The Fearful Dog Thread

Thanks for posting this thread, MM - I'm always interested in reading about the practical things others are doing to help their fearful dogs.

I don't have any amazing "ah-ha!" story to post. Just one of slow persistence. My current goal is to get Poca comfortable around my very loud, very dog-dumb (I mean that in the most loving way!) family. She's learned to love my mom & mother-in-law. She even jumped up on a chair and licked the back of my dad's neck last week! She's still leery of him when he gets up and moves around, though. He's 6'3" and has a pretty strong personality. I know humans who are intimidated by him, so I can't blame Poca for it - lol! She's beginning to not react around the other females in the family. Hasn't made much progress around the older males, though.

We had friends over a couple of weeks ago who brought their own fearful dog to visit. We met in the driveway and chatted and tossed hot dogs for 20 minutes - the dogs were scooping them up and pretty much ignoring the people. Wahoo! By the end of the evening my dog almost got their dog to play a little. I know these two will be best buds eventually since we're all committed to it.

And that's the moral of the story. Bless you all for your commitment to these wonderful, vulnerable creatures we have in our lives. Your stories are inspiring.

MM -- we've had strangers doling out treats to her and that has been helping. I'm also training her to accept a hand reaching towards her head. I can see I need to get more systematic about it as you've described, though.

It is strange asking people to pet your dog, I agree, esp. since I feel I need to tell them that she's not crazy about strangers. Frankly, I would hesitate to pet a dog I didn't know and hadn't had the chance to observe before approaching. Plus there's the worry that the person will just barge in with a full frontal approach, arms flapping, loud voice exclaiming "Ooooohhhh! WHAT A PRETTY DOGGIE!!!!!" Poca would recoil for sure. So I have to find the right people who know how to approach a dog and don't ignore or aren't offended or scared off by my coaching. Once she's ok with them, she'll be ready for the more unpredictable types. Baby steps .

Unfortunately, Poca had a few bad experiences in Pet Smart when she was young and I couldn't even get her in the door without forcing her. So we're avoiding it for now. Once she's better with people, I'll go back and work with her on that.

Jesirose - that sounds like a great plan for Sadie. I wish we had kids around I could work with but all the "kids" I know are in high school and college now! Poca doesn't mind kids as long as they don't run up to her. She doesn't love them, but she's not real afraid of them.

MM - great & appropriate quote. Another Churchill quote that applies: Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. I selected my forum name because I'm a great admirer of Churchill. If I ever feel down or like I just want to quit, I look to him for inspiration. Glad Marge had a good day. Here's to hoping Sunday goes well, too.

Speaking of new things that may be causing a reaction....Not sure if this is an example but it's the only explanation that I can come up with: Poca wouldn't pee this morning. She went the night before around 11:00 pm. I got her up around 9:00 (lazy work at home day) to eat and go outside but she wouldn't go potty. She just stood there. Took her on two walks + 2 other chances to go and she still wouldn't go. She did finally go around 2:00-2:30. This is a dog that gets up and goes potty every day in the same spot, no problem.

What was different today? The windows were open. We finally had a warm enough day to open a few windows. Hard to believe but we've been in this house for 8 months and this is the first time we needed to do that. So she went from window to window to window to window, just looking and listening, barking a little. It was like she felt she had to keep an eye on all sides of the house at once. And she didn't like it. She was suddenly hearing neighborhood noises she had never heard before, which I think was making her nervous. So nervous that she didn't want to pee.

Or not, LOL! Maybe she just didn't have to go. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...We'll see how it goes (or not!) tomorrow.

W8ing4rain -- I think that sounds like a great idea! A little mickey-Ds goes a long way with Poca.

CocoaCream - yay Brenna! Getting over movement + loud sounds is big. Let us know how the clicker thing goes. I've tried it a little with Poca but not enough to know whether it will help her. I'd be very interested to know how you progress with it.

CocoaCream said:

I have to wonder if poor Brenna had ever even been to a park before today, by the way she acted. So sad.... And what's worse is that I really don't know how to help her overcome these fears. I mean, if she won't take treats, and she doesn't really seem to be all that comforted by petting and talking to her, what else can I do? Should I just keep exposing her to these new places, even though she doesn't like them, in hopes that she will learn that they are not so scary? I am feeling a bit discouraged now.

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I haven't found any magic cure for this. Poca is great at parks but around strange buildings, strip malls, & other busy places she acts just like Brenna. I usually take her somewhere I know she's going to be shy and start walking her and doing basic obedience with great treats as far from the commotion as I can. I keep moving closer and closer, pulling back whenever she won't obey a command or take a treat. It's a slow process but it seems to be working. Keeping her in one spot and forcing her to endure doesn't seem to work for her - backing off to a distance that is less stressful works better. Maybe others will have better ideas.

KBLover said:

On the plus side, he was good with a group of strange kids around him. Got more work to do around the dogs, though...I can't really pick out too much of a pattern of why some dogs Wally will want to approach and others, not so much.

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That's good news about the kids! Any progress is good, right? I understand what you mean about it being hard to read other dogs. Dogs throw signals at each other so fast that I can't predict what's going to happen when we meet them. I've been studying Brenda Aloff's book of photos of dog behavior, which is helping. I just need to get around more dogs to start connecting the dots. I'd like to go to the dog park, but I won't take Poca there and she would never forgive me for going without her - lol!

Dunixi said:

He was an absolute angel while both girls were petting him, then he jumped right back in my car. I am proud.

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I would be proud, too! Some day...

ThoseWordsAtBest said:

Today, the electrician showed up and was in the house while Jonas and I were in the bathroom. We walked out and I thought "ohh noooo." and Jonas followed up by doing NOTHING. No lunging, snarling, submissive peeing, ANY THING. He approached the man, smelled his shoes for a bit, and then followed me while I prepared his lunch.

Also, big step, he ate while the guy was in our house. Normally, he would not touch his food with someone other than my boyfriend and I around. I feel like he's finally becoming a happier dog.

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I would love to know how you got Jonas to this point. What techniques have you used? I've done the greeting/hotdogs outdoors before they come inside, which helps. Anything else you can recommend?

digits mama said:

I was standing at the door waiting and calling him with a treat (they all get threat when crossing the threshold) he comes up the stairs and ZAP! right out from under the stair tread a Wasp nest had formed and one zapped him on the nose 2 stairs down away from me.. He yelped and went down running.. ran to backyard to my shop and wouldnt come within 30 feet of me....Sad thing is..he looks at me as if I did that to him still..

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This story breaks my heart. It's the perfect storm example of exactly what you don't want happening with a fearful dog. Pork loin = good thinking! Is he still acting fearfully?

On another topic: A short WOOT! WOOT! for Poca....We had a power outage this morning and I called my dad to come over and look at our electrical box. Poca has always liked my dad but she is still wary of him, esp. when he's standing (he's 6'3", talks loudly, has a large presence). I've never been able to get him to cooperate with our don't look at her, don't talk to her, don't approach her protocol, so it's taking longer than it needed to for her to warm up to him. She actually bit him (no damage) last fall when he loomed over her in a tight space, so it's been a little dicey between the two of them. But she's been coming around and he will do some of the things I ask, like giving her yummy treats.

So fast forward to this morning. He rings the door bell, Poca goes on alert and...as soon as he comes in the door and she realizes he's one of her people, she's booing and acting all excited to see him. Later, he sits down on the couch and she goes over to him and buries her head in his lap, licks him, and keeps talking to him. Not an ounce of hesitation in her the whole time he's here!!!!! HA! I'm so pleased with her I could bust. Extra peanut butter for the girl today!! Any maybe for Poca, too - LOL!