Dog Obedience Tips For A Scared Dog
Written by Craig on December 2, 2008 – 11:44 am -
You may have a dog who is just generally a nervous Nelly. I know that the natural feeling you may have is to coddle him, but I strongly recommend that you try these dog obedience tips for your scared dog.
For starters, you should only give him a treat or show him his favorite toy when he is really stressed out and you are having a hard time controlling his panic. His treats and toys shouldn’t be used as a crutch for every little anxious moment that he has.
When in doubt always use a stern, confident voice. Your natural reaction is going to be to treat the dog with kid gloves, and use a very sweet and nurturing voice. You’ve got to fight that urge. Speaking to your dog in that way, is only going to encourage his anxiety.
It’s like the kid who acts up at the store wanting a new toy and the mother breaks down and buys it for him. Do you think that kid is going to learn anything from that?
Its the same exact way with a dog. A little tough love goes a long way. Also never ask your dog to behave. You should tell him. It’s all done in the tone.
Teach the dog a “look at me” command. This command tries to take the focus off whatever it is that is bothering him and calms him down by watching his master: somebody who he feels comfortable with.
Try to use some rope that you can play a little tug of war with. Most dogs just love that. That can take a negative and turn it into something positive in the dog’s mind. Hopefully he will remember that for the next time, and the playing won’t be necessary.
As always congratulate him, when he does well. It’s as, if not even more important to give him the positive reinforcement when he can remain calm, during his normal high anxiety spells.
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Tags: Activities, Dog, dog obedience tips, dog training, nervous dog, Obedience training, Pets, Recreation, scared dog, Toy, Tug of war
Posted in Dog Obedience, Handling Dog Emotions |
January 11th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
My dog shivers and trembles with the sound of
firecrackers. Unfortunatly I live in a country
where firecrackers are fired every day at different hours and sometimes I am not home, the dog is alone and he gets so frightened that he has broken windows and any thing that gets in his way. I don´t know what to do. When I am home, he feels more secure, but I can´t always be home. Sometimes I don´t even
hear the firecrackers, but the dog does.
January 14th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Hmm… that’s a tough one. This kind of training usually requires a lot of time.
If you are just looking for a short term solution, try covering the sound with something that the dog likes to listen to. Maybe, have the TV on or play music.
What you can do when you are at home with the dog and the fireworks go off, have something handy that he likes to play with. Maybe a chew toy. Anything at all that will divert the dog’s attention on the fireworks.
The other thing that you can do is get an audio sample of fireworks, and play it on your computer an see how the dog reacts to it. It’s possible, the more times the dog hears it, the more it will get used to the noise, and it won’t be such a big deal.