Chronic fear takes an emotional, physical, and mental toll on your eXtraOrdinary Dog. In order to ease your dog’s fears, incorporate these “fearful dog truths” into the relationship you have with your XO Dog:
1. Your XO Dog does not need to go on walks
If your dog is too scared to set foot outside the yard, or panics at the sight of a leash, she’s already over threshold (unable to think and learn) before you even hit the sidewalk. Instead of powering through her fear, take a break. Think back to the first moment that your dog shows reluctance to continue, and back up. That’s where you are going to start helping her overcome her fear, one tiny step at a time.
In the meantime, consider leaving the house a different way or changing the equipment you use for walks. Possibly set up an indoor potty space until you help her overcome her fear. Allow her to dictate where she is most comfortable and how far she wants to go (or not).
There are dogs who will always enjoy the safety and familiarity of their yard (or other, specific place) rather than an adventure into unknown territory, and that’s ok. Substituting walks with enrichment activities that engage your dog physically and mentally are critical while you work with her to shift her fear to a more positive emotional response.
2. Petting may not make your XO Dog feel better
Although there are fearful dogs who choose to press close to you for comfort or affection, there are many who withdraw or actively shy away from physical contact. It is critical that you respect each individual’s preferences. Imposing your will and assuming that your dog really needs a pet or a hug is damaging her ability to trust you, threatening her sense of safety and taking away her autonomy.
Rather than approaching the dog and leaning in for a petting session, ask her if she wants to come to you. She is giving you valuable information whether she chooses to approach, or not. If she approaches, offer to pet her for a count of three, then stop. Does she stay or go? Like humans, dogs have limits on what feels good and how long it is pleasurable.
3. Making your XO Dog face her fears can backfire
Immersing your dog in situations that frighten her and that she cannot voluntarily leave from is called flooding. It actually the very opposite of what you should do to help your dog become less fearful.
Flooding does not “cure” a dog of her fear. When a dog is repeatedly exposed to something that scares her, instead of becoming desensitized (her emotional response shifts from negative to neutral or positive), she can easily become sensitized, and her fear response actually gets stronger. It can cause learned helplessness (looking calm but actually being frozen in fear).
Exposure to her fears may suppress the undesired behavior but does not address the underlying fear, and that unchecked fear can manifest itself in other ways. Imagine that your dog is afraid of walking on the carpet. If she is dragged to the carpet and forced to stand on it until she stops showing signs of fear, you may think that you have solved the problem, until she starts avoiding the door to the room with the carpet. Then she may refuse to walk down the hall that leads to the room with carpeting. She won’t go near area rugs, and different floor surfaces may start to frighten her.
The real tragedy of flooding is that as one problem is “solved”, others often pop up, and the fragile bond of trust that you have built is severely, and maybe irreparably, damaged.
4. Distance is your XO Dog’s best friend
The opposite of flooding (which is the overexposure to a trigger at close range for long periods of time without escape) is distance. Distance is the amount of space your dog chooses to stay away from a trigger.
If your dog can sniff normally, look away voluntarily, walk away and take treats, that’s where you start. If your dog is pulling, barking, staring, shaking, or cringing, you are too close.
The “right” distance could be 10 feet or 500 feet, but your dog (not you) determines what feels safe. Keeping a big buffer of space between your dog and potential triggers is the first step to lessening her fear and eventually changing her emotional response.
5. Obedience training does not tackle the underlying issues
Obedience training alone may teach your dog more behaviors and make her more confident, but it’s not addressing the real problem. A dog who knows some rock solid cues has a great foundation for working thorough her worries, but tricks alone won’t lessen her fear. Distance and counterconditioning, which targets the underlying emotion of fear, will.
Once she’s feeling comfortable at a distance, then you can ask for (and reward) some behaviors on cue that she loves to show off. The correct and willing execution of these behaviors indicates that she is thinking and learning (and engaging with you!), and not retreating into fear-based survival mode.
6. Mental stimulation is just as valuable as physical exercise
Engaging your dog’s mind with fun training sessions, food puzzles, sniff walks, trails of treats and find-the-food games, or anything that gets your dog thinking, is critically important for her mental and physical health. Dogs who have enough mental stimulation show less signs of cognitive decline as they age, and grow in confidence and curiosity.
7. A busy dog is not always a happier dog
Dogs are active for only about 20% of their day, which is little more than four and half hours. They are awake and resting for about 30% of the day, and sleep for a whopping 50-58%, or 12-14 hours!
Actively engage them with enrichment and physical exercise, but make sure they are getting enough sleep, to process new information and restore energy. Repeatedly running your dog to exhaustion doesn’t tire her mind, and can increase her stress level.
8. A routine can decrease anxiety
Roughly scheduling potty breaks, meal-times, rest periods, exercise and training helps your dog predict what comes next, and may lower general anxiety.
9. Your XO Dog may need a vacation more than you do
Is your dog stressed much of the time? Give her a vacation, at home! Plan for a few days of rest and relaxation by minimizing her triggers, reducing or shortening her walks (if those are sources of anxiety), and make your house a haven.
Keep blinds closed if watching out the windows and doors causes reactivity, play soft music or white noise to muffle concerning sounds. Continue offering enrichment like stuffed, frozen kongs, food puzzles, and a chance to sniff for treats scattered around the floor or yard. The vacation can help reset and reconnect both of you.
10. Fear blocks the ability to learn new behaviors and to execute known behaviors
Your dog is not stupid, willful, dominant or stubborn. If she’s afraid, the chemicals pumping through her body literally shut down the thinking part of her brain, and focus on survival. Eating treats, responding to your voice and turning her back on a perceived threat are physically impossible.
The key is to keep your dog thinking, by keeping her below threshold, at a distance where she can make rational choices.
11. Your XO Dog has opinions, and she’s sharing them with you every waking moment
They may be subtle, like licking her lips, or crystal clear, as with a growl and lunge, but your dog is communicating her feelings all the time.
Your job is to educate yourself and learn dog body language, so you can become fluent in deciphering what your dog is telling you.
12. Your XO Dog likes to be paid as much as you do
If you provide a service or product, you expect to get paid for it. If your dog performs a behavior that you ask of her, she wants to get paid (in treats), too!
How long would you stay at your job if you didn’t receive your paycheck? Do you get overtime or a bonus for a special project? Chances are that you would not invest as much time and energy into a job that wasn’t paying you, and you might start looking for a position elsewhere where the pay was commensurate with your efforts.
The same holds true for your dog: the more challenging the behavior or environment, the higher the value of the treat. Your dog will let you know which rewards are spectacular (sardines? roast chicken?, a game of tug?) and which are average (carrots? kibble? a pat on the shoulder?).
And if your dog isn’t taking her “paycheck”, what you are asking of her is too much for her to execute at that moment.
13. Less is more
It takes a lot of effort to exercise self control (just think about that brownie calling your name from the kitchen counter).
Wrap up any training or play session on a high note, and end sooner than you think you should. Your dog does not need a vigorous doggy play session, a walk in a hardware store, and visitors to your home on the same day. Even positive events drain a dog; it’s important to acknowledge that, and plan outings and new situations accordingly.
Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com/users/PublicDomainPictures-14/
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.