Slow your anxious dog down!

If you have an anxious dog or puppy - one who tends to panic when out, bolts at any noise, looks as though he’s doing the firewalk as he hauls you down the road, I suggest you first have a quick read of my recent post “Connecting with your Dog”

One of the things I suggested was to incorporate stop-points, so that your dog can assess the area he’s in without being continually bombarded with new sights and sounds.

A student of mine in From Growly Dog to Confident Dog has an extremely anxious dog whose history as an East European street dog filled her with unnamed fears. Her modus operandi when out is “head down, plough along the pavement”!

So when I suggested having stop-points in one of our course coaching calls - where students can ask for individual help - her owner agreed to try it, thinking it would never work.

What happened?

She went to the green in the middle of her village, sat on the bench with a friend, enjoyed a snack, and watched the world go by. Not only did her dog tolerate this - she actually enjoyed it!

So it has now become a regular feature of their walks.

If you have such a place locally, give it a try. Your dog may surprise you!

No village green for your dog?

And here’s another thing you can try, if finding a spot like that is impossible for you and your particular dog.

One trick I use with Yannick when he’s a bit wound up (when isn’t he?!) is to walk in slow circles.

Staying in the same 10yd² area for a while, gives him time to look at it from all angles. And as we circle, he gets all the bugs out and begins to connect with me again - instead of head down, stare, charge.

I’m not expecting perfect heelwork here! I just mosey round in a circle with him on the outside, and gradually his pulling and lurching stops and he starts to walk nicely beside me - for which he can earn treats, of course.

On our local walk there are a few quiet road junctions where we can circle safely, and hop out of the way if a vehicle comes. I say “CAR” and Yannick sits beside me to allow the monster to pass.

Incidentally, this is how I managed his fear of cars - terror as a puppy - simply by giving him due warning. He chooses either to sit beside me or hop up onto the verge or bank at the side of the road. He makes the choice and feels happier about it. And a tractor or lorry is “BIG CAR”!

Have you got a bolter? A panicker? A worrier?

Could you do with some strategies and techniques to help you manage your anxious, reactive, shy, Growly Dog? Start with this free Masterclass and see how you can get in on those regular coaching calls!

What is a dog walk?

We humans think of a walk as going from A to B.

Dogs see it differently. They just find themselves in an area that has to be explored.

If you walk dogs off-lead, they’ll cover 3 to 4 times as much ground as you, often at a fair lick.

They’re sniffing everything. Following their noses.

There are so many blades of grass out there, and EACH ONE has to be investigated! It’s just like walking a toddler, only faster 😊

So even if you can’t let your dog off-lead when out, at least give them a bit of line, pause in a good spot, and let them roam.

You can sit on the grass (get ready for lots of enthusiastic cuddles when you’re down at his level!) or perch on a fence post and watch the world go by.

Who’s the walk for?

And what constitutes a walk, in the dog’s eyes?

Look at it from his point of view, instead of trying to make him see ours.

 

Dogs and Fireworks!

We’re approaching firework season in some parts of the world. So you need to work fast to be able to help your dog on July 4.

If your firework season doesn’t begin for a while - ours here in England is mainly from November to December - that gives you plenty of time to adopt some of these ideas to help you next time round.

There’s a lot of advice washing about the internet about what you should do to minimise the effect of fireworks on your dog. Some is good, some is awful, some is just ineffectual.

So I was interested to see a study which actually assessed various treatments.

They started out with popular practices promoted for firework fears, and - ooh, how interesting!

  • Environmental modification (e.g., providing a hiding place, keeping windows and blinds closed, and playing music)

  • Feed/play (providing the dog with chews, play, and food during fireworks in general, as well as contingent on loud bangs)

  • Alternative (use of calming nutraceuticals, pheromones, herbal products, homeopathic products, Bach flowers, and essential oils)

  • Interaction (allowing body contact, petting, and talking to the dog when loud bangs occurred).

 

Of the four management methods, only “feed/play” was statistically associated with an improvement in fear responses to fireworks.

 

Note that “Feed/play” of necessity includes interaction with the owner.

How very interesting …

 

Firework strategy effectiveness

Then they delved more deeply into actual strategies.

In a nutshell, they found that the percentage of surveyed owners reporting effectiveness was this:

Prescription meds: 69%

Non-prescription remedies: 27-35% - no better than a placebo.

Pressure vests: 44%

Noise CDs: 55%

Relaxation training: 69%

And the winner is …. 🥁🥁🥁

Counterconditioning! At 70% this method scored most highly.

And those of you who are understandably reluctant to opt for prescription meds (which have all sorts of caveats) you should be delighted to see you don’t need to spend a bean on helping your dog!

Relaxation training and Counterconditioning are the way to go.

 

Fears are all much of a muchness

Counterconditioning is THE tool par excellence for helping to alleviate fears. And not just in dogs. All animals (we’re animals) respond well to counterconditioning. A very basic, instinctive, response in a parent to a fearful child is to soothe and cuddle them, turning the scary experience into feelings of warmth and protection. The cuddling may work with some dogs in some circumstances, but soothing via the instant delivery of treats will definitely work.

The treats may drop out of their mouth to begin with - they’re too overwhelmed to eat. (Would you tuck into some offered cake when a mad axeman appears to be heading for you?)

But at some stage the dog is going to start tasting them. Then chewing and swallowing them, and eventually, looking for more.

Huzzah! They have detached from the fearful thing in favour of your attention!

It really is as simple as that.

And demonstrably, so effective!

What you need (apart from quick access to soft well-scented treats that you know your dog loves) is

P A T I E N C E 

Rome wasn’t built in a day.

It can take many, many, iterations to get to the stage of your dog leaving the fear and choosing your treats.

But you will get there!

 

Counterconditioning for any fear

And does this work only for fireworks?

No!

What about the dog who’s afraid of:

 

🐾 Other dogs

🐾 Noises

🐾 Planes

🐾 Birds

🐾 Slippery floors

🐾 People

🐾 Children

🐾 Visitors

🐾 A knock on the door

.. you name it

 

You can adopt the same simple practice to help with all fears.

Pick one that worries your dog, load your pockets, and give it a try!

I’ll be interested to hear how it goes for you.

RESOURCES

Effectiveness of treatments for firework fears in dogs

My dog’s NOT afraid of fireworks! But why?

Talking dogs!

I’ve been reading some interesting studies on talking dogs recently. You’ll find the links in RESOURCES below.

(Don’t worry - I’m not expecting you to plough through a doctoral thesis - though you can if you like! There are very good Abstracts that give you the speedy details.)

In one, Chaser

🐶 learned and retained the names of 1022 toys. (Over a thousand!!)

🐶 She demonstrated independence of meaning of names and commands.

🐶 She learned common nouns that represented categories. 

🐶 She learned words by inferential reasoning by exclusion.

🐶 She demonstrated referential understanding of nouns.

And in the other, Rico

🐶 learned 200 words

🐶 He learned new words by “fast mapping” - on one exposure.

🐶 This system was previously thought exclusive to humans.

 

Well, both Rico and Chaser are Border Collies 😊 - but that does not mean that other dogs cannot do the same! Once you open this door in their mind, ANY dog can start learning.

I’m teaching Yannick to communicate using our words (more upcoming in future posts!) - a process practiced by every kind of pet dog and cat, horses, goats, and guinea pigs.

We’re not as clever as we thought we were!

Or, rather, animals are a lot cleverer than we’ve ever given them credit for.

The studies mentioned indicate that their subject animals can communicate clearly, using words we give them. They clearly understand the words’ meanings and use them correctly.

How can I get my dog to “speak”?

Be sure you’re not confusing him.

If you want to refer to his favourite green teddy bear, choose ONE name for it - “Ted”, for instance.

Not “Where’s your green toy?” “Get your bear,” “Find Teddy,” etc.

Speak the word slowly and clearly to start with, and always make it the same word. You can layer on as much feeling to these words as you like! “Find Ted!!”

In other words?

Now that doesn’t mean you can’t chat to your dog!

An example: If I say SIT, and no sit happens - rather than repeating the word and nagging, I’m likely to say quietly, “What should you be doing?”

This is simply a way to get the dog to focus and remember that he was asked to sit.

And so much better than “Sit, SIT, I said SIT!” etc.

You’ll see from a quick glance at the abstract of the studies listed in RESOURCES below, that dogs can have a phenomenal grasp of language.

If you speak to your dog as if he were a toddler, maybe about 3, you’ll do fine!

Let clarity be your watchword.

And remember that this is a two-way process - you have to make space so you can listen to your dog.

Teaching your dog through play

The quickest way to get started with this is through play. With you.

Play is so important to our dogs! We can use it wherever possible to teach.

Your dog will be fully engaged and eager to work out the game with you.

Now, I can’t guarantee that there’ll be any green teddy bears, but you’ll find a splendid selection of interactive play toys here.

Dog play for fun and learning!

Playing with your dog is the most important thing you can do.

There - I’ve said it!

It’s not “training”, “correcting”, fighting to get his attention … It’s a way for your dog to see you as the most exciting thing going.

You can be relied upon to respond to him with a game at any time - and this builds adulation in your dog!

How to play with your dog

Now, there are do’s and don’t’s of play.

Endlessly chucking a ball will gradually destroy your dog’s shoulders and can bring on early arthritis.

And we don’t waggle a toy in our dog’s face and expect him to join in. Would you - if I waggled a toy in your face?

What we do is get our toy to behave like prey - that’s what’ll get your dog fired up and engaged!

That’s why I love chaser toys and flirt poles. They’re irresistible to dogs - and they’re a wonderful way to teach impulse control.

After all, your dog won’t be catching any rabbits if he simply flies off whenever he sees one. There’s stalking to be done, stopping still, eying the prey, then - when the time is right - explosive running and a grab.

Now, while you’re twitching your toy about in the grass, as it looks for all the world like a furry creature, you want your dog to WAIT till the right moment. In this case, you decide when that moment is, you give your release word (Gettit! Is mine) and your dog can start the chase.

Here’s a video that shows you the level of impulse control you can build into even the most excited dog by using a chase toy.

You’ll see that the dogs mostly stay in position on the picnic table, can release the toy (Cricket the Whippet finds this hard!) and are fully engaged with the toy when it’s their turn.

You can also see Coco Poodle becoming more thoughtful as racing after the toy fails to work. He develops a new strategy of waiting for the right moment - and that works!

What sort of dog toy?

Chase and tug toys are great for

  • Harnessing instinctive drives

  • Using the strong hunt-kill sequence to teach self-control

  • Focus in high arousal

  • Start ‘em young - very young puppies can learn fast

  • Exercise!

  • Turn-taking to avoid scraps in multi-dog households

.. and it so happens that I’ve found the best chase toys available and arranged a discount for you!

Go to Dog Toys and watch some more detailed videos of me using high-quality toys to teach my dogs, and see how you can do this yourself. (And snatch your discount!)

You’ll see in these videos how fast and furious a “training session” can be - and how much you can achieve in a very short time.

Lessons for you

And for step-by-step lessons for all the skills demonstrated there, check out the free Workshop here and find out how to get the best out of your dog!

 

Connecting with your dog

Walking nicely on the lead is something we all love to have.

Ambling through the highways and byways, our dog trotting happily beside us, the lead dangling …

But for some of us that’s a pipe-dream!

We see others who, without any apparent effort, have dogs who mosey along beside them, never pulling. And we wonder why - with all the work we put into teaching loose lead walking at home - we are still being hauled along by a frantic dog who seems to have an urgent train to catch.

But it may not in any way be your fault.

It may be all to do with what’s going on in your dog’s head.

It’s not that he doesn’t know how to walk on a lead.

 It’s that he can’t do it right here, right now - he’s overwhelmed!

Dog anxiety

Many of you, I know, have dogs who have been labelled reactive. That is to say, they travel the world reacting to things all the time.

Maybe another dog (horrors!), or somebody dropped something (eek!), a car door slammed (oof!), a flag fluttered in the breeze (yikes!), something moved at the end of the road (oh noooo!) … they can react to anything at all.

And mainly it’s to do with a change in their environment, or SEC as we dog-nerds call it - Sudden Environmental Change.

“There wasn’t a dog there last time we walked this way - what’s it doing there??” huffs and puffs your worrit dog. So he has to repeatedly check ahead, behind, above, either side …

And our job is to navigate the walk, managing all these alarums and excursions, without our poor frazzled dog having a meltdown.

But my dog loves walks!

But my dog sees walks as the high point of his day, you say. He gets so excited when he sees me get the lead.

That’s as may be.

But it doesn’t mean he’s not super-anxious about the whole venture. If you were stuck inside four walls all day, you’d be excited at the prospect of new scenery!

So why is it that when we get out of the front door, he goes into carthorse mode, and starts pulling as fast as he can?

Let’s look at it from his point of view, and see how we would be in a similar situation. If you were walking along dark alleys in a strange city at night, wouldn’t you be walking fast?

It’s because of anxiety.

The world is full of sights and sounds - most of which we weedy humans miss, our senses being so much poorer than the dog’s.

But your dog hears and sees them all!

The whisper of someone walking in the next road; the slight movement in the grass up ahead; and, of course, the scents which are filling his nostrils, of what’s recently passed this way - and might still be there … waiting to pounce!

Mental assault course for dogs

For the anxious, shy, nervous, type of dog, this walk is an assault on his senses - from every side.

Yes, he was excited to get out in the world.

But once he’s there, his only way to cope is to surge forwards, and get through this fast.

“What can I do to help my dog?”

So, what can you do to help? After all, you’d like your dog to enjoy his walks as well as your shoulders to stop aching!

You do need to teach Loose Lead Walking (we have a terrific, simple, system in the Brilliant Family Dog Academy so that your dog knows what you’d like him to do.)

And at home, indoors - where he’s not frightened of anything - you can get this going really well. Graduate slowly to doing a few steps in the garden. You may have to ‘go back to the drawing board’ as you re-teach in this new place. It may be your safe garden, but it’s outdoors, and there are all those sounds (that you probably can’t hear, or simply ignore) to disrupt the game.

Once you have a semblance of Loose Lead Walking indoors, you can start working outdoors, and then on a walk.

But you’re not going to expect him to walk nicely beside you.

“No? What am I to do?”

What you’re going to work on is connection. 

Connecting with your dog!

You want to establish a connection with your dog when he’s out.

Hitherto he has been too stressed to notice you. I could walk my anxious young collie for a good ten minutes before he’d turn and say, “Oh, are you here too?”

So what I suggest you do is spend some time before you set off on your walk, just feeding treats for any glance he gives you.

You can stand outside your front door, wander in circles on your drive, step through your gate and amble up and down twenty yards or so, and all you’re doing is chatting encouragingly to your dog, and feeding him a treat every time he makes eye contact with you - even fleeting eye contact.

To begin with you may do well to get him looking at you just the once!

But repeat this, boringly, every time you leave the house, and gradually he’ll find himself able to cope with this small familiar bit of the outside world, and give you more and more eye contact.

You may graduate to adding in some of his favourite tricks (a SIT is a trick to him), even incorporating a little of your nice lead-walking from inside the house. Maybe he’s a tactile dog and would like to feel your hand on his shoulder, or he can offer you some nose-touches to your hand.

Building this connection is the most supportive thing you can do.

It will allow him to connect with you when something worrying appears.

It will allow him to come out of a state of paralysed fear - or even a shrieking meltdown - much faster.

If he starts ramping up his anxiety during the walk, pause and repeat your circles and wanderings from the start of your walk, until the area you’re in has lost its terror for him and he’s able to relate to you once more.

Over time, you’ll be able to avoid the meltdown altogether, using some of the techniques we teach you in From Growly Dog to Confident Dog

Get started with your dog right now!

.. and let me know how it goes.

Keep in mind that this will take as long as it takes, but like all worthwhile things, you’ll be glad you stuck with it when you look back in a year or so, at how nightmarish your walks used to be!

 

RESOURCES:

The Brilliant Family Dog Academy

From Growly Dog to Confident Dog

Teaching a hand-touch

Does your dog terrify everyone?

The Brilliant Family Dog series of how-to books

Why is my dog reactive?

It’s natural for people to question things.

And especially when that “thing” is having a major unwanted effect on their life!

So “Why is my dog reactive?” is a question I hear often.

And the questioner often furnishes what they think the answer may be. These “reasons” can range from:

He’s a rescue dog

I think he was beaten

He missed out on socialisation

He was over-socialised

He was attacked as a puppy (“attacked” can mean anything from being stared at to being torn apart, I have learnt)

He had a bad breeder / bad breeding / bad start

We went to a bad puppy class

He never went to puppy class

.. and so it goes on.

Now whether any of those things are true, and - more to the point - whether they have any bearing on how your dog is now, can never be quantified.

Keen to learn more to help your Growly Dog? Get our free e-course here and get started!

    It’s been proven that fears can be hereditary. Even that the position in the womb can affect a puppy’s mindset! And while all the research goes on - you have a dog to look after.

    The fact is that your dog is reactive!

    .. or anxious, nervous, shy, “aggressive” …

    This is what we know, for sure - so why not start there?

    Start from where you are

    It really doesn’t matter why your dog is reactive or fearful. He just is.

    A family may have two or more children who are poles apart in character. Same parents, same genes, same environment, same diet, same everything.

    And yet they are totally different. We all know families like this - maybe even have a family like this!

    Perhaps one child is brave and fearless and dives into everything.

    While another is shy and reserved, lacks confidence, and prefers to be a wallflower.

    Thing is - we get the children we’re given! We don’t have too much say in the matter.

    And we love them just the same.

    Choosing your dog

    So why not view your dog the same way?

    Maybe you went to great lengths to choose a breed you thought would suit you, the gender that seemed right for you. You hunted till you found a good breeder, checked the lines, made your choice.

    Or perhaps you took pot luck - picking a dog from a shelter, or inheriting a dog from someone else.

    I can tell you now, that there is more variation between individuals than there is between breeds.

    In other words, two dogs of the same breed - even from the same litter - will be individual. Not clones. Individual.

    Your collie may be afraid of things that run fast, your spaniel may have no interest in using his nose, your GSD may be sound-sensitive, your lapdog may hate laps …

    So, to some extent, no matter how carefully you choose, you are taking a gamble.

    First of all, be kind

    Your dog can’t help how he is. He didn’t choose to be afraid. He just is.

    And fear of some kind, whether inbred or acquired, is at the bottom of most reactivity.

    So let’s cut him some slack.

    He may not be the dog you had hoped for.

    He may never be a good agility dog, or working dog - which is why you got him.

    He may never be comfortable in strange places, or with strange people or dogs.

    But that’s not his fault!

    It’s just the way it is!

    No need for whywhywhy - it just is.

    You chose him.

    So you need to do what you can to make his life with you the best it can be. If that limits what you can do with this dog, then so be it.

    More love on offer

    Just about all the reactive dogs I have ever known are wonderful family pets. They are utterly devoted to their people. They are fun to have around - at home.

    I’d go so far as to say there is no bond like the bond between your reactive dog and you.

    You have to put so much work in to keep him - and you - happy.

    And in so doing, you understand him so much better. You build his confidence, slowly but surely (this can take years).

    And your dog knows (once he’s no longer a terrified screaming furry blob on a walk) that you love him and will protect him.

    What better pet could you wish for?

    Want some help with your challenging dog? Hop over to our free Masterclass for Growly Dogs, which gives you practical techniques you can use straight away to make your your dog - and your walks - calmer

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Cart (0)