I have been rehabilitating an extremely submissive/fearful dog for two
years now with some success. During this process, I have learned a lot
from trainers, books, videos and my own trial and error. Following are
some thoughts on your situation from one pet owner to another.
Your dog will go through a lot of changes as she matures. The most
difficult time will likely be from 12-18 months, your dog's teenage
years. However, behavioural changes and surprises can pop-up at
anytime, particularly prior to 2 years old, depending on how fast or
slow your dog matures. So, your dog's unexpected reaction could be an
indication of changes your dog is progressing through.
Or, maybe you just never had the opportunity to see this side of her
before. I did not learn until my dog was 7 and 1/2 years old that she
was afraid of people in knit caps. She didn't even recognize one of
her best human friends when she was wearing a knit cap! I live in the
south, so she just had never had the occassion to see someone in a
knit cap before that day. She has no problem with baseball caps...but
the knit cap terrified her. It's difficult to predict the effect that
subtle changes may have on a dog. Someone wearing a knit cap, to you
or I, looks pretty much like themselves. But to a dog, their whole
body shape has changed. This can be quite startling and disconcerting
to a dog!
Cynthia referenced the effect poor socialization may have had on your
dog to have contributed to her current behavior. Your dog's primary
window of socialization occurred prior to 4 months. After this point,
socialization won't have nearly as big of an impact as easily, but it
can help. Here are a couple of articles on puppy socialization from
The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors.
http://www.apbc.org.uk/article5.htm
http://www.apbc.org.uk/article6.htm
However, at this point you will likely need to desensitize your dog to
those things she is afraid of in order to assuage her excessively
fearful behaviour. Here is to an article on Counter Conditioning and
Desensitization from the Animal Humane Society.
http://www.animalhumanesociety.org/bhv_desensitization.asp
That said, I would highly suggest that you take your dog to a very
good trainer who is particularly good with behavioural issues. Ask
your vet for a couple of recommendations of trainers who other clients
have found helpful with solving behavioural problems in shy/fearful
dogs.
You may also wish or need to consult with a certified behaviourist,
such as one Board Certified by the American College of Veterinary
Behaviorists.
http://www.dacvb.org/Typo3/DACVBHome/index.php
A board certified behaviourist may be able to help with more serious
behavioural problems that you are not able to address with common
training methods. They may also be able to assist you with medications
that may be able to help your dog.
The bottom-line is that if your dog's behaviour is this troubling, she
should be seen in person by a professional for the best assessment,
treatment and training program.
You may want look for a trainer that uses clicker training. I found
clicker training to be extremely helpful with my fearful dog. There is
some speculation that the actual sound of the "click" has some
nuerological significance to the dog. I don't know about that, but I
do think that the positive association the dog makes with the sound
helps to assuage the fearful feelings in addition to treats, praise,
etc.
Another helpful technique I've adopted is to try to never force or
lure my fearful dog to do anything. That only seems to make her more
fearful. Instead, I try to think of a way to get her to make the
decision no her own to do whatever it is that she is afraid to do. For
example, if she's afraid of putting her paws on a chair, I would just
set a treat on the seat of the chair so that she has to put her paws
on the chair to get it. I don't say or do anything else, just wait for
her to decide to touch the chair so she can get the treat. Once she
has decided that getting the treat is more important than being afraid
of the chair, her fear of the chair diminishes significantly.
Agility training can also help to build a dog's confidence. It can be
frustrating to train a fearful dog in agility, especially if you , as
a handler, have never tried agility. However, each obstacle your dog
overcomes can help to build her confidence. For me and my dog, the
frustrating process was well worth it.
Good luck! |
