Dear Julie,

I recently rescued Attley from continuing her job as a puppy mill mom for the past 4 years.  She is a Gorgeous Golden Retriever that is leery of everything and everyone other than my boyfriend and me. I understand this is a result from the breaking of her spirit at the mill and I understand that she doesn’t know she is a dog. We have had to teach her to walk on a leash and eat out of a bowl and not be scared of the tv or the rain or other daily occurrences that you wouldn’t think to be traumatizing. She is content to lie around all day and as much as we try we can’t get her to interact with us using toys.  Josh and I take her on about 7- 10 walks a day each averaging 20 mins minimum.  We do not have a yard so several of these double as potty breaks.  Attley can get spooked very easily…leaves blowing down the street can send her running.  Josh and I were just walking her this evening.  It is quiet and a beautifully warm night. We passed by a couple of kids and they said hello and Attley began to pull. This happens all the time when she gets scared. However, this time she (all 74lbs) pulled me completely off my feet and tore about 6 blocks heading for traffic. She ripped a nail out of her rear paw and by the time Josh caught her she was ready to stop and just get home.  This is the second time this bolting has happened in a week.  What can I do to help her trust her surroundings on a walk and let her know that she is completely safe with us.  I love my dog to death and want nothing more than to show her the world the way it can be with her as a functioning dog. But, I feel like I am failing her when the simplest thing can terrify her so badly that she will run into oncoming traffic.

Please Help

Thank You So Much

Hi Courtney and Josh,

Wow, thank you for rescuing Attley!  Puppy mills are a horrible place and I am glad she no longer has to suffer there.  I can imagine how emotional this must be.  First of all give yourself a pat on the back and do not feel you are failing her.  It sounds like you have already given her a great gift and you have done a lot to help her already so be proud of that.  Take one day at a time and celebrate the small achievements.  You may reach your goals with her or you may never get her to be exactly where you want her to be, we don’t know yet.  What we do know is that you can try your best.  It is important to remove your feelings of guilt or worry or even feeling sorry for her.  Dogs can be “retaught” and so it is important that you do not confuse her by feeling sorry for her.  Try to take deep breaths before you go on these walks and be as calm as you can be.  She will sense when you are nervous and feel sorry for her and that will make her feel like you are not in control which will make her more nervous.

You can definitely begin a desensitizing routine with her as well as a positive only training program.  The training program can build her confidence and the desensitizing can help her adjust better. 

Desensitizing requires a lot of time and patience and is sometimes a very slow process but it can be successful if you have the patience to do it.  One of the first steps is to:

1. Identify what triggers her fear.  Write all the things down that you can think of.   Loud noises, bicycles, kids, etc…
2. Then, begin to expose your dog to whatever is scaring them at a very low level.  For example, if she is afraid of a bicycle, then begin to introduce her to a bicycle by having the bicycle be very far away and still.  If she is calm when she sees it then she can be rewarded with treats and praise for being calm.  Gradually move the bicycle closer to her all the while praising and treating for calm behavior that does not show fear.  If the dog begins to show fear you need to move the bicycle farther and start again. 
3. When your dog is getting comfortable with the bicycle you can now move it back far away and have someone ride it very slowly.   If your dog is remaining calm you can have the bicycle go faster and then eventually closer. 

So what you are doing is slowly increasing your dog’s ability to handle the fearful object.  This process may take days or even months and needs to be done very gradually to be successful. 

**An important tip:  When your dog is showing signs of fear, you must NEVER praise, pet or treat in that moment or you are rewarding fearful behavior.  It is in a human’s nature to coddle and hug when someone is scared but if you do that to a dog you can actually make it worse for her by telling her it is OK to be scared. 

Another option that works well is to practice some obedience while your dog is being desensitized.  For example, you are introducing your dog to the bicycle that is far away; have them practice a sit and reward for the sit.  This obedience will get the dog to focus on something other than the fear and soon the reward of doing a good sit will replace the fear.  So the dog will begin to associate the site of the bicycle with feeling good, proud, and happy that they got a treat and praise for performing a sit well.

Positive Obedience does wonders for fearful dogs.  You should not use corrective obedience for fearful dogs but instead use only positive motivators like treats and praise.  It will increase your dog’s confidence and lessen their fears.

This process will take time and can feel frustrating, but it is important to not get frustrated by your dog and never punish or force.  It can help to work with a dog behaviorist if needed.  I am happy to work with you and can offer you a coupon for a membership to my training site,  And it includes email support with me 7 days a week plus tons of good information for teaching positive obedience well and behavior modification.  I am happy to work with you through this process if you like, I especially like to help out rescues.  There is no obligation and I am here to help so if you need any more advice let me know.

I would love to hear how things are going.   

Keep in touch!

Julie 

Subject: Please Help! Fear Aggression!
Dear Julie,
I have a very sweet 4 month old foster puppy. She was rescued probably about 2 weeks ago and, though once she’s used to you, she’s awesome, she has fear aggression! I was with my last foster yesterday and my new foster was there too and she showed her teeth, curled her lip, tucked her tail and backed away yelping and growling. What should I do?! She is also nervous around new people, so suggestions for helping her get through that would be awesome too. No one who comes to visit her is going to want her if she is scared of them and fear aggressive! Please help me! She is very people loving and good with dogs when she knows them, but if she doesn’t they’re big , scary monsters! PLEASE, HELP!
-Colleen

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Hello Colleen,
It’s great what you are doing; I applaud you for your efforts with rescue dogs! Good for you! With fear, it is important to create more confidence in the dog. Through obedience training you can do that. Dogs also can feel overwhelmed in our human world so it is important to make them feel secure by taking the position of leader. If a dog feels there is a secure, confident leader taking care of things around them, then they don’t feel that they have to be the ones to control everything. By becoming your dogs leader, and being in charge of the surroundings, including new dogs and new people, your dog will learn to trust your judgment and not feel so scared.
Obedience training also helps establish your leadership role with the dog as well.

For fearful dogs, use high value treats (small bits of food that your dog goes crazy for-like cooked chicken breast, or deli meats). Ask your dog to sit before you feed them their meal, then treat for the sit. Ask your dog to sit before getting pet, then treat for the sit and pet them. The idea here is that several times throughout the day you ask something of your dog and reward them for doing it. What that does is boost their self-confidence. Make it fun and rewarding for you dog. If they are showing signs of fear, try to divert their attention and ask them to perform some obedience, like sits or downs for example, then reward for doing the task.

Also, make sure you are not petting your dog when they are showing signs of fear or aggression or else you will be rewarding that behavior. They should only be receiving praise and attention from you when they are in a positive, calm state.

Don’t force other dogs and new people on your dog at this point. Try to do things at a distance that they are comfortable with. Say for example they show fear at 200 feet from the person or dog; then do some obedience at 250 feet from it, rewarding with those high value treats. Then, over time, try to work up to going closer, each time measuring their level of fear. If done correctly, your dog will begin to change the association of fear when they see the object to pleasure, because they’ll be receiving these nice treats and pleasing you, their leader.

Over time, you should be able to get closer and closer to the object of fear while the dog is still maintaining a level of confidence and security. You must read your dog and work at their pace. It is also important that you maintain a feeling of calm confidence. If you feel worried, scared, or anything negative your dog will feel that from you and either not trust you or the situation. So, do it at a pace you are both comfortable with.

Keep up the good work!
I have so much information on my training website: www.webdogtrainer.com- everything from beginning obedience to advance training, dealing with behavior problems and understanding a dogs mind on my site. I think you’d find a lot of value in the site and I’d be there to help you along the way should you need it.

I hope the information above has been helpful to you! Let me know how it goes and if you need anything else!
Julie
www.webdogtrainer.com
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Julie,
Thank you SO much! That is very helpful! I will try those suggestions with her! Looks like a great website, I think I’ll join! Thanks again! Colleen