Scared dog

meandmyself

meandmyself

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My sister's dog is almost six months old and is very wary of strangers. He barks and tries to run away if they're close, or just barks if they're further away. We've been taking him out every day and introducing him to people (I usually carry a bag of 'puppy crack' and ask them to give him a few bits.) He's still really scared of people though, and I'd love to build his confidence.

The only way we can get him close to strangers is to pick him up. I have a feeling that this isn't helping but short of dragging him it's the only way to do it.

Any advice? A puppy class isn't out of the question, however the ones I've contacted around here never got back to me!

Thanks!

ETA- here's a pic of the doglet in question. :)

373829_10151991897840096_1557638063_n.jpg
 
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Op, what scares you? I'm scared of spiders. Do you know what I'd do if someone grabbed me and shoved a spider right in my face? I'd lamp them one, that's what! Yet that's what you are doing to this dog every time you force a stranger on him.

You need to build his confidence up. Let him decide when to approach people. If he decides to stay back, let him. If he decides to approach, praise him quietly and calmly. Take your time and for goodness sake, find a trainer!
 
Believe me, spudlet, we've tried to let him approach people. He won't- he just runs to the end of the lead and barks, which winds him up and he ends up scaring himself more.

He's quite happy to be stroked/fed once they've let him have a sniff/made contact. It's the bit before that scares him.

Believe me, we're trying to find a trainer. I've contacted the three the vet recommended yet none of them have got back to me.

Blah, I knew I shouldn't have posted this.
 
I have a rescue dog who is very similar, she was about 9 mths when I got her and the rescue knew she was reactive with other dogs when on a lead but didn't know that she was also very wary of strangers (more men than anything). What I would advise is do not force the issue. If you meet people then tell them not to talk, look or attempt to stroke your dog. This just makes mine worse but of course people naturally think if they crouch down and talk ina 'nice' voice she'll come round. She doesnt. She just finds this too much and will bark and actually can look quite aggressive.

If I just chat to people and let her sniff about and maybe sniff them then that is great, she has doen things on her terms but I still won't let people stroke her. It's about building confidence. Maybe with yours, if you chat to someone just drop some scraps around your own feet so he can busy himself with them whilst you chat. Make it a pleasant experience.

Do NOT pick him up. In my mind this is a big no no. It is bad enough when they are on a lead - they cannot flee so hence are worse but, if you pick them up he cannot go ANYWHERE!

It will get better but he probably is never going to be a dog that's going to go bounding up tail wagging to strangers. Once mine knows people (and she has a very good memory) she is really friendly and in fact can be OTT when she relly knows someone and has fully accepted them and she doesn't bark as frantically at people if I meet them out walking. She used to lunge a bit when I first got her - not nice for people walking past!!

Just take the pressure off and don't make a big deal of it, it will come in time with some calm work
 
What a little sweetie, op can your vet give you any info on training classes. It would help if you could take him out with a confident friendly dog but do not allow strangers to approach or pet him, the idea is to take off the pressure and to just build up his confidence.

If strangers or people he is not confident with come to your house dont allow them to approach him, get them to sit on the sofa and to throw the dog a treat but not to make eye contact. You are trying to instil confidence in him and to allow him time to feel brave enough to approach them and take a treat from them. This will not be a quick process as you are working at the dogs pace but if you keep this up it does work successfully.
 
meandmyself said:
Believe me, spudlet, we've tried to let him approach people. He won't- he just runs to the end of the lead and barks, which winds him up and he ends up scaring himself more.
Click to expand...

I find a good analogy for reactive dogs is a spider phobia. Replace spider with whatever phobia you suffer from if you don't mind the 8-legged beasts!
Say you have a spider in the house. You have no logical reason to fear it, but you do anyway. Will seeing it in the corner of the living room every day help you get over your fear? Will approaching it, or being forced to approach it (not saying you're forcing the dog but many people will advocate flooding a dog with the trigger of fearful behaviour) help you get over your fear? Chances are, probably not. You know your phobia is illogical yet you still fear it, so every time you're exposed to it, you're just increasing your stress levels. This can happen in dogs too, and is called trigger stacking - which can be why a dog seems OK with a stranger one day, then reacts in what seems to be an OTT manner to others. When they saw the first stranger, they were calm enough to not react, but on repeated exposure to other strangers, their stress levels built up and up and then the reaction happens.

So, how would you get over a phobia? Slow desensitization tends to be the best longterm 'cure' and it's the same in dogs. If you had a kind friend who went around your house and de-spidered it, it would help you to relax and bring your stress levels back down. Then they may slowly help you acclimatise to spiders - for example, they may put a spider in a jar at the opposite end of a large room. If you could begin to relax, they can slowly bring it nearer and nearer. Over time, you will be able to build your threshold and perhaps even end up holding the jar yourself!
However, you wouldn't probably jump straight from holding a spider in a jar, to tipping the spider onto your head and being fine with it. You need to 'proof' this behaviour in a variety of factors. So if this was all done in the living room, you might repeat it in the kitchen, the hallway, the bathroom. And then change the next factor - perhaps a bigger or faster spider, or a group of spiders, still in the jar. Once you're comfortable with that, it's the next change..perhaps this will be leaving the lid off the jar, but keeping the jar at the far end of the room and again, slowly decreasing the distance.
The aim is to keep you calm, and allow your mind to stay in a rational state so you can actual learn to realise the spider is not an issue. You could even begin to train your mind to realise spiders are good things - if your friend gave you a square of your absolute favourite chocolate every time you looked at the spider, you'd soon start actively looking for spiders to get a piece of chocolate! It's all about modifying that automated response of spider = scary, to spider = safe, or even spider = brilliant!

So swap spider for stranger, 'kept in a jar' for stooge-humans who will follow specific instructions (as opposed to trying it with random strangers in the park who may move unpredictably) and chocolate for high value treats, and you have the basic principles of desensitizing a dog. 'De-spidering' the house to calm you down, equates to avoiding putting your pup in the situation where he reacts to strangers - this may mean walking at different times or in a different area, or turning around when you see people approaching, you may feel a little rude but the more he practices this behaviour, then a) the more automatic it becomes and b) the more stressed he becomes (so the greater the reaction next time, and the less his brain can handle in terms of learning a different behaviour)

Kikopup does some good videos and has a mini series on barking, including barking at strange things (aimed at people in hats, on crutches, etc. but could equally apply to strangers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXCELHDT2fs&feature=plcp

Another kind of training to look at is BAT. This is based on a functional reward - rather than a treat, the reward is to, for example, be allowed to move away from the scary item. So you looked at the spider in the jar, and as long as you stayed calm, your reward was to be able to walk 2 metres back, or out of the room. If you freaked out, your friend just takes note that you're over your threshold and moves the jar further away. Ditto with dogs - if a stranger at 20 metres is too close, try 30 metres. If the dog does something good, like glances at the stranger and back at you, or sniffs at the floor, or turns away even just a fraction, you mark the behaviour (a clicker or a verbal marker will work) and reward the dog by jogging backwards away from the stranger. Again, your aim is to decrease that distance, and then start changing factors like having the stranger moving, speaking, wearing a hat, a hi-viz, etc.)
http://functionalrewards.com/

A behaviourist may be better than a trainer in this instance - try http://www.apbc.org.uk for a local behaviourist. If you have insurance, a referall may be covered. It could be a good idea to rule out any health issues with your vet first though - many behaviourists want this done before they will do an assessment too. Pain can cause fearful behaviour, and there are other health conditions that can have anxiety as a symptom - for example, hypothyroidism, certain vitamin deficiencies and so on. A full blood panel, including thyroid function, and a thorough physical assessment are definately worthwhile.
 
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