Yesterday I attended a seminar with Suzanne Clothier to learn more about her Relationship Assessment Tool. It was, as expected, informative and thought provoking, but that's not what I'm going to write about. I'll save that for another post. The seminar was held at the Monadnock Humane Society in Keene NH. It's a pleasant facility with lots of outdoor space for dogs and an open, ...
Tis the season for bad advice. It seems no matter where I turn-blog posts, website, forums, chats- someone is putting ‘don’t comfort your dog when they are scared’ messages out. The last I read, provided by someone who by choice or certification, is identified as a ‘behaviorist’, was a list of tips for dealing with fireworks and storm phobias included; no cooing or baby talk ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
We want our scared dogs to be comfortable with the things that frighten them. Counter conditioning and desensitization are all about making that happen. But we don't just want them comfortable with the things that frighten them, we want them to be perfectly giddy with joy about them. Until that happens they are at risk of becoming aggressive. Don't think that because a dog has ...
If you're an owner of a fearful dog you've heard it all before- "He just needs love." "Give her some time." "Lots of dogs are shy at first." But you've probably discovered that it takes more than time and love to help a fearful dog. If your dog is just afraid of some stuff, you may, with the understanding of counter conditioning and ...
I'm not sure why it is people are so reluctant to accept that you can comfort, or reward a dog when it is afraid and NOT be telling the dog it's ok to be afraid. Doctors give little kids lollipops, we hug people who are nervous, we hold the hand of someone who is afraid and we are not causing them to become ...
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