Archive for the ‘Fearful Behavior’ Category
“Showing” Your Dog There’s Nothing to Fear Won’t Work
While walking Coral recently, we encountered a fellow dog owner with a young Corgi. The woman stopped in the middle of the path as we approached, and it was clear she wanted her youngster to meet and greet us and Coral. Coral was more interested in locating birds and squirrels, but did take a moment to go up and sniff the Corgi before taking off again on her quest.
As we approached the little Corgi it was quite evident the pup was shy and wasn’t at all convinced that meeting us was going to be a good thing.
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Can You “Reward” Fear?
Many behavior problems in dogs involve emotional arousal. It is well known that emotions drive behaviors. If you are afraid of insects for example (Suzanne is a real ‘bug-a-phobe’!), you would have a difficult time holding still and being quiet if someone asked you to hold a spider in your hand. This would be virtually impossible for you if your fear is intense enough.
The same is true for our pets. If your dog is uncomfortable around children, asking him to ‘sit’ while a child pets him isn’t going to work well.