stranger Danger
fearful dog training
Small World?
fearful dog training
Stranger Danger encompases any difficulty your dog has meeting new people. This could be fearfulness, anxiety, or aggression. However, this page focuses on our approach for anxious or fearful dog training through obedience, confidence-building, and desensitization dog training techniques. Read about our aggressive dog training approach here.
Resolving fearful or avoidant behavior in dogs is a complex process that looks different for every dog. An effective approach often even changes moment to moment within a program. Our approach to stranger danger programs is a combination of obedience training and general confidence building meant to gradually change how your dog views the world. Obedience is important for communication with your dog when in situations they find uncomfortable.
GIVING FEARFUL DOGS AN “ANSWER KEY”
—> First, we begin all training programs by implementing a marker training system. This is typically our focus in the first couple of days in a training program. Marker training involves using a set of words that provide feedback to your dog. It allows you to send the message“that was correct”, “that was incorrect”, or “try something else”. Clear communication is especially important in training fearful and anxious dogs.
—> Second, with a marker training system in place, we then teach your dog a set of obedience commands that you’ll use to help them through challenging situations. For example, your dog will learn a heel command if they struggle on walks. Or, to help with guests coming over, we may teach a place command. Down/stays or middle commands (lay between your legs) are useful for going places like coffee shops.
Think of obedience commands as “giving your dog the answer key”. Your dog can understand the lesson easily if there is a clearly defined “correct answer” and “incorrect answer”.
—> Finally, in the next phase of training, we will purposely put your dog into situations that trigger their fearful, reactive, or aggressive behavior. We will start with easy scenarios, and gradually ask more of their dog as they develop more trust, comfort, and impulse control.
In each scenario, you’ll calmly tell your dog what to do (obedience commands). Then, you’ll either reward the correct response or “mark” and correct dangerous/unwanted responses. The key is to remain calm and relaxed through this process. There won’t be any conflict with your dog, as you will be gentle and clear in your communication. Even intensely fearful dogs can be course corrected using this process.
supplementary exercises
However, a combination of approaches is most effective for training for fearful, shy, or anxious dogs. Other exercises we’ll do with your dog may include counter conditioning, desensitization training, and unique exercises such as box feeding and agility. These are psychology-based approaches designed to speed up the process of changing how your dog perceives threats.
Counter conditioning is when positive feelings are associated with negatively triggering stimuli. Think of Pavlov conditioning dogs to feel hungry when they hear a bell ringing. This can be helpful for some dogs, especially dogs with high food drive and a lower level of fear, but the benefits often only go as far as being supplementary to a broader training plan.
other confidence building exercises
Agility and scentwork are notorious for being good confidence building activities in fearful dog training. Agility may be scary at first to fearful dogs, but it allows a structured environment for your dog to overcome the challenge, even learning to enjoy the obstacles. Scentwork teaches dogs to focus on their noses instead of visually scanning the environment constantly.
Box feeding is an uncommon exercise that we find extremely helpful at Traction Dog Training Club. This is a mental strengthening exercise involving desensitization training that was invented by Bart Bellon in Belgium. We teach your dog to keep their head inside a box placed on the floor while we continuously drop food into it. Gradually, we introduce stimuli outside the box. A touch to your dog’s side or a tapping noise on the floor are examples of “level 1” stimuli that occur while your dog is eating out of the box. As your dog learns to ignore stimuli and focus on keeping their head inside the box, their fear or anxiety triggers are introduced. This is a very simple, almost silly, exercise that achieves absolute wonders in short periods of time!
desensitization dog training
Desensitization dog training exposes your dog to the triggering stimulus over an extended period of time. As your dog spends longer amounts of time around the scary person/thing/place, they gradually realize that they are not actually in danger. For example, dogs that are fearful of strangers often benefit from a stranger sitting neutrally in their presence for a long period of time until the dog no longer feels threatened by the stranger.
Desensitization training can also be extremely helpful as a supplement in a broader training plan. A common road block in desensitization training is achieving the generalization process; a fearful dog must have hundreds of strategically unique desensitization experiences before desensitization alone can resolve an emotional problem.
help your fearful dog today
Schedule a free phone consultation with our Head Trainer Mara. You’ll evaluate your individual dog’s history, behavior, and goals.
Because behavior programs require so much customization, some stranger danger programs may require we begin with a behavior assessment, booked as an a la a carte in-home training session.
