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 .

 

For more information Contact :   

EMAIL

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.

Dog Training In Buenos Aires Argentina

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)
             1 (818) 827-6256   (USA)
Mobile: 54 (911) 5922-0712

Email: info@petsventura.com
Skype: petsventura
Web: www.petsventura.blogspot.com

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.

Teaching Your Dog to Stop Barking

The Secrets of Communicating With Your Cat

You and your cat may talk different languages, but that doesn't mean that you can't talk with each other. While every cat is different, there is a common code of expression that you can learn to read easily.

Indicators such as the look in your cat's eyes, the tone of his voice, the position of her ears, and the motion of her tail can provide important clues regarding feelings and intentions. Some people feel silly speaking to cats, because they think animals can't understand them.

Yet these same people may feel comfortable carrying on long one-sided conversations with infants. Cats do receive information from your conversation: praise, comfort, and a sense of security.

The more cats are spoken to, the more they will speak back. You will learn a lot from your cat's wide vocabulary of chirps and meows. You will know when it is time to get up , when your cat is feeling affectionate, or when your cat is feeling threatened or is in pain.

Your cat doesn't necessarily have something urgent to tell you; a passing meow in the hallway may be a simple hello. You can also tell a great deal about what cats want or how they are feeling simply by the look in their eyes or their reaction to things.

Are your cat's ears twitching in your direction like satellite dishes when you are speaking? He is absorbing everything you are saying.

Does your cat's back rise up to meet your hand when you pet him? This means your cat is enjoying this contact with you.

Does his back seem to collapse away under your slightest touch? Your cat is on his way somewhere and doesn't want to be held up, even by a favorite person. Please send us your experience communicating with your Cat .

Usted y su gato pueden hablar en dos idiomas diferentes, pero eso no significa que no puedan comunicarse entre ustedes. Mientras que cada gato es diferente, hay códigos comunes de expresión que puede aprender a leer fácilmente.

Los indicadores como la mirada del gato, el tono de su voz, la posición de sus orejas y el movimiento de su cola pueden proveer importantes pistas con respecto a sus sentimientos e intenciones.

Algunas personas se sienten tontas al hablar con un gato porque piensan que al ser animales no pueden entenderlos. Sin embargo, estas mismas personas se sienten bien hablando con bebés.

Los gatos reciben efectivamente información de lo que usted les diga: reconocimiento, comfort, y una sensación de seguridad. Usted aprenderá mucho sobre el amplio vocabulario que su gato utiliza de ronroneos y miaus. Usted sabá cuándo es hora de levantarse (al menos para su gato) cuándo el gato está siendo afectuoso, o cuando el animal se siente amenazado o siente dolor.

Su gato no tiene necesariamente algo urgente que comunicarle. Un miau al pasar en el hall puede ser simplemente hola. También puede descubrir mucho de lo que el gato quiere o siente con sólo mirarlo a los ojos o analizar sus reacciones.

Su gato mueve las orejas como dos satélites cuando usted habla? Está absorbiendo todo lo que usted dice.

Su gato arquea la espalda cuando lo acaricia? Le está diciendo que disfruta el contacto con usted. Su gato parece quebrar la espalda al menor contacto?

Su gato está en camino a hacer algo más y no quiere ser detenido, ni siquiera por su persona favorita.

Por favor envíenos su experiencia comunicándose con su gato

Consultant Canine

As the Consultant Canine I teach you to live in perfect harmony with your dog. Every dog is unique and its well being and yours is my top priority.

Having studied dog psychology and with a life time’s experience of being around dogs, I use gentle, kind methods to help you train your dog and build a better understanding of canine behavior and language.

I teach you to think and work in a different way, using the latest scientific research, which is starting to question our understanding of “dominance” in the dog "pack" and the correct use of discipline as a way of training dogs or changing a unwanted behavior.

I have a strong commitment to up-dating my knowledge and am currently studying an advanced course in treating severe aggression.

Consultations are individual and done at your home, With all the family present where possible.

each consultation is specific to your dog and its needs.

practical advice is given on the day  and a tailor made behavior program will follow .

Normally Unless it's a very severe case, one consultation is sufficient.

Contact us:

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Phone:

+54 (11) 5292-6001 (Argentina’ Office)