Dog Training Tip – How To Stop Fearful Dog Behavior | DogWorx Dog Training Savannah Ga
Hey everyone, this is Enrique with DogWorx
and we have Scout today
Scout, when he came to start training
he had a little bit of problems with fearfulness
Everytime we went to reach for the collar
she backed down a little bit
When a dog does that, it’s not because they are extremely fearful
or getting ready to become aggressive
They honestly don’t know what to think of what’s happening
What we’re trying to do is
help her overcome that sudden emotion of shyness
Help her understand that grabbing the collar
is not a big deal after all
and the best way to do that it to give her some sort of motivation
to pair that up with that sensation
So, I’m going to show you guys how we helped her out
to become very comfortable with anybody grabbing the collar
Like I am right now
So, in order to get started, we’re just gonna need 3 things
A little bit of your dogs food
A long lead, atleast 10 feet
and a treat pouch, big enough for you to put your hand in without having to look down
and of course, your dog
Make sure he knows what the place command means
You always want to start by putting the food in the treat pouch in front of your dog’s view
This helps them get excited about training
becuase to them food equals fun
now that your dog sees the food and is getting all excited and ready to start
I’m gonna go ahead and put the leash on her
But we’re gonna use food
and this is how we do it
I give them the food, show them the leash, take a step back
and wait for him to show interest again
Now this time, I will approach
I will give them food and I will grab on to the collar, tug a little bit and step back again
Now this time I’m going to show her the food first so she focuses just on the food
At the same time I will hold onto the collar, move it a little bit and clip on the leash
Making sure her level of stress is low but the level of her interest is still high
I first start using the leash, especially this long line
becuase if she tries to run away
I’m gonna help her, bring her back here
If she doesn’t have a leash and I try to grab the collar
She’s already in that fearful state of mind
I don’t want to reinforce that
I want the only time that I touch the collar is when I’m giving her food
Now that the dog is learning to get use to me grabbing the collar
It’s time for the main part of the exercise drill
We always start slow
I walk to the dog
I stand up in front of them
and slowly grab the collar and give them the food
tugging at the collar just a tad bit and then stepping away
And as the dog gets more comfortable with me
I’m gonna try it a little faster each time
And also increase the time that I’m touching the collar
just by a few seconds
Making sure that after I finish touching the collar I step back for a few moments
before trying again
Once I’m done giving them the food and pulling on the collar
I stop and step away
The reason for that is becuase I want the dog to learn that
the moment I give them the pressure
and they’re eating it goes away
The real reason dogs run away or don’t want you to touch their collar
Is becuase they don’t want to feel that anymore
They’re looking for an out
So, I’m still giving them that out that they want
But what I’m doing with the food
is creating a different experience for them
And as I’m creating a different experience, I will start increasing the time I’m next to them,
the movement of the collar
and also the difficulty level
Increasing the level of difficulty of the exercise
means that you only change on little thing
You either make the movement a lot faster
become a little more playful when you’re touching the dog
Or just spend a little extra time touching each time
Or if you’re like me, I add a little extra sound effects to the game
The key is to be creative
Come up with different ways that you can move your hands, move your body, touch their legs, their back side, just her whole body
Sit
Sit
From the side
That time you notice that she kinda stepped away
instead of continuing to move forward, I stop for a second
Me stopping is giving her a chance to process that inofrmation
and the moment she starts to relax
I give her the food
and I start to continue on the collar
So, I helped her understand that it’s not a big deal for me to touch her
But it’s also not ok to squirm or run away
That little technique itself is gonna help her overcome now that fearfulness
As you can see right now
I’m moving just as quick
and she’s not being afraid anymore
So, that little bit helped her overcome that moment of discomfort
If you notice, that last movement
she kinda backed off a little bit
But instead of me pulling away
I stood still
I didn’t move at all
By me standing still, I’m giving her an opportunity to absorb and process what’s going on
And slowly she starts sniffing my hand
Once I saw that instead of being fearful she became curious about the hand
that’s when I gave her the food
and now she’s able to be super happy
and I’m moving all around
and she’s not displaying that
fearfulness as I’m touching her
So, that little technique alone is gonna help dogs overcome so much of their anxiety, their fearfulness,
the hesitance
We want dogs to get use to more than person touching them
So, we have the help of other people
and their gonna do the same thing
Just a little bit of touching, a little bit of movement
Get them use to being touched by other people, other situations
and as we increase that their level of fear or
uncertainty to other people will decrease as well
What I’m doing is, every time we take our turns, I want to catch her a little bit off gaurd
Catching her off gaurd is getting her use to somebody just grabbing the collar or touching her without becoming startled
Every time I grab the collar
and she gives me a good response
then I give her the food
and we try back and forth
Good, good job
We’re not seeing the sudden jerking movements that we saw before we started the training
So now we know that state of mind that she had
when somebody went to reach for her
it’s not there anymore
Now that it’s not there, we can start doing some real good training
That does involve grabbing the collar or pulling on the leash
or other things that will simulate the collar being stimulated
The key her is to allow a dog to understand that it’s not a bad thing after all
to feel something in the collar
and also to help her overcome that challenge
so we can bring more chalenges
and the more challenges that we bring to the dog, the more obedient they’ll become
and the better lifestyle they’ll have in the long run
Removing fear from the dog is not impossible
It does take a little bit of practice. A little bit of time
But if you’re diligent and you’re loving enough
Your dog will not only transform himself into a better dog
but into a more obedient dog
