What Causes Fear in Our Dogs?

• previous experiences
• lack of early (proper) socialization
• punishment based training methods
• genetics

Why does my dog act this way if they are afraid?

Fearful dogs typically fall into one of two camps. Those dogs who flee from danger by running, cowering or hiding behind something including their owners or dogs who fight. Fighting in this context can mean putting up a big growling, snarling, barking. lunging display at the end of their leash.

This display may seem like a confident dog who wants to attack, but many times that display is the exact opposite. Don’t get me wrong if put in a dire situation, that dog most certainly will attack, but most times this display is to get the scary thing to go away and many times it works.

What do you do when you are out on a walk and your dog does this? You likely move away from the ‘scary‘ thing quickly (and embarrassedly). Or the other person and dog keep moving in a direction away from your dog. What is happening here in your dog’s eyes?

Scary Thing == React == It goes away

The same thing happens when a dog barks out a window as a delivery driver approaches. The person approaches, your dog reacts and the person goes away. Your dog doesn’t understand the person was going to leave anyway. All of this unintentional reinforcement can make things continue to escalate.

This is one of the reasons why management is so important. We will cover the specifics of that later on.