Fear of Going Out

Hi there Stan
Thank you for your email regarding Jerry.
To me this sounds like most of the problems revolve around his fear. Unfortunately part of the problem will be genetics as it sounds like the mother is also slightly fearful. But the good news is that with time, effort and training you can correct many of the problems he is having. But i must warn you this can take a long time and patience and consisitency is crucial.

To start with you Jerry needs to have a good level of all round obedience. This is vital in correcting any problem. Work with Jerry for 10 minutes twice a day at least on the basic commands of sit, stay and come. He may be great at these already but it helps to sharpen these up anyway.

The aim of all the training i am going to suggest is to reinforce strong confident behaviour and to ignore any behaviour that is fearful. In this way Jerry will learn that he gets attention and praise for being confident and hopefully this will overcome some or all of his fearfulness.
Now with this method of reinforce and ignore you must always be consisitent as well as anyone else in the household. Whatever the circumstance, wherever you are or whatever he is doing your response must be the same. Giving him mixed signals will only confuse him and could make the problem worse. I know this is hard from my own experience but it is very worthwhile.

Now i would not recommend taking Jerry out for walks or to public places for the next few weeks. Keep him at home and bring friends and other animals to see him. Start with people and then later you can try animals. Always one at a time and you will need a number of animals.
So the idea is to have Jerry sitting in your front yard or hallway. The people coming must be warned and told how to behave around him.
Your visitors must:
- Not directly approach the dog at any time, this will only increase his anxieties

- Not stare the dog in its eyes, direct eye contact is intimidating for a submissive, fearful type because it reminds the animal that you are a predator. A predator or potentially threatening person/animal will keep eyes on eyes and quietly approach head on (which is most often how we approach our pets without realizing it).

- Talk in quiet voices while the dog is around. A big booming voice would not help in the beginning, in time this should not matter though

- If the dog becomes agitated, let it into a quiet room.

- After a while have the visitor get down to the dogs level (i.e sit on the floor) and if the dog seems comfortable it may approach the visitor.The visitor should not pat the dog, or look it in the eye unless the dog seems comfortable.

Each person should be with the dog for as long as it takes for jerry to get comfortable. Whenever Jerry becomes fearful eg backing away ignore him COMPLETELY. This means no eye contact, turning away, not talking to him and not patting him. This helps reinforce that fear is not the appropriate response.

The second Jerry takes a step forward or comes out of a crouch you must immediately praise him quietly and give him attention. This reinforces that confidence is the right thing.
Continue with visitors in this way being patient. Jerry should never feel trapped, always give him an open doorway or access to a safe place. Making him feel trapped or "flooding" him as some people do is the worse thing that could happen.

Once he is becoming more confident with people over a few weeks you may then want to introduce another animal. Make sure the other dog is not too big or small, is well behaved and doesn't get over excited. We want a quiet companion to help build up Jerry's confidence. Get the dog to sit a way away. Get Jerry to slowly approach whle on a lead. Stop and make him sit every metre or so and give him a food reward. Again ignore the fear and reward him when he shows confidence. Let him choose how fast he wants to interact. On the first few meetings don't let the dogs play. This can be done later but only if he is ready and play is gentle. it is probably best to keep both dogs on leads for a while.
Keep doing this with different dogs and people.

Once he is comfortable with this you can try walking again. Choose a quiet area. When a dog or person is approaching make Jerry sit. Again reward and ignore as appropriate. If he gets too fearful take him away.
Slowly build up how many people he meets etc.

This process will take a long time but you must take things slow and give Jerry the chance to build his confidence. If it gets too much for him at any stage go back to the previous step to rebuild some confidence. just remember whatever the situation reward the behaviour you want and ignore the ones you don't want. Good Luck

Kind Regards
Todd Field

Hi Stan

Going by that i would say treat him as a subordinate dog when he is acting that way eg with other dogs and people. But at home treat him as normal and be the alpha dog We don't want him becoming out of hand at home.

Kind Regards
Todd Field