What is Fear?

Let’s start off with the formal definition:

Fear (noun) – “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.”

What does this mean for our dogs?

The important part of this definition is the word “belief”. That means that fear can be real or perceived. I have had several fearful dogs who were afraid of many different things. Some things were very logical and warranted, and some seemed irrational on the surface. The thing to remember about fear is that the physiological changes our body makes when we experience fear are very real. In that moment our dog is truly having a hard time dealing with what they are experiencing.

Think about how you feel when you are afraid of something. Snakes, spiders, clowns, flying, heights, these are all things that many of us humans are afraid of. If it is spiders, imagine a gigantic, hairy spider sitting on the table right next to you. How do you start to feel? Do you start to shift in your chair? Does your heart rate tick up a bit? Do you want to move away? Are you able to control those feelings?

This is exactly what our dogs experience when they are afraid of something, whether it be a human, another dog or the plastic bag blowing down the street. They are not giving you a hard time. They are having a hard time.

The Spectrum of Fear.

If we take a deeper dive into fear, we will realize that it is a spectrum, not a simple emotion. Dogs can exhibit a wide range of behaviors when they are afraid. From a dog who wants to run away (flight), to a dog who is barking & lunging (fight) and other steps in-between. These are all common signs of fearful behavior our dogs may display.

Body Language of a Fearful Dog:

Tucked tail: when a dog’s tail is lower than normal and/or completely hidden underneath their body.
Lowered head or Cowering: a dog may lower its head and hunch over when feeling threatened.
Trembling or Shaking: this may be just the legs or the entire body
Lip Licking: A dog may do a quick flick of their tongue on their lips.
Panting, Salivation & Drooling: A dog who is panting or breathing heavier or quicker than normal may be a sign of fear.
Looking away or Avoiding eye contact: A dog may avert their gaze when feeling uncomfortable or afraid.
Dilated Pupils: Eyes may appear wide or “saucer-like”.
Ears Pinned Back: A dog may pull their ears back as a sign of fear or anxiety.
Pacing, Trying to Escape or Hide: A dog may pace, move back & forth quickly, move behind you or try to find a way out of a situation.

The 3 F’s of Fear

We are all familiar with the concept of Fight or Flight. When a dog is afraid of something they typically resort to wanting to flee or escape the situation (flight) or stand up and put up a big display to keep the scary thing away (fight), but there are two other less common F’s.

Some dogs will Freeze. A dog who freezes is afraid of something in their environment and wants to bring the least amount of attention to themselves as possible. They are afraid to move either forward or backward and would like the scary thing to just go away.

Other dogs will Fidget. This is an interesting one for our dogs. This may be a dog who is frantic in nature, moving back and forth quickly, not really looking to escape or hide, but also not sure about what to do in that situation. They may jump up on you, but in a way that is very different from when they are happy to see you. There may be other outward displays of this fidgeting behavior.

So, my dog is fearful, now what?

Fear is one of those emotions that is challenging to overcome. By challenging, I mean you will have to be very consistent and aware of EVERYTHING in your dog’s environment ALL OF THE TIME. You cannot just choose your training times. Every day, every outing, every interaction is “training” for a fearful dog. Whether you want to be working on it or not, you are. If you don’t pause and take the time for your dog to feel safe, your dog will learn that the situation is NOT SAFE and the fear can actually get worse over time.

How do I help my dog?

While this is not a simple answer and may vary for each fearful dog, there is one overarching rule to follow:

NEVER push your dog in a fearful situation.

Whether your dog is afraid of greeting a person, another dog or of approaching the fire hydrant on the corner, the absolute worst thing you can do is force your dog closer and/or to interact with the scary thing.

New/Novel or Scary Objects or Surfaces: Calmly allow your dog the time and opportunity to sniff and investigate the object. You can bend down and be interested in the object. You can toss or put treats near it, but DO NOT PULL/PUSH your dog to approach it! If it is an object you are carrying, slowly put it on the floor and allow your dog to investigate it.

Be sure whatever your dog is approaching is TOTALLY SAFE. You don’t want something moving or making noise or that will confirm you dog’s fear of the object and set you back.

New/Unfamiliar People:

For many dogs, unfamiliar people can be a source of fear. Also, people carrying things, wearing hats, coats, or anything that makes them look “different” can cause a fearful dogs some angst.

Just like with “scary” objects, we also do not want to force our dog to “say hi” or “sit/stay” for petting by someone they are not familiar with and happy to see. For dogs who are unsure of meeting new people, tell the person to stand completely still, stay upright and do not bend, stare, reach or talk to the dog. Just be a statue and allow the dog to sniff and gain confidence.

Give the dog time to investigate the person and then have the dog move happily away from the person ideally without having to physically pull them away.

Other Dogs:

If your dog is afraid of another dog, we want to build confidence with a super calm dog who will not be overly interested in your dog. Just being in the same area and doing some training or playing with your dog with the other dog present can be very beneficial. The dogs can be at a distance and do not need to directly interact for your dog to gain confidence.

The use of gates may be better than leashes if the situation allows. You want to allow the fearful dog time and space to disengage if they need to. Do not put the fearful dog in a crate or small gated area, give them the most space possible so they can approach and re-treat as needed to feel comfortable.

Grooming, Body Handling & Restraint:

for some dogs being touched, held, restraint and especially groomed can be very challenging and scary. If you have a puppy, start all of this RIGHT NOW! The earlier, your dog gets used to all of the things we must do to them, the easier it is for them to tolerate it later in life. I use the word tolerate, because there are very few dogs in the world who are ever going to love getting their nails done, but we can teach them that it is necessary and not a traumatic event.

We will want to use something super high value to start! You can use a lick-mat smeared with something super yummy that keeps them entertained while you are brushing & touching. For many dogs this works great! For some dogs, they will refuse to lick because the handling is still too much for them.

In this case, using a marker and “shaping” the handling to be a good thing may be the way to go. This is more challenging and requires great timing and being able to break the process down into small pieces that the dog can be successful with. If you have a dog who is super stressed by handling, restraint or grooming, please reach out for some additional help!

Fast/Erratic Movements:

this is very common in fearful dogs and one of the reasons many dogs are afraid of smaller children. Kids are kids! They move quickly and erratically, they are noisy at times, they throw things. All of these can be VERY SCARY for a dog who is not used to that and even for some dogs who are.

Be sure to give your dog a safe place to disengage and get away from the hustle and bustle of daily life with kids. Whether that be a laundry room, bedroom, or crate, be sure that the kids understand that this space is completely off limits to them.

We also need to help the dog learn that human movements are not so scary. This is done through different techniques, but a simple one is to start with slow exaggerated movements and tossing treats. For example, bending over and then toss a treat or walking quickly across the room leaving a trail of treats behind you. Of course, all of these are subject to the dog’s level of fear, and we urge caution and professional help if there is any aggression or lack of progress within a few sessions.

Tools & Cleaning Devices:

many dogs are worried about loud tools, vacuums, etc. If your dog is afraid of these things, start by removing your dog from the area whenever you have to use them.

Vacuuming is a great example. Let your dog outside in the backyard, put them up/downstairs and then switch, put them in a car/garage, etc. while you are vacuuming. This is what we call management – changing the current environment for the dog to be successful.

The second part of this is the training/behavior modification. This is where we help the dog become less afraid of the “scary” thing. Continuing with our vacuum example, this may mean starting with the vacuum just sitting out in random places in the house. You can put treats on/around it for your dog to randomly find.

Once your dog is happily approaching a stationary vacuum, then we can start moving it. Here we can move it slowly a few inches forward and then “mark” and toss a treat.

Once your dog eats the treat and is back looking at the vacuum, move it a few more inches and mark/toss a treat. We continue with this movement until you can “fake” vacuum most of a room and your dog is happily waiting for you to toss the treats!

Now, we can move on to turning the vacuum on and getting your dog used to the sound it makes. This is best done with 2 people. It is best to start with the dog and vacuum in two different rooms. Have the other person turn on the vacuum for just a second while you will feed your dog super high-value treats (see: open bar/closed bar). We can gradually build up the time the vacuum is on as the dog is comfortable with it. The goal is to not see any of those fear signs before we proceed to the next level.

Once your dog is good with vacuum moving and the sound separately then and ONLY THEN should we bring them back together and proceed with the training.

Noisy and/or fast-moving vehicles, motorcycles, etc.:

Many dogs may have a challenge with vehicles, skateboards, bicycles, and other things that move quickly or noisily past them.

The best thing to do in this scenario is to give your dog as much space as possible from the moving object and feed them high value treats as the object moves past you and your dog. (see: open bar/closed bar). Over time, as your dog becomes more comfortable, you can move closer and continue the process.

Noise Sensitivity:

this may be the most challenging subset of fear to address. Our dog’s sense of hearing is so much better than our own that many times, we are not even aware of the noise our dog is worried about. The other challenge is we cannot avoid noises like we can some of our dog’s other triggers.

Here are some common noises dogs are sensitive to:

Thunderstorms
Fireworks
Smoke Detectors
Yelling, talking loud, sneezing
Banging noises or things dropping/falling

To work with noise sensitivity, we want to use something really yummy or fun to pair with the scary noise to make it less scary over time. Starting with a recording of the sound and playing it at a low volume while feeding high value treats can help in some cases. One word of caution, when working with noise sensitivity, you want to keep your sessions super short – like 2-3 repetitions of the sound and then end or you may risk actually making things worse.

There are also sound cd’s out there that I have had luck with, especially when played frequently as puppies. https://positively.com/dog-training/article/stress-fear-phobia-canine-noise-phobia-series

Will my Dog “just get over it”?

In some cases, the dog may get slowly acclimated to things and the fear may subside over time. Unfortunately, most of the time this doesn’t happen. In many cases, if left to it own devices, the fear actually generalizes to other similar triggers and gets worse over time.

A Word on “Aversive” Training Techniques.

There are three main philosophies when it comes to dog training.

“Old School” or punishment-based training – this is where choke, prong or shock collars are used to “teach” the dog what NOT to do. These techniques work by causing enough fear and/or pain that the dog stops doing the undesired behavior. You can hopefully figure out on your own how detrimental this can be for an already fearful dog.
“Balanced” Training – these “trainers” use a combination punishment-based training along with treat and reinforcing desired behaviors. While this sounds like a great “balance”, there is still the fear of pain and fear and the fact the dog never knows when there are going to be punished vs rewarded, it can actually make fearful dogs much more fearful.
Positive Reinforcement/Fear Free Training – This is where we fall. This does not mean that we don’t use techniques to stop our dog from doing unwanted behaviors, it means that we NEVER use pain or fear. We want to teach the dog what we want them to do vs. what we don’t want them to do. Positive Reinforcement training helps build the dogs confidence and is the only way to work with a fearful dog.

What if I need more help?

Working with a fearful dog is not an easy process. While we have laid out many of the most common cases of fear and some general guidelines on how to proceed, we absolutely recommend reaching out for help! There are so many factors in play when working with a fearful do that having professional help is the best step you can take.

If done incorrectly, fear can get worse quickly and over time lead to reactivity and/or aggression.