Episode #152 Helping Your Puppy Overcome Fears

Think about the last time your dog cowered under the bed during a thunderstorm, or how they tremble at the sight of your vacuum cleaner. Can you imagine a world where your pup is no longer held hostage by these fears? On the podcast today, we'll guide you on a journey to understand why puppies develop fear, how to spot it, and effective ways to help them conquer it. We delve into positive reinforcement as a powerful tool for confidence-building, offering practical examples and real-life scenarios to illustrate our points.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Puppy Training Podcast, episode 152, helping your puppy overcome fears. This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning, as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the Puppy Training Podcast, and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Hey you guys, how are you this week? I hope you're doing great. We talk about puppies, dogs, all things training here on the Puppy Training Podcast, and today I want to talk about how to help your dog or puppy overcome a fear that they have. We're coming up on Halloween and I thought what better topic than fears, right, okay? So anytime we introduce a new puppy to a family our family, your family, whoever family it's an exciting experience, but it also comes with challenges, and one of those would be helping our puppy overcome something they are afraid of. Now, puppies, like humans, can develop fears of various objects, people or even situations, sounds, smells, really anything. So today let's talk about the use of positive reinforcement as an effective method to help your puppy overcome fear and build confidence, which leads to a happier life for everybody involved.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Now to dive into positive reinforcement techniques. It's important that we understand why puppies develop fear in the first place Now. Common causes include lack of exposure Maybe they haven't seen something before Negative experiences, so maybe something in the past that spooked them. They do remember that or even possible genetic predispositions. Now, as a responsible pet handler, recognizing the signs of fear in your puppy is essential. So you need to know what their body language looks like and what it's telling you. So these signs might include trembling, cowering, excessive barking, pinned ears, a tight mouth or attempting to escape. Anytime their body is tucked in, curled up, looking away, trying to get away. Those are all signs that our puppy's probably afraid of something. Now the key to overcoming fear is positive reinforcement. This is a training method that encourages desired behaviors through rewards and praise rather than punishment. When applied to helping a fearful puppy, this approach can work wonders by creating a safe and encouraging environment for them to face their fears. So I'm going to give you a couple steps today to go through, but the first one is identifying the fear. The first step is to identify what specifically triggers fear in my dog. This could be a particular person, object or situation, as we mentioned. Now, once you've pinpointed the source of fear, you can work on desensitizing your puppy to it.

Speaker 1: 2:48

Maggie is a sweet six-month-old Australian Labradoral who happens to be afraid of leaves Not leaves that are on the tree per se, but the leaves that have now fallen in my yard, and they're crunchy. So it makes sense. Her yard doesn't have large mature trees like my yard does, and she's not yet even old enough to have experienced dry, decaying leaves yet. So this is her first go at fall time in Utah. Anyway, she came over to my house this week for a play date with Baxter and right away I noticed she would not play in the leaves. So Baxter would be running around and she'd be chasing him, and then, as soon as he went in the leaves, she'd step or she'd kind of skirt around them. She'd run around the outskirts of the leaves until Baxter came out of the leaves to then continue chasing him. So aha, step number one I've identified the fear For sweet Maggie. It is dry, crunchy leaves that make a loud sound. So step number two what do we do about it?

Speaker 1: 3:40

Now that we've identified her fear is gradual exposure. So the next step is to expose your dog to the fear inducing stimulus gradually. It's really important that we remember the word gradually. Okay, they should be done in a controlled and safe manner. So, for example, if you're puppy scared of strangers, I might invite a trusted friend or family member to visit and interact with my dog in a calm and reassuring way. I'm going to set them up for success by giving my trusted friend and family member explicit instructions. Right, they're going to know exactly what to do and then my dog is also going to be set up for success because I know what I'm going to do with my dog. That's important.

Speaker 1: 4:20

Let's say your dog is afraid of sounds. I might start by playing recorded sounds in a different room on a low level. That's a really great way to introduce them to the noises. But I can control the volume of the noises, which is helpful Because if I see my puppy showing signs that they're not comfortable with the sounds, I get to make those adjustments to help my puppy win in that scenario. Now, with Maggie and the leaves, I let her see and hear Baxter playing in them from a safe distance. Even all go join in and play in the leaves. We have fun in the leaves and we let Maggie decide when she is ready to join in. So she's getting this nice gradual exposure to the crunchy sound of leaves and at the same time she's seen Baxter and I have a ball inside those leaves. But she gets to decide when she wants to participate, all right.

Speaker 1: 5:07

Step number three is positive associations. So while exposing our dogs to the fear trigger, use positive reinforcement techniques. Whenever our dog displays calm, non fearful behavior, I reward them with treats, praise and or affection, whatever your dog likes. This helps your puppy associate the fearful thing with positive experiences. It is okay to comfort your dog too, if they appear nervous. We also want to build confidence, so any interaction they give you with the fear stimulus, reward them. When I see Maggie looking at the leaves, I toss a food reward her way. When she steps into the outskirts of the leaves again more food rewards. I try to get her to play. Play is powerful. I ask her to catch your treat or go find her treat, as playing games helps them forget their fear and they start to feel better at the same time.

Speaker 1: 5:53

Step number four patience and consistency. Overcoming fear can be a slow process. I like to just jot down in a little notebook the little wins we have each day to keep me going and to be motivated to keep working on it. It's essential to be patient and consistent. Consistently rewarding positive behavior while gradually increasing exposure to whatever our dog's fear trigger is will help our dog build confidence over time. Never, ever, force your dog to face their fear. They will overcome it more quickly by letting them decide when they are ready, and in the meantime, my attitude is hey, no big deal, let's move past it and we will revisit it from a safe distance again.

Speaker 1: 6:33

Step number five, similar to step number four, would be to avoid punishment. So it's crucial to avoid any form of punishment when dealing with a fearful puppy. Punishment can exasperate the fear and cause trust issues, and we don't want that. We want to keep our strong bond with our dog and we want them to be able to trust us. That will keep them safe. So positive reinforcement, on the other hand, builds trust and that strong bond that we're talking about between you and your dog.

Speaker 1: 7:02

If you think you can help me like spiders by locking me in a room full of spiders, you are mistaken. Okay, it's not going to work. Putting Maggie in the middle of the leaf pile and hoping she enjoys it is not the best approach. Rather, baxter and I can play and have fun in the leaves and then watch for Maggie to become interested. Like we talked about in step four, there is a thing called opposition reflex, and if a dog feels forced to do something, they will often resist or push back. We do that too right as humans. So watch for the good and reward that. Never punish, be patient.

Speaker 1: 7:35

Number six is seek for professional help. In some cases, a puppy's fear may be deeply ingrained or extreme. In such cases, consulting a professional dog trainer or behaviorist can be beneficial. Enter Baxter and Bella. We can provide expert guidance and develop a tailored plan to help you and your dog overcome whatever fear they are facing. So, you guys, do you remember that helping a fearful puppy overcome their fears is a rewarding journey, but a long one. It can take time and again. It takes that patience and consistency, which can be hard, I know, but it's possible and doable and worth it in the end. Remember that working with your dog in a positive way strengthens the bond between you and them, which is what we want.

Speaker 1: 8:17

Positive reinforcement based on the principles of rewards, patience, consistency is a powerful method to help build your dog's confidence and alleviate or change their fears. Also, remember, you guys, that every dog is unique, right. That's what we love about them, and the key is to tailor your approach to their specific needs and fears. So talk to us if you need help getting a training plan going. But by using positive reinforcement techniques you can ensure that your puppy grows into a confident and happy adult dog, ready to face the world with enthusiasm and trust. I'll also plug in a little note for those older dogs who have a fear. They can definitely overcome them. It depends on how long they've been afraid of it and how strong that feeling is, on how long it will take us to change it. But it's absolutely possible. All right, you guys have a wonderful week. Happy training. I'll talk to you soon. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question, visit my site, baxterandbellacom, to contact me.