Why is my puppy scared of me
My Dog Is Scared of Me and 10 Things to Do About It
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today is when your dog is scared of you
and 10 things you can do to help calm
them down there are many reasons why
your dog could be scared of you based on
maybe if you've recently adopted a dog
that had a previous owner maybe that
owner was abusive or they just may
associate you with certain things like
for example my dog specifically she
hates cardboard boxes for whatever
reason if i come in the house with a
cardboard box she runs and goes and
hides under a table i can put the box
down she'll come and sniff it and then
if i pick the box back up she runs away
so anyways i digress let's get into some
of the reasons why your dog may be
scared of you number one the dog is shy
when they come from a shelter or pet
store number two like i said before the
previous owner used to hit the dog when
they were frustrated or when they'd come
in the house or whatever number three
owners that previously owned the dog
used to raise their voice an extreme
example is possibly screaming or
verbally abuse the dog number four this
has happened to me as well the owner
might have accidentally hurt the dog
i've stepped on my dog's tail and paw
and they kind of are a little leery
after that even if he did accidentally
number five there's a history of
physical abuse or negative punishment as
well as negative consequence training
for example my dad and i we have dogs
that are sisters and we wanted to train
them and get them well trained by the
time they were young adults and one of
the trainers we sought out used a shock
collar and you know i've put it on my
hand the shock collar and tested the
levels and you know it's not terribly
painful but it's uncomfortable but some
dogs are just more sensitive usually
dogs that are hyperactive you know
they're a little more jumpy so that's
kind of what happened with my dad's dog
when we would put a collar on after she
would get real low to the ground and act
scared or tear between her legs but it
eventually went away as we rewarded her
you know when we would she would let us
put her normal collar on anyways number
six is the dog was around other
aggressive dogs or other intimidating
animals and number seven the owner's
body language indicates that they
themselves are fearful or stressed so
dogs will read and pick up on body
language they're masters at reading body
language it's how they interpret their
relationship with you i know if a dog
has peed on the floor and my body
language is unconsciously looking upset
or frustrated obviously i don't do
anything except maybe put her in timeout
but however she can tell right away that
i'm not happy with her and she gets real
low to the ground now to avoid scaring
your dog and losing trust some of the
things you should not do are number one
don't be impatient or frustrated with
your dog number two do not withhold love
or attention when the dog seeks it
number three try not to approach a dog
that has retreated to their safe place
number four never force a currently
fearful dog to do anything number five
avoid yelling or verbally intimidating
the dog and number six avoid negative
punishment or otherwise physically
hurting the dog so let's get into some
of these reasons or what to do when your
dog is scared of you number one be
patient every dog is different and much
like humans each dog will adapt to its
environment and learn at its own pace
however this could take a while uh
depending on the dog and depending on
their previous upbringing so this could
take days weeks or months of consistent
effort and training rewarding them for
you know being more confident depending
on the dog's personality and the reason
for their fear most dogs will learn to
trust their owners and other humans with
time and effort but it's super important
that you're patient never push force or
become angry or frustrated with your dog
during this process where they are
fearful as doing so will only make it
worse number two let the dog be so your
dog having their own space and time with
less attention and less interaction is
exactly what some dogs need to become
comfortable just like another human
coming on too strong can be intimidating
you coming on too strong to them can be
intimidating to the dog as well
sometimes the best way to gain their
trust is just to let them take the lead
in deciding what they want as far as an
interaction with you also let them come
to you when they want attention from you
instead of you going to them number
three follow a predictable and reliable
schedule typically when a dog is
frightened or stressed the hormone
cortisol pumps through its body making
you know that fear response much worse
just like in humans blowing things out
of proportion i'm sure we've all had
little moments of panic or something
like that when you immediately jump to
the worst case scenario one way to help
the dog's fear and stress hormones
subside is by creating and following a
predictable reliable schedule for the
dog when a dog knows they'll be fed at
certain times and they have their own
bed to lay on and they have play time
and will receive treats at certain times
as well as training each day they'll
feel calmer with that specific
consistency repeated actions when done
in a calm and non-aggressive manner will
increase a dog's trust number four make
a genuine connection with a dog most
dogs enjoy humans when we pet them and
scratch or rub behind the ears or under
the chin unfortunately there's been dogs
that have been physically abused and
that's the current reality of the world
and they've been taught that human touch
is a bad and scary thing and they're
going to get hit if this is the case
with your dog if you've newly adopted
one you have to get creative and i would
seek professional training because it
could be something that's out of your
hand to make a genuine connection with a
dog giving a dog treats during training
sessions like turkey chicken tuna when
they do what is asked is one of the many
ways you can build a connection when you
cannot physically touch the dog while
praising them use a positive and
soothing tone to tell the dog good job
and other affirmations another option is
you can incorporate a clicker into your
training sessions when your pup does
something brave like approaching you
make the clicker sound instead of
reaching out to touch the frightened dog
and feed the dog a treat as well
immediately alongside the clicker sound
letting them associate that sound with a
positive experience also if your dog has
a fear of being near you encourage them
to come towards you by actually taking a
step away waiting for the approach and
then use the clicker to signal a job
well done and a reward with a treat
number five targeted training efforts
now while clicker training works
amazingly well for some dogs you may
require additional or other forms of
training it's all about trying to find
different methods with a dog that's
super fearful to find out what they're
most comfortable with now when a dog
that is fearful does something quote
unquote bad like you know a dog that's
afraid just like my dog has been afraid
at times and has peed herself instead of
using negative punishment try to ignore
them in an obvious manner or you know
just something neutral no aggressive
grabbing but like just kind of put them
in timeout that way they're not afraid
that if it happens that something bad is
gonna happen next research has proven
that positive reinforcement for doing
the right thing while ignoring bad or
incorrect behaviors is also the best
method of training fearful dogs dogs
like kids will eventually seek attention
therefore if you ignore bad behaviors
and reward only positive ones it will
naturally extinguish the bad behaviors
in the dog now this is not a blanket
statement for all dogs but it's another
method that you can test to see number
six classical conditioning training this
form of training goes way back in time
to a psychological experiment named
pavlov's dogs that a famous psychologist
conducted with a group of dogs they
conditioned the dogs to salivate at the
mere sound of a bell ringing by giving
food to the dogs every time they ring
the bell classical conditioning is
incredibly effective in fact so like
just a little bit more on that study or
experiment what would happen is they
would keep doing that and then
eventually they would just ring the bell
without the food and that the dogs would
salivate just because they've been
conditioned classical conditioning is
incredibly effective especially for dogs
that are afraid or fearful because with
classical conditioning training the dog
learns to associate one thing with
another so for example this often
happens when you reach for a dog's food
bowl or at least the dog gets excited
when they know that they're about to go
on a walk or be fed both are examples of
classical conditioning this training
method can also be used deliberately to
train certain behaviors and responses in
dogs and to counter condition dogs by
associate something that makes a dog
scared with something positive another
example is if your dog is scared of the
leash and does not want to have it
attached to its collar every time you
put the dog's collar and attach the
leash just reward them with a high value
treat as time goes on the dog will
eventually associate having their collar
put on and the leash being attached with
the positive feeling that come along
with receiving a high value treat this
ultimately will extinguish the dog's
fear of the collar or leash or anything
that you consistently pair with giving a
dog a high value treat so counter
conditioning let's go a little bit into
that another example of using this type
of conditioning counter conditioning is
one that you can use to make a dog that
is afraid of you no longer afraid by
dropping high value treats near them do
this every single time that you walk by
them soon the dog's fear of you will
turn to excitement to see you because
the dog associates positive experience
receiving a treat to you coming near
them now if you're going to do this just
always remember to drop the high value
treat whenever you're near the dog it's
important that you remember that until
you notice that they feel comfortable
then you can start to remove the treats
now once the dog's fear response has
been triggered they lose the ability to
think rationally and cannot make
positive associations between the dog
treats and you that's why it's important
to always do it until you see some
progress you'll need to learn exactly
how close to the scared dog you can get
before the dog's fear response is
triggered maintain that distance as you
walk by and you know casually drop the
treat let's go to number seven
socialization for the dog if you have a
scared dog that sees another dog
interacting with you playfully
positively this will have a effect on
your dog that is fearful and it will
help the dog see you as a human they can
trust i've seen this happen just in a
different sense where if another dog
gets a positive experience during
something that your dog's afraid of it
can help being around that dog helping
your dog that's fearful gain more
confidence it's really beneficial if
another dog lives in the home with you
and your new fearful dog even if you do
not have another dog with your fearful
dog it can still be repeated by having
another calm dog come around you let's
say you're going on a walk or a
situation like that number eight go out
in the world together to explore go on
hikes or walks in public places with
your dog that's typically fearful
because it could be a great bonding
experience that teaches them to trust
you if your dog is too intimidated by
the leash or the outside world to go on
walks that's fine you can take this step
actively by exploring things inside your
home first and all over your yard before
you step out into like a bigger travel
experience with them let's just give an
example on how you can take this step
say your dog is super interested in a
particular plant or bug that catches
their eye wait for the dog to finish
exploring this object once the dog walks
away immediately go over the same object
that they were looking at explore it
with interest allowing the dog to see
that you have common interests now
repeat this step following your dog's
footsteps exploring the things that your
dog is interested in is a trust building
exercise and positive experience for
your dog as they see you interested in
the same things number nine make sure
you play with your dog playing with a
scared dog it can be difficult however
if you engage a fearful dog in any play
canon will be a great bonding experience
so an example is you don't want to throw
a ball or toy towards them especially
since they're fearful as they would
flinch thinking that you're going to hit
them and it'll cause them to shut down
so an effective way to do this is you
can utilize a ball or any toy attached
to a long rope of some sort this way you
can move the ball or toy from a distance
and engage the dog in a game of chase or
pounce without having the dog get too
close to you this will allow the dog to
play without triggering their fear
response you know also make sure you
allow the dog to catch and keep the toy
that they are chasing that way they'll
continue to want to play and then number
10 is just continue to build trust when
moving forward just because you see
success in helping your dog become less
fearful that doesn't mean that you can
discontinue all your efforts or stop all
of them there's a chance that if you
just immediately stop doing the things
that were working you can reverse all
the work that you put in so just make
sure you continue to be consistent and
make it just part of the routine and
part of their lifestyle make sure to
only bring well-trained well-behaved
dogs around your fearful dog because
your dog could be also triggered by a
aggressive like untrained dog when you
introduce your dog to a new situation
experience and other people make sure to
do it slowly and make sure to give the
new people that they meet that your dog
meets treats to drop on the ground if
the dog approaches them and always avoid
eye contact with the dog and not
approach him so let's go over some signs
as far as how to know if your dog is
afraid of you so some signs on the
lookout for bot is looking at their body
language so like here's just a list of
several examples when your dog flattens
its ears they have their tail between
their legs they won't make eye contact
with you excessive yawning they have
raised hair by the back of their neck
licking their lips persistent scratching
whining biting pacing clinginess
submissive urination tracking your
movements carefully leaving the room
when you enter and as well as not
accepting treats alright well that's
gonna do it for us here at top dog tips
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rest of your day and we'll talk to you
soon
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