April Showers Bring Wallflowers

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WHY ARE SOME DOGS SHY/NERVOUS, AND HOW CAN YOU TELL?

Shy dogs can be confusing to interact with, because as humans we tend to not know the motivations behind scared, nervous, and fearful behavior. Here's  list of reasons a dog might be shy or nervous:

  • Past trauma with dogs, people, or certain environments.

  • Genetic predisposition. Sometimes genetics and early life stress can make it more likely that a dog will develop a higher sense of vigilance and anxiety. Factors like maternal fetal stress, malnutrition, or lack of safety when they were in their critical socialization period.

  • Not being properly socialized during their critical socialization period (8-20 weeks) to a varierty of different experiences.

  • Having physical punishment used on them at any point in their life.

  • Having a higher level of awareness and intelligence can also be a factor in anxiety levels in dogs. 

Fear, anxiety, and stress in dogs is shown in many ways, but the most important will be shown by their body language. When a dog is scared or anxious, their body langugage will tell us, although the signs may be easy to miss. Here are a few examples:

  • Inability to take food

  • Inability to settle/relax

  • Panting

  • Accidents (poop or pee)

  • Pacing

  • Ears pinned back

  • Trembling

  • Shaking off (as if they were wet)

  • Yawning

  • Wide eyes

  • Licking lips

  • Tail tucked

  • Freezing/stiffness

At the end of the day, gettting to know your individual dog's signs of stress is also very important, because they may differ from other dogs. Care for, train, and love the dog in front of you, not the dog you wish you had!

HOW CAN WE HELP NERVOUS DOGS FEEL MORE CONFIDENT?

When our dogs are fearful in new situations, around people, other dogs, or in new environments, it can feel a little overwhelming to figure out how to help them feel better. The first few pieces of advice that we have are simple!

Avoid known stressors most of the time if possible (other dogs, guests, etc) until you get a chance to do some desensitization work with them and your SSDT trainer.

If you can't avoid stressors fully, make sure you're helping your dog feel safe by creating distance from the triggers for them, so they don't feel the need to defend themselves.

Although we do recommend using food to help a dog who is uncomfortable around people to gain confidence, HOW you use the food can mean the difference between a successful and unsuccessful - and potentially unsafe - interaction.

It can feel tempting to immediately try having the new person offering the dog food out of their hand, but the issue with doing that is that most dogs are so food motivated that they will push past their fear in order to obtain the food. This puts the dog in a heightened state of fear while being close to the new person, increasing the risk for fear-based aggression with minimal precursors. 

Instead, we recommend using the Treat/Retreat protocol, which is outlined below:
 

  • Use high value food - something extra tasty, like small pieces of cheese, chicken, hot dog, or lunch meat, etc.

  • Tell the person to be aware of their body language. Make sure the person is not looming over the dog, and that they are facing perpendicular to them, rather than facing them squarely, avoiding direct eye contact.

  • Have the person start at whatever distance away from the dog your dog can handle (every dog has different thresholds for this). For more fearful dogs, we want to have them be far enough away that they are alert but not terrified.

  • If the dog starts to be comfortable enough to investigate the person, tell them to continue to ignore the dog. Some timid dogs may feel comfortable enough to come up and sniff new people. However, this is not an invitation to be touched, but rather an investigation of safety.

  • Try having the person toss the treat behind the dog, so that the dog has to move away from the person to go get it. Try to do this gently underhand rather than overhand.

  • If the dog does not immediately re-approach, that’s fine. Continue having the person tossing food away so that they must create distance between the two of them to get it. Aim for at least 5-10 treat tosses per session, multiple times a day if possible. 

  • Once the dog starts understanding the concept, help them to generalize the skill. You’ll want to practice this in many situations. Is the dog lying down? Every time the person passes, they can play treat/retreat and then leave their space? Play it in the yard, in different rooms in the house, in different situations and at different times.

  • Keep an eye out for more relaxed body language along the way. Higher tail carriage, soft eyes, yawning, stretching, loose body, wagging, shaking off (as if they were wet) are all calming signals that a dog is becoming more comfortable. Once they are consistently choosing to stay close enough to the person to touch (in 3-5 sessions in a row), then the new person may begin offering treats out of their hand.

  • Next, if the dog is comfortable with taking treats by hand, the person may move on to offering brief, gentle touch. The least intimidating way is using an underhanded touch on the underside of their chin, neck, and chest area. We strongly recommend using only brief touch at first, and practicing consent checks throughout the interaction. If this startles the dog or they move away, go back to tossing treats away so the dog can create space to feel safe again!

We recommend to use the Treat/Retreat protocol for any new introductions. This is a great way for dogs to meet potentially scary strangers! Instruct any friends, family members or acquaintances to begin by ignoring and tossing treats from a distance.

You can also help your dog to decompress after a stressful interaction by prompting them to do behaviors like sniffing - extra points if you’re using a snuffle mat or cardboard box for foraging. Since dogs can have anxiety and fear for lots of different reasons, it's ALWAYS important to advocate for them and make sure that we're asking for space to help them feel as safe as possible when they're with us.

Like we mentioned in our tricks newsletter last month, trick training can help shy dogs gain confidence in new situations over time,  which is a skill dogs can practice in our Wallflower class, a group class geared towards dogs who are a bit nervous around new dogs, new people, and new environments. Our next Wallflower will be offered Fall 2023, but check out our signup for group classes below to see what we're offering in the next couple months!

TRAINEE OF THE MONTH

MARCEL THE CAVAPOO

Marcel is a 1 year old Cavapoo who is currently taking his second round of wallflower class.  He lives with his doodle brother Moose who he loves very much! 
His parents are total champs; they are dedicated to making him more comfortable and confident by using a combination of vet-prescribed medication, teaching tricks, taking appropriate group classes (Wallflower), giving stress detoxes, and approaching all aspects of life very slowly and intentionally.

For the last year they have sent Shelby confidence updates via pictures and videos to document his progress. He recently had a huge breakthrough in wallflower class and we are all so ecstatic for him!

We commend their patience; Marcel (and Moose!) is so lucky to have them as their guardians. Great job, Marcel and family!