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Creating A Climate For Change

By |2009-06-16T16:05:00-04:00June 16th, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Imagine you have to study for a big exam or are trying to learn to use a new computer program or figure out your taxes. Do you pack up your supplies and go sit in the middle of a busy city intersection? Or perhaps more realistically do you invite the neighbor kids over to play video games in your living room while you replay in ...

Creating The Foundation

By |2009-05-15T19:50:49-04:00May 15th, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

Sunny is one of the lucky fearful dogs that landed in his forever home straight out of the rescue after the hoarder that had him and 476 other dogs got busted for operating what was most definitely not an 'animal sanctuary'. It was not the plan and like many other foster caregivers for a fearful dog I could not part with him. Not ...

Taking It Slow

By |2009-05-11T22:43:15-04:00May 11th, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Early during my search for information about how to help my fearful dog Sunny, one rescuer of border collies told me that she 'didn't have the time that I had to work with her dogs'. Her point was that all the DS/CC I was doing might be nice but just making dogs deal with things worked for her, and was faster. I never ...

The Basics

By |2009-04-11T13:10:48-04:00April 11th, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

I'm going to keep this one short and sweet. If you are working with a fearful dog you must at the very least understand the concepts of counter conditioning and desensitization. Desensitization is the gradual introduction and increase in exposure to the things your dog is afraid of. The exposure is only increased when the dog exhibits comfort with the situation or object. Go too ...

Guest Blogger Roxanne Hawn

By |2009-04-02T01:00:02-04:00April 2nd, 2009|Categories: Guest bloggers talk about fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Fearfuldogs: Tell me about your dog Lilly. Roxanne: Lilly is a nearly 5-year-old smooth coat border collie, adopted at 6 months old from a progressive humane society in Boulder, CO. She came in as a transfer. So, she lived in two shelters and a foster home before we adopted her. She passed all temperament testing with better-than-average scores even though she did show some shyness/fear. ...

Thinking is Good!

By |2009-03-26T16:48:51-04:00March 26th, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Studies have shown that thinking and learning can slow or even reverse the effects of aging on the human brain. Learning new skills, like playing the piano or line dancing, doing crossword puzzles or brushing up on quadratic equations, is important for humans at any age. It seems that the axiom, 'use it or lose it' is true for our minds. I thought about this ...

How To Help A Fearful Dog? Stop Scaring Them!

By |2009-03-19T14:18:37-04:00March 19th, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

In a blog about fearful dogs you wouldn't think that I'd pay so much attention to this whole dominance virus that has infected the health of our relationships with our dogs, but it's major. I run an in-home boarding business for dogs. It's a nice set-up for the dogs and the owners that use my services are conscientious pet owners. It's not a scene that ...

The Gift of the Growl

By |2009-03-13T16:48:10-04:00March 13th, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , , |

I make no pretenses about it, I am obsessed with my fearful dog Sunny. Not only do I think about him, I am always looking for ways to help him, and other scared dogs. Leafing through an old issue of Newsweek I read a quote attributed to Tibet's Karmapa Lama and of course, thought of scared dogs.  "For any living being, when you feel the ...

Play It Again!

By |2009-03-10T17:22:34-04:00March 10th, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , |

Dogs that are afraid of people find very little about being with us pleasant, even if nothing 'bad' is happening to them. Just being near people is enough to get their hearts racing and adrenalin flowing. In order to change how a dog feels about people (or anything it's afraid of for that matter) you have to provide the dog with some very ...

What’s Your Theory?

By |2009-02-03T14:42:59-05:00February 3rd, 2009|Categories: Helping fearful dogs|Tags: , , , , , , |

I've been reading a lot of dog training books lately and many trainers provide readers with the reasons their method of training dogs works or makes sense. More often than not it has something to do with wolves, pack behavior, prey drive, alpha animals, etc. Statements are made about what dogs want or need. Most of them leave an owner struggling to sort out whether ...

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