Working with a Fearful or Nervous Dog (Beaux)

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Is your dog nervous or unsure? Does your dog become stressed when in new places? How do you work with a dog that barks and growls at you?

Too often, we judge a dog who growls as being dangerous or dominant. If a pit bull or American bull dog looks a certain way and growls, they may have a hard time gaining acceptance in society because of the misguided information about these dogs. Building MUTUAL trust with our dogs is key in giving them the best life that we can. Beaux was a recent dog in my class. He has an unbreakable bond with him mom and trainer, but when it comes to strangers, he’s not so accepting.

Beaux is a dog that I think many of you might relate with as far as your own dogs are concerned.

Question: How do you guys build trust with your dog?

Whatever you’re dealing was an issue of Anxiety or nervousness or anything that Is not really voluntary from a dog the Number one ingredient is time beau is an American Bulldog he recently attended One of my classes and the first few Times when I would go up to him he would Bark as I would say stay away where he Would growl at me part of my job in the Beginning when meeting a new dog is to Determine ok ehh why are they growling Why are they barking at me is it because They’re aggressive is it because they’re Unsure or what you know part of part of Dog training is trust and you have to Build trust with dogs as well a lot of Trainers will tell you that this is a Dog trying to be dominant trying to Claim their space beau is simply saying Look I’m really not comfortable right Now I don’t know who you are I don’t Know what all this is give me some space Yeah I’m gonna watch from a distance Over here let them adapt and let them Acclimate to the environment We’re gonna go to beau right now last Week when I met Beau’s first time I met Him he’s a little nervous so I’m trying To see if he’s just a little bit better This week now that he’s been here a Session at this point my opinion is that Beau is not likely to be aggressive at All I’ve been observing him I have a Pretty good sense of how he’s going to

React but the reason I’m going up to him Cautiously is to simply try and put him At ease I don’t want to do anything that Would increase his stress level I’m Trying to give him treats here but you Can see that he’s not very interested in The treats and by the way in my classes We don’t use dog treats we use real Turkey meat usually when a dog will not Take a treat especially real meat where They otherwise would say in a home Environment that often means they’re Experiencing at least some moderate Stress it’s very important not to ask a Dog to learn new concepts while in that Mindset the primary objective is to Simply get them comfortable with their Surroundings and their environment so After a few minutes when I felt like You’ve gotten settled I came back up to See how he was doing my goal was to Simply get a hand sniff that’s how we Shake hands with a dog as people we Should offer our hand now how long have You had back since he was 6 weeks he’s Incredibly bonded to you and it shows That’s very Good morning he would still slip back Into that mindset of being uncertain and Unsure of his environment good That’s dog training you celebrate small Bits of progress you’re not just going To go from A to Z just like that Growling often means just a bit of

Uncertainty and that’s kind of what We’re dealing with with him and they Look at me look at you Really good confidence there can I try And get a bit closer to him and see I Love this here I’m able to get nice and Close so that’s good look at that Let’s do an off leash walking few weeks Ago him being off leash in this setting Was out of the question if you know what Motivates them that you can somehow try And use that to incentivize them you Respond to a ball right now I was quite pleased to find out that Bo Had an interest in toys there’s a Play-doh expression that I’m fond of you Can learn more about someone in an hour Of play than a lifetime of conversation I’ve always found that to be really true With dogs in particular that if you can Manage to get them playing with you that That really accelerates a bond between a Person and a dog ready here we go I’m Trying to build trust now with Bo sure Enough he started to brighten up a bit I Even let me scratch under his chin the Difference now though is that he’s Actually playing with the ball with me He’s interacting with me there’s still Some minor growling going on but it’s He’s not so stressed to the point where He’s saying I won’t even interact with You and play this game with you I’m Trying to play fetch a fairly short

Range with him trying to get him Comfortable interacting with me at a Closer range only on his terms what he’s Comfortable with though because that’s The only way a candy when you’re trying To truly bring about comfort from the Inside out with a dog he is very Attached to mom he knows this is the Woman that I look to for everything he Was basically saying I’m not sure about This whole environment I’m not sure About this guy but I am sure about you This is my final training session with Bo and you see his tail Waggin he’s a Lot more enthused about here and that’s What it’s about the best way you’re Gonna get your dog comfortable in Various environments is working with Them in various environments Then one of the most challenging things That we cover in my class is how to Teach a dog to stay while distracted I Wanted to see how he did on the most Challenging thing in the class that’s What I’m talking about that boom perfect I’ll take that all day that’s good I thought play dead would be a good Trick for Bo because we were going to Encourage him to get on his back Voluntarily now this is something he Would have never attempted just a few Training sessions ago when your dog does Something for the first time like that You’ve got to let him know in a huge way

How much you love that sometimes we need To be extra patient with our dogs and we Have to reach deep in order to give them That reassurance that they need to be Comfortable with their surroundings and With their life and if we do it right in The beginning then we prevent a lot of Potential problems from developing later On I think Bo did an amazing job and it Was a real honor having him in my class My question for you is how did you or do You currently build trust with your dog Let me know in the comments below make Sure you like me on facebook Facebook.com slash these act George Click thumbs up and we’ll see you guys In the next one bye