Building Your Dog's Confidence

[jude09]

Hello guys!

I made this topic because I'm sure there are dog owners who are dealing with dogs that are simply too shy for their own good. Sharda even told me about a certain subscriber's dog that was afraid of human males.

I'm sure that dogs that are too shy may have had a very traumatic experience before which explains their behavior.

What comes into my mind to help dogs that are too shy is to simply slowly socialize them. Start from the home and slowly build it up when you think your dog is ready to move on to the next challenge.

It's not advisable to expose your dog to too much stuff on his/her first day as it can be a traumatic experience rather than a helpful one.

What do you guys think? Do you have any other tips or suggestions in helping build your dog's confidence?

[Sarah]

For the shy dog socializing would be very important, but with one dog at a time. I wouldn't overwhelm the shy dog.

For the dog that is afraid of males, I would need to know what the males are doing when they are around the dog, including hand gestures, eye contact etc. When a dog is gender fearful, the gender should give the dog eye contact at all, not talk to the dog. Ignore the dog, and allow the dog to come to them. Of course this will take time. When given eye contact, the dog could turn aggressive based on the fear alone.

[jude09]

Yes I agree Sarah. Socialization really plays an important part especially for puppies.

[SSimmons]

Has anyone ever heard of "The Perfect Dog" training?

[Sarah]

No SSimmons I haven't heard about it. Can you tell us about it?