distance to weaken the “people” stimulus. I have my dog on-lead and we stand far enough away, that my dog is still able to remain calm and listen to me. Then I get my dog’s attention, we do some simple commands and focus exercises, and I reward him very very well for it. If he is relaxed and very comfortable with this, I move one step closer and we repeat the exercise. I go at a pace that my dog is comfortable with, and I keep sessions short and positive. In this way, my dog will be successful, and each success will help him build confidence.
With flooding, we force a dog to experience high levels of the stressful stimulus until he shuts down or relaxes (“snaps out of it”).
Because of the high risk and intense stress involved with flooding, I only use desensitization techniques with my dogs.
Yes, I believe that sometimes dogs *do* show dominant behavior. However, most of my dog’s bad behavior stems from mis-communication or fear rather than from dominance.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dominance-bad-dog-behavior
Dogs and winning.
Hey, I’m interested in talking to you in private, could you please send me an email and I will tell you? Is related to your articles, a proposal… I hope you can see my email. Ask me for it here if you can’t.
Thank you very much.
Ana
If you need to send me a private message, you can do so here-
http://shibashake.hubpages.com/_srec/#email
I love this site, great work 🙂 It was one of the main sources of information I churned over for weeks before deciding to get a sibe of my own. I picked him up at 12 weeks old, he’s a bit over 5 months now and it’s been great, he learnt to sit basically right from the first walk, housebroken after the first couple of nights, he’s silent except when he’s talking to you, it’s great. I was really hesitant at first about how much of a handful they can be, but so far it’s turned out to not be the case at all.
I take him walking down on the esplanade a lot, which frequently has lots of other people and dogs. He does pull a little, but it’s not a “sore arm by the end of the walk” kind of pull, he’s just curious and loves chasing bugs on the pathway.
The only issue I’m having with him so far is that he’s easily overexcited/scared of other dogs and people. If they’re just walking past us, he’s fine with it, but if they’re running/on a bike etc, he tends to freak out a bit, and pull on his lead sideways trying to get off the path. If he gets too freaked out, he tends to just try running in circles on his lead and just generally freaks himself out even more.
My strategies to try solve this so far is to basically try and ignore him and just keep walking, however when he starts running in circles, it’s difficult avoiding stepping on him. In this case I’ll stop, and basically wait till he stops and sits down before we start again.
This isn’t really the main issue though, but more he gets overexcited if he gets to meet new people/dogs. Mainly with other dogs, he’ll try jumping up on them, and just doing puppy things in general. I get worried that the other dog will lash out (if puppy nips them or something), so I try and keep him away from them, which I feel doesn’t help with socialization. However when it comes to people, he just gets a bit overbearing, and will try jump up and give them a hug, which in fairness does turn people off a bit. He’s a beautiful pup and I’d like people to be able to pat him without fear of him jumping/mouthing at them, but I’m not sure how to go about correcting this. I live by myself so I don’t really have any nearby family members to train with.
He’s very calm and sweet around people he’s familiar with, but just gets the feeling everything else is out to kill him.
He’s kind of an odd looking sibe in terms of his markings, and also has pretty oversized ears (although he seems to be growing into them now), but he’s awesome 😀
I’ve got a collection of pics on my site if you want to see him 🙂
http://www.nqlasers.com/loki/
Thanks for sharing your puppy pictures. Loki is absolutely adorable. Love the pictures where he is standing in the water bowls! Looks like he really enjoys the water? The tongue one is also too precious. Big hugs to Loki!!
Haha that is precious, and so like a Sibe!
My youngest Husky, Lara, was also a bit fearful of bicycles and people on skateboards when she was young. If we see those during our walks, I would try to use distance to weaken the stimulus, and/or walk behind barriers. Then I engage her in doing focus commands with me. I try to get her to stay calm so she learns that the bicycles always just pass-by and nothing bad ever happens. Successful experiences help her to gain confidence, so now, she is less afraid of those strange people contraptions. 😀 Desensitization exercises can also help.
With socialization, I did puppy classes and small supervised play-groups with my first two dogs, and it was very helpful for them. We skipped with Lara because we thought she already has two great playmates at home, but as a result, she now gets over-excited with other dogs. When there are too many dogs, she gets a bit fearful and does not really join in. When there are very few dogs she gets over-excited and comes off too strong.
She calms down after a bit, but next puppy I am definitely going back to doing puppy class.
The thing that I like about a good puppy class (one that is focused on socialization) is that the instructor teaches everyone how to meet the puppy properly and not to reward jumping behavior with attention. We also had many short play sessions where we manage our puppy’s excitement level, and reward her with good behavior by giving her more play. We had a good experience, and it provided both Sephy and Shania with a good socialization base. Might be something worth considering.
Haha, Lara also has big ears. I love them. It makes her look like a perpetual puppy and she acts like one too.
Yeah, I love Sibes. Super awesome! 😀
in the last three Weeks my ten year old dog has started whining and crying for hours after my husband has left for work he is on nights I am with her she is hardly ever left alone she is inconsolable I am pulling my hair out as I am not well at the minute what can I do usually she is superbly behaved
Have there been other changes in behavior? Does she only cry when your husband is not around? Does she show the same behavior if your husband leaves during the day? Did anything unusual happen when the behavior started?
When was her last vet visit? How is her physical health?
Have a resuced mix Shiba Inu. h eis showing signs of aggression or fear over
large dogs. We have bonded in less than a month. He will sit, stay come,
down and not bark on command. Would like a second dog for him to bond with
but fill it is too early. This dog never had a chance to be a puppy.
That makes a lot of sense. After getting Shiba Sephy, I waited one year before getting a second dog. This gave me the time to bond with Sephy, gain his trust, and help him overcome some of his fear and over-excitement triggers.
My Shiba was also reactive toward other dogs when he was young. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises helped with his reactivity issues-
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
Hi
I love your blog and all your great articles, they have really helped with my puppy who is now 9 months. I was wondering if you could help me with one particular matter though, as I seem to be completely at a loss as to what to do. My dog is a husky and Czechoslovakian wolf dog mix, and his previous owners were violent towards him. So obviously he is very timid and afraid of people, but has shown an immense amount of improvement with the desensitisation work that we have been doing every day on our walks. He gets about 4-6 hours exercise everyday, and he seems quite content with that amount, no howling or bad behaviour inside. However when we come to a scary place he goes into flee mode, and starts pulling the leash like crazy, and we leave to a quieter place to calm him down, and try a less scary place instead. Now however he has started incorporating that yanking and pulling to his normal walking, so before he walked fine on a leash, but now he has started pulling and yanking the leash in different directions where he wants to go. I stop every time, but to me it seems it only gets worse, as if there is for example a man carrying something he will automatically flee, and therefore he now thinks its ok to also pull when he wants something else. So my question is what to do with this, as its starting to be impossible to walk him as he yanks so much and no amount of stopping is working. So my question is whether I should just concentrate on the desensitisation first, and then practice leash walking. Should I overlook the bad behaviour on the leash when he is overcoming his fears, or should we just stop it and concentrate on leash walking. I would be ever so grateful if you could help, as our local trainer only told me that my dog is disobedient, whereas I think he only needs proper guidance.
My Husky Lara was afraid of people on skateboards and bicycles when she was young. During the desensitization period, I still leash walked her, but only in very quiet areas where there are very few people. In this way, we almost never come across skateboards and bicycles during our walks, so I can just focus on leash training during walks. Then during desensitization, I can slowly get her comfortable with skateboards and such in a controlled environment.
If I spot any skateboards or bicycles during walks, I try to stay very calm and just go in a different direction. As long as I catch things early enough (the skateboard is far enough away), then Lara is ok and we have a successful walk. In the beginning, I find that it is especially important to maximize successes, while at the same time minimizing instances where Lara goes into panic/flee mode.
If I don’t catch things fast enough, and Lara does go into panic mode out of fear, then I try to find a quiet corner as soon as possible, usually inside a driveway, and we go behind a car which helps to provide a good barrier.
With Lara, I first did leash training in the backyard, which is very safe and low stimulus. Then we always do door manners, and we do not leave until she is calm. Also, it was helpful for me at the start to do shorter but more frequent walks. This kept us both from getting too frustrated. It also kept us closer to the house, where Lara is more confident and relaxed.
Big hugs to your puppy. He sounds very adorable. I would love to see some pictures, so if you have any online, please post us a link. 😀
Thank you so much for your quick reply. I will start taking him on shorter walks and training him to walk on the leash! Today he refused to walk through our front door when we came back from our walk. I tried sweets, toys, and cheering whilst sitting down, but nothing helped, as people were coming in and out all the time, and he got spooked every time he saw a person approaching. Its strange as this has never before been a problem, he has happily gone in and out, but now he is point blank refusing! Its -18 here and I tried for 50 minutes but nothing helped, and in the end I had to call a friend to help me carry him inside. You wouldn’t have encountered this kind of problem with any dogs? I am afraid that I don’t have any pictures up online of him, he is a very beautiful dog, and would love to send some pictures! And thank you again for your help!
My Huskies do the same thing at the vet’s office. We have to carry them inside. With my Huskies, it is a fear reaction towards the vet and the poking and prodding that they have to go through in the vet’s office. They also pick up on the energy of the people and animals around them, so if there is a lot of surrounding stressful energy, they will very quickly become anxious themselves.
In the people desensitization section of the article above, I talk a bit more about how I desensitized my dog towards people.
Thank you again for answering! We are currently jogging inside, and this seems to help a lot! Keep up the great work, your blog has really helped us a lot!
Hi there! I have spent a lot of time on your site and read most of your articles but I have kind of a unique situation I was wondering if you could give some input on. About 8 months ago I moved into a shared house (I rent a room) with my landlord, and one other dog. This dog is a big sort of ‘doofus’ lab with no self control when it comes to food, attention, etc. From the day I got my male shiba I had never stopped socializing him, desensitizing him to other dogs, making him share his toys and treats etc. He was a happy camper when we moved in and he had a new ‘friend’ to play with, and was very respectful and eager to share (he would bring his toys down the my landlord’s dog, despite many of them getting destroyed). Over the course of our first three months living here this other dog became more and more persistent at toy stealing, treat stealing, bone stealing, etc. until one day (and I remember vividly!) I was treating them both, had them both sit, pulled out a biscuit for the larger dog first, gave it to him, pulled out a biscuit for my dog, had it snapped out of my hand by this other dog. I tried two more times, both losing the biscuit, before my Shiba just ‘snapped’ and went after him. This behavior had never happened before this moment. Since then, this behavior has grown into a full blown paranoia and need to protect EVERYTHING including my room, the fridge, anywhere my boy could potentially receive food from. This has resulted in my landlord demonizing my dog and me having to keep him severely restricted to my room, and a small fenced area of the backyard. Would you call this a reactive behavior? How would I begin to work on it when there is no guarantee the other dog won’t continue to behave the way he does? We really would like not to have to move but it has reached the point where I have to walk him around the house on a leash and do not know what will set him off.
Hello Mary,
What has worked well for my dogs is to have a consistent set of house rules and play rules. All my dogs have to follow the rules, and if they do not, I will enforce the rules in a consistent way for all of them. Otherwise, they will learn that it is sometimes ok not to follow the rules, or that since the other dog doesn’t do it, I don’t have to do it either.
If there are any conflicts, for example, over food or toys, then I resolve the issue in a fair and consistent manner. Here is more on what I do to help my dogs get along. There is also a part in there about stealing.
When I first got my Shiba, I organized small (usually one-on-one) playgroups with one of my neighbor’s dogs (Kai). Kai is a playful and wonderful dog, but sometimes, she will make mistakes as well. Since I am the one usually supervising their play session, I got permission from my neighbor to correct/train her dog if necessary. I do not use pain or physical dominance techniques, so the worst the dogs get is a timeout, and I try to do that as little as possible. Usually, temporarily stopping the play session, and having fun play breaks, is sufficient to control their excitement level and ensure that they “play nice”.
However, it was still important that all the dogs present follow the same play rules and house rules.
Hello,
I was hoping you could help me with my 8year old Husky Gwen; I had gotten her from a lady that had saved her from a very bad home with the rest of her siblings, but she found that she just couldn’t make any progress with her. The lady had told me that she was the alpha of her pack. I have had her for a little over a year and a half and have been trying to desensitize her towards other dogs with no luck. She gets daily 4-5+ mile walks with playing sessions in between, but on our walks if she incounters another dog she instantly starts pulling on her harness like crazy, snapping at the other dog, and whining. This kind of behavior starts as soon as she sees the dog from 10+ feet away and usually continues until we have passed the dog. I have been trying the “ignore and go around” training that you suggest but she just gets so incredibly worked up no matter how much gerth we give the other dog. In typical Siberian husky fashion, she ignores all treats(even high reward treats) when I try to reward her for being good. Any tips for where I should go from here? I’m certainly not giving up on her I love her death! But is there anything I could do to ease her agitation? Or is this just really what having an alpha is like? Thanks for any advice!
How is she in terms of following rules while at home? Does she walk well when there are no dogs around?
Some things that helped with my dogs –
1. Dog-to-dog desensitization exercises really helped with my Shiba Inu.
The problem with regular real-world encounters is that the “other dog” stimulus is usually too strong, because we have no control over the other dog and no control over the environment. With desensitization exercises, we practiced meeting other dogs in a structured, controlled environment, so that Sephy can be calm enough to learn. It also helped him to re-associate other dogs with calmness and positive events.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-to-dog-aggression#desensitize
2. Head-halti
I temporarily used a head-halti on one of my Sibes for more challenging (higher excitement) walks at the park. It allowed me to properly manage her, so that she did not start pulling like crazy when she got over-excited. I observed that the more she practiced her crazy behavior, the more likely she was to repeat it in the future. Therefore, I tried to maximize successful structured encounters, while at the same time minimizing encounters where she practiced over-excited behaviors. As with any piece of equipment tho, it has its pros and cons.
http://shibashake.com/dog/dog-leash-training-equipment#halti
3. Play sessions
My dogs burn a lot of energy while playing with each other and with other friendly dogs. I do highly supervised, small play groups with my Shiba to help him drain energy. After a supervised vigorous session, he is much better during walks.
Both my Huskies have pretty submissive temperaments. However, they have high prey drive and will pull hard when over-excited. I manage their pulling by managing their excitement level. More on dog dominance and bad behaviors.
Hope this helps. Big hugs to Gwen! I am glad that she has found such a good forever home. 😀
hi this the first time I read your column very helpful I have a mixed pit short and long very cute but he gets bore I guest cause he eats at everything in my how can I stop this my husband want to get rid of him but have falling in love with him I’m just a dog lover, what can I do to stop him from chewing on everything he’s only 13 month
What is the surrounding context when he chews up everything? Is he alone in the house? How long have you had him? When did this behavior start? What is his routine like? What activities does he do?
Dog behavior is very dependent on context. When I try to change my dog’s behavior, I first try to understand the source of the behavior, e.g. whether it is from stress, boredom, frustration, or something else. Once I understand that, then I can come up with better strategies for managing, redirecting, or retraining the behavior.
tip with travel crates that can dissemble into two halves… I start with the bottom half , make my dog LOVE to rest there. to the point where thats his fave spot, all love affection treats food etc given here . then keep the top half on it . and follow everything mentioned above . I have desensitized her to the door separately and only then attached it .. BUt then I have a highly sensitive and fearful dog , and I had to prepare her for a 30 hour flight across the world in the crate . BUt it worked great . On the day of the journey she was a happy dog in her crate .poor thing thought something great was going to happen because she got into the crate.
hi ther its joseph again,i 4got 2 mention our main concern..which is th main reason I looked 4 this type of site..maya seems 2 b a dog where she does not like getting told wot 2 do..whether its telling her 2 get down off th sofa or goin in2 th kitchen or any scenario wotsoever..she seems 2 stand her ground with u..an if u try getting a lil bit more firm with her she is reacting 2 us with a growl..as yet she hasn’t snapped apart from th cage incident I mentioned in my 1st message..is this in her breed or in ure opinion do u think this is a concern cos we really don’t wanna giv up on her..we have tried so so hard 2 make her feel part of our family..we believe we r doin everythin rite by her..with 2 young kids in th house aged 3 and 5 its obviously a concern..wot do u advise 4 us 2 try cos we can clearly see its not gonna b easy
hi there,we bought an 15month old female husky called maya 6days ago..1st night was absolutely fine her nature an everything seemed so lovely..but over the last few days as we r getting 2 have a better feel 4 her..we can tell she is so protective over her food 2 th stage it causing a bit of concern with us as we have 2 young kids at home..also th people that we bought her from were using a crate at nite an we can so tell this is a serious issue 2 maya..when bed time arrives her full attitude changes..she begins 2 pace an will point blank refuse 2 go in2 th crate..on th 2nd nite of her bein here as I was temting her in2 th crate she bcame very aggressive 2wards me an snapped out at me very badly..i gave her a minute 2 calm down then opened her crate I sat on th kitchen floor an she came rite out th cage an happily bounced all over me in a very playful manner its like she was thankin me 4 letting her out of th crate..we don’t want 2 give up on her as we have already seen so many lovely positive things bout her..just lookin 4 a bit of advice on th food issue an th crate..wot is th best way forward with these issues..many thanks..joseph…
Hello Joseph,
Given that there are young children in the household, I would get help from a good professional trainer. Dog behavior is very context dependent, and meeting with a trained professional who could observe and assess my dog, helped me a lot, especially in the beginning.
http://www.apdt.co.uk/dog-owners/choosing-a-trainer
More on my food aggression experiences with my dogs-
http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression-stop-resource-guarding
http://shibashake.com/dog/why-dogs-get-aggressive-over-food-toys
http://shibashake.com/dog/resource-guarding-shiba-inu
More on what I do to crate train my dog.
Crate training article from the ASPCA.
More on pack leadership-
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog
http://shibashake.com/dog/nothing-in-life-is-free-dog-training
More on how dogs learn.
Big hugs to Maya. Let us know how it goes.
nah sadly i dont do the whole facebook thing soi dont have any pictures maybe my sister does on her facebook but giving that out wouldnt be looked upon kindly im sure
hes a tan/light brown coloured west highland terrier/pomeranian mix
you can see the westie head/hairstyle on him and hes got the pom bushy tail but his body is quite well defined and not bushy at all
Thanks for the description. Alfie certainly sounds like a very unique and special character!
If you decide to get on FB in the future, make sure to post us a link.
well, judging by the dates im almost a month in(since we only meet rosie behind the fence 2-3 days a week) and a week or so ago the excitement barking has all but stopped. there are situations where it starts again but those are understandable
(although still unwanted) circumstances, i.e. walking out around a parked car which is where he would usually get within sight of rosie and when we are around the car he gets a face full of rosie 2-3 feet away
another thing that surprised me was that one time coming in from the walk last week we were sitting across the road from rosie and her fence(6-8 feet away) and rosie started barking first so i thought here it comes, to my surprise i held alfies attention for a good 45-60 seconds of rosie barking before rosies owner took her inside(theres a sick person living next door to rosie so too much barking is def a bad thing so her owner takes rosie in and you cant blame people for that either)
even though we had got closer on quite a few occasions it was the fact that i was able to hold alfies attention while rosie was barking away behind the fence that i felt was a huge breakthrough
anyway just wanted to leave an update, thanks for all the help and advice, everythings been super helpful
It is awesome that Alfie is doing so well!
Do you have pictures of him online? It would be great to attach a face to the stories. 😀
Thanks for the update. Happy dog stories are the best.
yeah he has his standard doggy chocolate buttons for treats but during the stop/go walking ive been using a chicken and ham roll(trying to translate into american, from memory i guess it would be a cold cut of meat? idk) that he really loves and yesterday i took him in around a small field and let him sniff around as much as he wanted without prompting him to move on so hes living the high life atm. sadly theres no dog parks or parks in general around here(small-medium town, less than 100k people)
with other dogs he doesnt seem to lose control, none of the dog owners weve met during our walks have stopped to let the dogs get to know each other so its just passing engagements for alfie except for the time we met rosie out for a walk and all they did was sniff at each other so i cant say whether or not he would have lost control if he/they barked, alfie at least did seem to be, i want to say shaking with excitement but i dont think shaking is the right word, he seemed a little jittery i guess would be closer to the truth but that might just be left over nerves from their past encounters
while i cant say for sure, i think its rosies barking hes reacting to rather than the fence, im not saying shes totally to blame as if we just walk straight past the front garden where rosie is usually without me stopping to try and condition alfie he will sometimes be the initiator but for today at least it was rosie that initiated as he didnt lose control until rosie started barking because of the car passing today, which come to think of it rosie does a lot, even before i started walking alfie(i was quite lazy but alfie is helping me with that) when passing in the car she would always bark.
its not just loud noises either that hes reacting to as today while out for his walk a bin lorry passed us on the same side of the road that we were on the footpath(sidewalk) and we pass a construction site with a digger working and it didnt even phase him a little, he just kept walking with no signs of pulling back or of him being startled or making any attempt to bark
ok after reading the two barrier frustration links you posted i dont think this describes alfie at least, yes alfie barks at other dogs when hes at the side fence(it looks out onto our driveway and so the front of our house) but its a very narrow view so he may think this is just his territory and most of the neighbourhood dogs are off lead and seem to bark at anything. as far as other neighbourhood dogs go im fairly sure they initiate the barking too but alfie seems happy enough to join in but again its not out of control barking and he usually stops when prompted to do so, it may take a few times depending on how many dogs are barking but he always stops
i will have to pay more attention while out walking but from memory i think most of the time the barking isnt initiated by him and aside from the first monday night of obedience training(only two so far) he hasnt had any problems with the other 8-9 dogs there and they are all on leads, they said itll be week 7-8 before we do off lead stuff. the other dogs at the training vary in size from adult saint bernards to young adolescent terriers
ill have to monitor him more closely over the next few walks/days as if it is just the sound of a barking dog thats triggering him then ill start working on noise desensitization as soon as i know one way or the other, it should be easy enough to download barking noises to get us started and hopefully with this and the other desensitization to the general area of rosies house/garden we can be on our way to more enjoyable and relaxed walks
thanks again for the help, i havent been through your whole back catalogue of posts yet but give me time 😀
hey again, first day trying solo desensitization(well first day where rosie was actually out in the front garden) and it went quite well. i got alfie to about half the distance compared to where he usually loses control and he only then lost control because a car passed by and startled rosie, she started barking which set alfie off and i thought it was a good point to call it a day. all in all it was a good day. i find myself stopping a lot less to keep alfie from pulling on the lead so thats going great too, great site man, really a lot of useful and helpful info, thanks
That is great to hear! Alfie definitely deserves something special for acing his lessons. 😀
Yeah, I have the same experience with my dogs, usually when they see running squirrels or deer. 😀 When they go rear-brained and instinct takes over, I usually just remove them from the trigger stimulus, and get them to a quiet area where they can calm down. After instinct takes over, they are lost to me and can no longer learn until they calm down (i.e. conditioning will have little/no effect until they calm down).
Fences can cause this behavior because of barrier frustration. Another interesting article on barrier frustration. However, from your descriptions, it is unclear if Alfie is reacting to the fence or Rosie’s barking. How does Alfie react to other barking dogs? If Rosie is outside the fence and barking, does Alfie react to that?
For dogs that are reactive to barking sounds, doing noise desensitization exercises may also help.
To stop barking with my dog, I usually start by identifying the reason for his barking behavior. Once I understand that, I can more effectively address the issue at the source, rather than just suppressing the symptoms.
Here is a bit more on how I stop my dogs from barking.
hey again, as i was thinking just now i think i got what you were saying
i should treat it as two separate situations,
1 the excitement barking i should treat with desensitizing him to rosie as they meet through the fence(the only time it happens)
2 normal barking which treated with the collar jerk works fine
the collar jerk works fine when he doesnt get excited, its when he does get too excited that i feel that the collar jerking gets to excessive because it can last anywhere between 30-90 seconds, it doesnt sound a lot but when you take a jerk every 2-3 seconds it could cause serious damage which is what i was worried about and my reason for posting
so your saying by using the two at the same time im being counter productive?
the collar jerk does work in certain situations its just that when he(i know this is the wrong way to say this because of negative implications but) loses control its like he doesnt hear me until i get him calmed down but then does that mean i shouldnt use the collar jerk during this period. i use a treat and positive rewards when he calms down to try and tell him that its good to be calm but whatever is going on in his “animal” brain just shuts down his ability to accept/hear commands when he gets that excited. i know he can learn commands/conditioning quickly as i tried the stop/go method of getting him to not lead pull yesterday during out walk and halfway through i noticed a huge difference in him not pulling the lead, the only difficulty i had in doing that was that i had to distinguish between him walking at the edge of the lead(leash) and him actually pulling on the lead.
as i said before he doesnt have a problem with the dog when meeting face to face as we met on a walk a few days ago and while there was a little barking i collar jerked a few times(not more than 5-10 seconds) and it was gone, just sniffing for the other 30 or so seconds we were talking but once again while a fence between them they go ballistic and it can be a good 30 seconds before he calms down
i think im going to try the desensitization alone for a few days/week, it may take longer because itll be him calming down naturally but ill give it a go
with him losing his ability to take commands when he gets that excitied would there be any point in turning around 180o and walking a shot distance back and trying to employ that? as surely the “barking gets you nowhere” routine would be(to use an american idiom” in the same ballpark
ofc the problem with that in my situation is that most dogs in our estate are off leash and get to run around freely so they havent built the best of relationships with alfie as he sees them out the front window and they are sometimes in his garden(he gets the run of the back garden for most of the day as there is no gate securing the front driveway)
hey there, what would you suggest for my dog alfie, hes a small terrier type who seems to only have a problem with one dog. where i live there is only one exit(from the estate of houses(i live in uk so sorry if the differences in terms causes a barrier) and at the end house there is another small dog(rosie) and when they are face to face no barking at all happens, i know this because they met each other just today during their respective walks but when i pass the house where rosie resides and there is a fence between them they go ballistic, im not sure you could determine which of them is the initiator but when there is a fence between them its crazy. alfie gets so worked up its almost like you described in the squirrel articles, he doesnt hear my commands at all, all of which he responds to perfectly in the twice daily 15-30 min sessions . we have been going to obedience training(for the last 2 mondays and will continue) and they say that a collar jerk will work, ive been out 5-6 times trying the collar jerk but im worried about hurting him as just today he seemed to almost whelp instead of bark near the end of getting him to calm down. the 4th time i had him out(since training started) i sort of figured out Desensitization by trail and error, i use collar jerk to calm him down then when he stops i treat and pat him, command him to sit and when he does i then again treat and pat him, move him forward some and repeat, the problem with this has been that the owner of the other dog while perfectly ok with alfie brings her dog in from the front yard so i only get within 8-10ft of rosie before this happens, i cant fault her for this as im sure its a stressfull situation for both dogs as rosie is 4-5 years old but im sure it does stunt alfies training. after last weeks obedience training the dog trainer suggested using a squirty water bottle which i have started using today so hopefully that will make a difference.
with the collar jerk i have seen an improvement but since alfie is at the extent of the lead when he needs to be jerked it leans more toward choking for the first few seconds
any advice?
Hello Stephen,
The leash or collar correction is actually an aversive conditioning technique which suppresses behavior through the use of an aversive stimulus. Here is a bit more on my experiences with collar corrections. The squirt bottle is also an aversive conditioning technique.
Desensitization and counter conditioning is a very different process. In the desensitization process, we first start with a very weak version of the ‘other-dog’ stimulus, weak enough that our dog is able to stay calm and focus on us. For example, we can weaken the ‘other-dog’ stimulus by using distance.
At the start, I have Sephy (my Shiba Inu) on-leash, and we stand far enough away from the other dog, that Sephy is able to stay calm and listen to commands. Then, I do some simple commands with him and reward him well for staying calm and working with me. This teaches him to ignore the other dog, to focus on me, and to Sit instead of lunge and bark. Once we are comfortable doing this, I move one step closer to the other dog and repeat the process.
Note that with desensitization/counter-conditioning, we use positive rewards and *not* an aversive correction. This is very important because the rewards help Sephy to reassociate other dogs with positive events and it also helps to build trust with me. The more successful sessions we have, the more confident Sephy becomes, the more he trusts me, and the more he views other dogs in a positive way.
Here is more on dog-to-dog desensitization.