How To Deal With Dog Fear of Strangers

Dog Fear of Strangers

Fear of strangers is a situation that is very serious and should be treated with behavior modification. While you are treating his behavior, it is imperative that you manage him around strangers . Every time he is exposed to the fearful situation, the behavior becomes deeper ingrained and will be harder to modify; along with being risky and absolute unfair to your dog.

In order to modify a fearful dog’s behavior, you have to change your dog’s emotional response to the scary situations. You are changing your dog’s fear response to a positive response when the stranger approaches. This is done through a slow process of systematic desensitization and counter.

 

Each person has their comfort zone. Once someone violates our comfort zone, our body language changes, we back away, put our hands up, warn the other person to back up and if all of those warning are ignored, we will either retreat or make the other person retreat with violence.

Now imagine, every time someone entered your comfort zone and when you started giving off your warnings, your friend poked you in the arm and forced you to stand there and be nice when all you want to do is get away. You certainly don’t feel that things are fine, you feel threatened! If this is repeated often, one or more of the following will happen, you will drop your warning system altogether and just go to violence, your zone will get bigger and bigger and you will start to feel threatened unless the person is farther and farther away, you will start to avoid your friend, you won’t trust your friend any longer, or you will lash out at your friend.

 

This situation is very similar to dogs that have a fear of strangers, or any stimuli that is scary to the dog. I constantly see and hear about people forcing their fearful dogs to interact with strangers and/or punishing them for growling at the stranger. As in the above scenario, the well meaning owner is playing the role of the friend - causing the dog more psychological suffering, increasing aggression, and teaching the dog that their owner is not to be trusted.

 

First, you need to realize that your dog’s growl is a warning to you and everyone around that he is uncomfortable with the situation he finds himself in.

 

Your job as his protector and friend is to help him feel safe!

Listen to him when he is clearly telling you he is uncomfortable and remove him from the situation in his time of need. Do not let strangers approach him, even if they insist! Dogs that are pushed past their comfort zone will bite.

 

Usually your dog’s growl is not his first sign of being uneasy. Learning and paying attention to your dog’s body language should be something you do so often it becomes second nature.

 

When a stranger approaches, your fearful dog has two options:

Retreat or make the stranger retreat!

 

So, if you have a fearful dog, the bottom line is — hire a professional trainer and address the situation sooner rather than later. Be sure the trainer use positive reinforcement methods and choose one that you have a connection with or whose methods you feel most comfortable with. With some work and commitment you can change your dog’s fear response to a happy .

 

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PHONE: (011) 5292-6001 ARG

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Anderson has been training pets for over 30 years. He offers in home training, behavior consulting and private obedience classes for dogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every animal has a unique personality and temperament

Jim Anderson Can Assist You with Your Dog Behavior Challenges

Every animal has a unique personality and temperament. Because of this, every animal has different training needs. This requires a unique trainer, with a wide range of knowledge and experience. Jim Anderson is with many years of experience. Whether you want to train a young animal, an older animal or have particular behavioral issues that need to be addressed, Jim Anderson can help! Because you love your animal, you can count on Jim Anderson to train with love and compassion. Jim Anderson relies solely on positive reinforcement training methods.

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JIM ANDERSON HELPING YOU TO BE YOUR DOG'S BEST FRIEND!

Puppy Rearing
Nipping, house-training, chewing, jumping, and walking on a leash! 

Basic Manners
Leash waking, jumping, come when called, stay, and more! 

Behavior Counseling
Separation anxiety, Aggression, Fearfulness, Destructiveness.

Phone Consults

If you are outside our travel radius or just can't get an apt. quite yet, I can still help. Having a trainer just a phone call away can be a valuable life line.

Jim Anderson has successfully trained thousands of dogs ( people and their dogs) because he focus on rewarding dogs for getting things right instead of correcting them for getting things "wrong".

Each year millions of dogs (and cats) are surrendered to shelters. Sadly, most of them are euthanize.  The number one reason is because they are not trained. If dogs could train themselves I’m sure they would. Those that are not disposed of are living in homes - being ignored, yelled at, tied up or worse. Therefore, training is critical to a dogs’ well being. In Many cases their life depends on it. Since dogs cannot train themselves; it is our responsibility to teach them. There are a good amount of dogs whose guardians do care and are proactive in helping them to learn.

Jim Anderson is devoted to dogs and committed to you! All training (obedience / behavior) is approached from a holistic perspective. In other words, he looks at more than just how your dog is behaving. 

Office : 54 (11) 5292-6001 (Argentina)
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Email: info@petsventura.com
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Dogs Need Guidance not Empathy

All kinds of problems can be created by the way many humans treat dogs in certain situations. One of the key things to remember is that dogs need leadership and not sympathy.

A prime example of of this would be a dog startled by the sound of a loud bang or firework. In the wild other dogs and certainly the pack leader would ignore the sound if it doesn't flee). However as humans we see the dog scared and rush over to shower with sympathy, “don’t worry, come here, cuddle etc etc ”. This is a huge mistake and all it is doing is re-enforcing to the dog that the noise was something worthy of being scared of.

Another example would be rewarding bad or unwanted behavior in a similar way, not necessarily by doing anything wrong, but by the dog having a slight accident or mishap, e.g slipping on a floor, and the human showering the dog with worry and possibly creating the dog a kind of phobia of the event so the dog will react in a similar way on impulse in the future. Whereas if the human had remained calm and simply checked the dog was okay and then moved on the dog would do the same. Dogs Need Leadership not Sympathy

Your opinion is welcome!!!!

©Jim Anderson · PetsVentura Pet Relocation Solutions · 2012

Are There Signs of Depression in Your Pet?

You don’t have to own a dog long to understand that they feel emotions as deeply, or perhaps more deeply, than we do. Those trusting eyes show emotions so clearly, and one emotion that dogs can experience is depression.  According to experts, the signs and treatment of depression in dogs are not all that different than in humans.  Without the right help, pets can stay depressed for a long time.

Depression symptoms in a dog are similar to those in a person. They often become withdrawn and listless, no longer enjoying activities they once loved. Sudden changes, such as the loss of another pet in the family or even one of the humans, can cause these problems. Because these symptoms can indicate a medical problem, they should always be checked by a vet.

Giving your dog a lot of attention when he seems depressed is tempting, but experts warn that it is not a good idea. Unfortunately, rewarding the moping behavior will reinforce it. Instead, start trying to engage your dog in activities he once enjoyed, and then reward him when he seems happier. You might even want to book a stay in a pet friendly hotel to get his mind off of the changes, especially if he liked traveling before the depression hit. You can talk to your vet about depression medications as a last resort. The most important thing is to get help before the dog sinks too deeply into depression. If you do, you will both be happier.

Faced with any pet behavioral issues, please contact Jim Anderson, Pet Behaviorist. 

Contact By Email: http://www.petsventura.blogspot.com.ar/p/contact-us.html

Referências sobre nossos serviços estão disponiveis sob consulta.

©Jim Anderson · PetsVentura Pet Relocation Solutions · 2012

Dog Fear of Strangers

Fear of strangers is a situation that is very serious and should be treated with behavior modification. While you are treating his behavior, it is imperative that you manage him around strangers . Every time he is exposed to the fearful situation, the behavior becomes deeper ingrained and will be harder to modify; along with being risky and absolute unfair to your dog.

In order to modify a fearful dog’s behavior, you have to change your dog’s emotional response to the scary situations. You are changing your dog’s fear response to a positive response when the stranger approaches. This is done through a slow process of systematic desensitization and counter.

Each person has their comfort zone. Once someone violates our comfort zone, our body language changes, we back away, put our hands up, warn the other person to back up and if all of those warning are ignored, we will either retreat or make the other person retreat with violence.

Now imagine, every time someone entered your comfort zone and when you started giving off your warnings, your friend poked you in the arm and forced you to stand there and be nice when all you want to do is get away. You certainly don’t feel that things are fine, you feel threatened! If this is repeated often, one or more of the following will happen, you will drop your warning system altogether and just go to violence, your zone will get bigger and bigger and you will start to feel threatened unless the person is farther and farther away, you will start to avoid your friend, you won’t trust your friend any longer, or you will lash out at your friend.

This situation is very similar to dogs that have a fear of strangers, or any stimuli that is scary to the dog. I constantly see and hear about people forcing their fearful dogs to interact with strangers and/or punishing them for growling at the stranger. As in the above scenario, the well meaning owner is playing the role of the friend - causing the dog more psychological suffering, increasing aggression, and teaching the dog that their owner is not to be trusted.

First, you need to realize that your dog’s growl is a warning to you and everyone around that he is uncomfortable with the situation he finds himself in.

Your job as his protector and friend is to help him feel safe!

Listen to him when he is clearly telling you he is uncomfortable and remove him from the situation in his time of need. Do not let strangers approach him, even if they insist! Dogs that are pushed past their comfort zone will bite.

Usually your dog’s growl is not his first sign of being uneasy. Learning and paying attention to your dog’s body language should be something you do so often it becomes second nature.

When a stranger approaches, your fearful dog has two options:

Retreat or make the stranger retreat!

So, if you have a fearful dog, the bottom line is — hire a professional trainer and address the situation sooner rather than later. Be sure the trainer use positive reinforcement methods and choose one that you have a connection with or whose methods you feel most comfortable with. With some work and commitment you can change your dog’s fear response to a happy .

 

Jim Anderson has been training pets for over 30 years. He offers in home training, behavior consulting and private obedience classes for dogs.

Adiestramiento Canino Personalizado con PetsVentura

Este modelo de adiestramiento es el más recomendado. 

Consiste en veinte sesiones de una hora diaria, de lunes a viernes, a las que el cliente acude con su perro y trabaja con él, siguiendo las indicaciones del instructor. 

Al finalizar la clase, vuelve a casa con su mascota.

Es el recomendado porque se consiguen varios objetivos:

1. Acceder a los llamados ejercicios básicos: caminar a nuestro lado sin que tire de la correa, sentarse cuando paramos de caminar, sentarse a la orden y quedarse quieto hasta que le recoja, tumbarse a la orden y permanecer quieto hasta que le recoja, acudir a la llamada y sentarse delante del dueño.

2. Al ser el dueño el que realiza el trabajo de adiestramiento, se establece la jerarquía directamente, algo que es muy importante para la relación con su perro a lo largo de toda su vida, puesto que la jerarquía es la estructura social de los caninos. 

3. Incrementar la relación con el animal, ya que dedicándose veinte horas de tiempo solo para estar con él permite que esto se convierta en su mayor motivación. 

4. El dueño aprende a manejar las técnicas de obediencia pues practica como corregir las conductas no deseadas y cómo premiar a su perro por las conductas deseadas.

Contacte con nosotros

+5411 5292-6001 (Argentina)

+1818 627-6256