Why is Fear so Frustrating?

My daughter is home for a short visit with her two year old smooth collie, Westley.  Westley is a delightful, intuitive, outgoing, playful young dog.  He is also, on occasion, a very fearful dog.  Westley doesn't like garbage trucks (we've talked about those monsters before!), but lately, it seems, he's afraid of a lot of other noises as well.  This isn't unusual; I've had many clients whose noise-sensitive dogs have multiple anxiety producing triggers.  The problem is that Westley's new fears are keeping him from going on his morning walks.  He will sometimes even choose not to eat his breakfast in favor of hiding out in his crate until "the coast is clear."  The bigger issue is that they live in a large, busy apartment complex where there is currently construction going on.  And they live off of a major street where you can hear trucks going by all the time.  Noises are a way of life in the suburbs and Westley seems to be overwhelmed.  This is creating frustration and stress for my daughter as well since she worries about Westley's well-being; she knows he needs his walks, but she doesn't want to force him to go if he's just going to be terrified for the whole walk.  Now that they are home, I decided to work with Westley myself to see if I could help him move past his latest fears with those noises in the environment he now associates with morning activities.

Westley ate breakfast with my two collies just fine, ran around in the yard playing with toys etc. in the morning, so we seemed to be off to a good start.  As I began to leash up the older collies, however, I noticed Westley beginning to pant and quiver.  When I hooked on his leash, he scampered off to hide in his crate!  Ozzie and I coaxed him out of his crate and we headed out on the walk. Mind you, there were no trucks, garbage or otherwise, in the neighborhood when we left for our walk. I talked to Westley using an upbeat voice and reinforced him for being out there.  I encouraged him to sniff and offered treats when he did so.  He was hesitant at first, but then started to be easily distracted by sniffing and the treats became more reinforcing.  He showed interest in another friendly dog we saw on the walk, took treats from a neighbor, and seemed to be doing better overall.  Then we saw a moving truck and he started to pull towards home. I used a calming handling technique to reset him and lower his anxiety so that we didn't have to rush home and he didn't have to be overly anxious.  Westley was fine on his evening walk, but was right back to anxious again the next morning so we chose to load the dogs in the car and take them on a hike instead.  I have high hopes for Westley as he is bright and he wants to please.  I also know that my daughter will put in the time and work to help him move past this.  With clients, however, I like to give them real world examples like this one and then try to summarize their "game plan" so that they feel less frustrated and better able to cope with their dog's fears, regardless of where those fears originate.  Here's the game plan if you, too share your home with a fearful dog:

First off, don't get mad at them. It's not their fault that they are afraid.  If you're frustrated, take a couple of deep breathes and try to empathize with your dog.  Telling them they are a good dog, petting them, rubbing their favorite spots, etc. does NOT reinforce their anxiety.  This is a common misconception that somehow you petting your anxious or fearful dog will result in more anxiety. On the contrary, being supportive and loving will help your dog to see you for who you are...their champion and protector, there to make sure it's all really okay. So, go ahead and comfort your dog.  One thing you don't want to do is punish them for their fear.  If you are their safe space and you dish out punishment all that results in is your dog seeing you as unreliable and misleading.  You want your dog to trust you even when they are scared.  Provide your dog with what they need to feel safer. For some dogs, that's close contact with their owners. For others, like Westley, it's access to their crates.  For some fearful dogs, it means walking at off peak times or in less populated areas so that they can relax and enjoy those walks and sniff time.  If treats help, use them.  If your dog won't take treats, that's fine too.  They may be able to take treats eventually, so do keep trying.  While we may tell ourselves and other humans that facing your fears is the way to overcome them, this is decidedly untrue with our dogs.  Repeatedly putting a fearful dog into a situation where they are experiencing heightened arousal can result in a dog who feels so overwhelmed that they have no choice but to act out aggressively to get away or move away from what is causing their fear. Slow desensitization to what they find fearful and counter-conditioning them to find those things less provocative over time is the key.  And the bottom line is this: your dog who is afraid of strangers may never be okay with strangers approaching and petting them and that's okay.  It isn't a requirement that every dog be approachable and pettable.  Instead, educate the people around you. Tell them your dog isn't comfortable with strangers (even the ones who are self-proclaimed dog people!) and discourage them from approaching your dog.  Having strangers ignore your dog allows them to decide who they want to approach and when to do so.  This isn't a "cure" for your dog's fear, but it is a safe and ethical way to deal with it so that you may take your dog out in public and have them be as relaxed as possible in those situations.

Dogs who are afraid are usually not afraid all of the time.  Be sure and celebrate those small victories for your fearful dogs and find other ways to build their confidence. For now, this means walking Westley in the evenings and playing with a flirt pole and working on trick training in the morning instead of going for walks when they return to Southern California.  While he is home, I will continue to work with him on morning walks where he has not just me, but the two older collies there to support him and cheer him on.  And they do.  They walk on either side of him as if to say, "We got you little buddy.  Don't worry."  Yes, I do think this helps.  Observational learning is huge in dogs; Westley sees that Desi and Ozzie are not afraid and he does relax and sniff.  That's something to celebrate.

As always, if you have questions about your dog's behavior, you know where to find me.

We loaded Westley and Ozzie in the car and took them on a morning hike at Mt. Davidson in San Francisco to change up the morning walk routine.  Westley wasn't a bit afraid here as there were no city noises, no trucks, and plenty of distracting sights and smells.  Plus, he had all of his favorite people with him.  Definitely a successful trip to an "off peak place" which is one of the steps in treating a dog with noise sensitivity to city sounds.