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Respect Your Dog鈥檚 Emotional State

Just as with people, a dog鈥檚 fear can interfere with learning. When a dog is anxious, they aren鈥檛 focused on you, but rather the scary distraction. It can be a struggle to get them to listen. And never mind feeding treats听辞谤听playing games. An anxious dog won鈥檛 be interested. Fear makes dogs shut down, and training can鈥檛 happen when cognitive connections can鈥檛 form.

Rather than trying to train your dog when they鈥檙e fearful, you need to respect how your dog is feeling and either remove them from the situation or modify it so your dog can cope. Be your dog鈥檚 advocate. Even if it seems impolite to walk away, put your dog鈥檚 emotional needs first. Training can wait until your dog is in a calmer emotional state.

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Early Warning Signs of Anxiety and Fear

To help your dog avoid their fears, you need to be in tune with聽canine body language. If you can see the聽early warning signs of anxiety and fear, you can step in before your dog becomes overwhelmed. You can also learn your dog鈥檚 triggers by closely observing how they react to different situations. And once you know those triggers, you can begin to address them.

Some of the signs of fear are obvious, like cowering, shaking, or running away. But you want to prevent things from ever getting that bad. You need to be on the lookout for the often-misunderstood signs your dog is uncomfortable. The following list will help you see when your dog is experiencing anxiety:

• Yawning. Don鈥檛 mistake this signal for boredom. Dogs may yawn to express emotional discomfort.
• Disinterest. If your dog is ignoring or toys they would normally want, it鈥檚 likely anxiety has taken hold.
• Panting. Your dog may be cooling off in the heat or experiencing stress.
• Sniffing the ground. When they鈥檙e anxious, dogs often show displacement behaviors like sniffing in an attempt to focus on something other than the trigger.
• Growling聽or lunging. Some dogs will go on the offensive to hopefully scare off the trigger. This seemingly聽aggressive behavior聽can actually be underpinned by fear.

If your dog exhibits these signs, it鈥檚 time to build their confidence and help them face their fears in a safe and productive way. For help with your dog鈥檚 confidence-building program, consult a聽professional dog trainer听辞谤听animal behaviorist.

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Building Confidence

Whether your dog is fearful from past trauma or a lack of聽socialization, you can make tremendous progress in helping them face their fears. However, don鈥檛 expect your dog鈥檚 personality to entirely change. A nervous dog isn鈥檛 going to become the life of the party, but they can become more comfortable in the world. And that will lead to a happier, more relaxed dog.

There are many ways to build your dog鈥檚 confidence in general. First, provide your dog with a聽reliable routine聽so their world is more predictable. Next, teach your dog basic obedience behaviors. Finally, use those behaviors to ask your dog to earn life rewards so they gain a sense of control over their environment. For example, ask them to聽sit聽before you put down their , or ask for a 鈥�down鈥� before you let them outside into the yard.

Training for聽dog sports聽is another way of building confidence. Don鈥檛 expect your dog to compete, that鈥檚 not the goal. It鈥檚 the experience of facing new challenges that matters. For example, in聽agility training聽dogs learn to conquer obstacles like the seesaw (teeter-totter) and jumps, and that can help them feel more confident about what they can handle.

Desensitization and Counterconditioning

You can also build your dog鈥檚 confidence with their specific triggers. The key is to create positive associations for your dog with the things that frighten them. But how can you do that if your dog won鈥檛 eat or play in their presence? The trick is to expose your dog to their triggers at a level where they don鈥檛 react. That might be staying 20 feet away from strangers or being in the same room as the vacuum while it鈥檚 turned off. This is known as keeping your dog below threshold.

Once you have your dog below threshold, you can pair that exposure with something your dog loves like delicious treats. Once your dog is happy to be at that distance from the trigger, you can increase the intensity a tiny bit and pair with treats again. In time, you will slowly work your way to the full-blown situation. This is known as聽desensitization and counterconditioning聽and although it鈥檚 time consuming, it鈥檚 incredibly effective.

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Tips for Training

Once your dog has newfound confidence, you鈥檒l be able to train in more situations and introduce new distractions. In the meantime, it can be tricky to teach new behaviors. The following tips will help you train successfully:

• Use positive training methods only. Ignore and redirect unwanted behavior rather than punishing your dog.聽Using rewards聽will encourage your dog to build positive associations with the training process.
• Be patient. Don鈥檛 set unrealistic expectations for your fearful dog. For example, if your dog is nervous in training class, switch to private lessons or simply listen to the instructions and wait to practice at home.
• Go at your dog鈥檚 pace. Remember that fear interferes with learning, so it can take your dog longer than expected to master new behaviors.
• Teach your dog to聽nose target. You can use this easy and fun 鈥渢ouch鈥� behavior to encourage your dog to approach new people or other dogs, plus it鈥檚 great to help redirect and distract them around their triggers.