Safety is our goal
You know those workplace safety signs that list days without an accident … The higher the number, the better!
The same idea applies to your dog avoiding very big feelings for days on end.
Avoiding those Very Big Feelings is job #1 with a fearful dog
In last week’s blog I talked about the ways that dogs acquire fear (read that blog here) and that one of those ways is through exposure to situations that they find frightening. There are countless situations a dog might find worrisome or frightening, and common ones are:
New, unfamiliar people or dogs approaching them
People who move with an unusual gait or who use a mobility device
Being suddenly grabbed or startled (often happens with a newly mobile toddler)
Moving objects, such as runners, motor vehicles, bicycles, skateboards, etc.
People in uniform such as delivery drivers, who often predict an approach to the dog or the dog’s home, which is scary for the dog
How a dog’s fear appears to us
Dogs who are fearful often engage in behaviors that look aggressive: They may lunge, bark, and otherwise try to chase scary things away from them. You may have seen this with your dog when on leashed walks if they lunge at other dogs, or try to chase skateboards, bicycles, and runners.
While this behavior can look really frightening to us, that’s the point: Your dog is using his communications tools and body language to try to make the scary stimulus (person, other dog, and so on) move away.
Help your dog overcome fears by reducing exposure
Dogs with Very Big Feelings about the world don’t feel safe. Contrary to the advice often found online, deliberately exposing your dog to her fears won’t help her overcome them. She won’t suddenly realize there’s nothing to worry about, because there’s no evidence that dogs have that level of cognitive ability.
What may happen is that your dog shuts down and freezes in place. If you’ve seen a video of that dude who sits in kennels to “help” shelter dogs you can see from their body language that they’re shrinking away, or frozen in place, and are likely terrified. It’s ineffective and inhumane to force a dog to “confront” her fears.
Until you start working with a pro trainer on your fearful dog’s behavior, the best course of action is to manage the environment so they don’t feel the need to chase away the scary things, run and hide, or bark their heads off. The more you can reduce exposure and get the count of Days Without Very Big Feelings up, the more effective your training sessions will be.
This might include:
Timing leashed walks for earlier and/or later in the day so children, bicycles, skateboards, garbage trucks and other scary things are not around.
Moving furniture from the window so your dog doesn’t have a vantage point to sit and bark at everything.
When a scary thing comes into view on a walk you can turn and go the other way, cross the street, duck down a driveway or behind a parked car. Increasing distance from a scary thing is a major component of helping your dog to feel safe and reducing their fear response.
Giving the dog a safe haven when people come over such as a crate in a secluded location, and letting her set the pace for meeting people — which may mean not meeting them at all.
Reducing your dog’s exposure to her fears also will reduce your stress. You’ll have a plan for company, for walks, and for unexpected encounters.
While even an experienced, credentialed trainer like me can’t simply “train” a dog to feel safe, I can work with you to change the way your dog feels about things that currently worry, or even terrify, him.
“Janice was a great help to us over 4 sessions working to understand & improve the “very big feelings” in our 2.5 year old rescue with recently onset anxiety and random aggression issues. She is organized, observant and realistic. Janice has equipped us with great skills to help make her a less reactionary, more responsible 4-legged neighbor as well as resources when there’s no single, straight-forward ‘cure’.”