There is a normal, natural fear period that begins around 14 to 16 weeks. During this period, a puppy may become wary and suspicious of new people, species or experiences. This is a normal adaptive process. Watch your puppy closely for signs of fear (cowering, urinating, and refusal of food treats). Avoid pushing or overwhelming your puppy during this developmental stage.
Destructive behavior is also common with separation anxiety. The damage is usually located around entry and exit points, like doorways and windows, but dogs in a state of heightened anxiety are also at risk of harming themselves. Attempts to break out of dog crates, windows, and even doors can result in painful injuries and expensive veterinary treatments.
I need advice on how to help my dog with an anxiety which is not listed here. He has a huge toy anxiety. What I mean by that is he will play till he drops. He gets extremely worked up over toys and fixates on them. He pants heavily and shakes and salivates. He wont leave you alone even if you throw the toy for him to fetch because he brings it right back. This can go on for hours. I am concerned about his health and how this much anxiety is ad for him.
It’s easy to reward good behavior if you focus on teaching your dog to do specific things you like. Dogs can learn an impressive array of obedience skills and entertaining tricks. Deciding what you’d like your dog to learn will depend on your interests and lifestyle. If you want your dog to behave politely, you can focus on skills like sit, down, wait at doors, leave it, come when called and stay. If you want to enhance your enjoyment of outings with your dog, you can train her to walk politely on leash, without pulling. If you have a high-energy dog and would like outlets for her exuberance, you can teach her how to play fetch, play tug-of-war or participate in dog sports, such as agility, rally obedience, freestyle and flyball. If you’d like to impress your friends or just spend some quality time with your dog, you can take her to clicker training or trick-training classes. The possibilities are endless! Please see the following articles to find out more about what you and your dog can learn to do together: Teaching Your Dog Not to Jump Up on People, Teaching Your Dog to Come When Called, Teaching Your Dog Not to Pull on Leash, Teaching Your Dog to Play Tug-of-War, and Teaching Your Dog to Play Fetch.
At Fur and Feathers, our training methods are dog-friendly and include positive reinforcement. Dog training is individualized based on breed, age and temperament. We believe that praise is the best reward for your pet and that your dog will achieve the most positive results in a fun and challenging environment. Our award-winning dog training system is designed to do three things:
When you were a kid in school, what helped you learn your spelling words and multiplication tables? Practice! Consistency is key to training your new puppy. He not only needs to keep practicing commands over and over with you, but he also needs you to be consistent with your approach. This means always reinforcing his training, even when you're tired or busy. For example, if you're cooking dinner and your dog is giving you the signal that he needs to go outside and relieve himself, turn off the oven and guide him outside immediately. Use the same command words when teaching him simple campaigns like "sit" or "stay" or "no." This helps to reinforce that each word is associated with a specific command you wish him to take.
Dogs don’t wake up one morning having decided to be anxious or fearful. Most dogs who exhibit anxiety symptoms have had some event in their past that triggered the anxiety. Dogs develop phobias and fears between the ages of 12 and 36 months or when they reach social maturity. If, during this time, something triggers a strong fearful reaction, they may develop a consistent fear pattern.
Crosby the border collie mix and I started to work on his e-collar training today! I love to teach recall as one of our first e-collar experiences, as it gets to shape a lot of handler engagement from something distracting! In this video I talk about when I use the remote and how it starts to cue him to come back to his handler. These motions will be very helpful when we begin working on his reactivity stuff, because we always want to disengage a reactive dog and bring focus back to us. Good boy! #calmdogscrazyworld #orlandodogs #orlandofl #dogstagram #puppy #balancedtraining #dogtraining #pitbull #gsd #labrador #doodle #goldenretriever #rescuedog #oviedofl #winterparkfl #floridadogtrainer #orlandodogtrainer #centralflorida #centralfloridadogtrainer #floridadogs #windermerefl #taketheleadk9training #boardandtrain #adoptdontshop #ecollartraining #disneydogs #ucfdogs #lakemaryfl #sanfordfl #bordercollie
Things you can do at home to relieve your dog's anxiety include making a special space just for Fido where he can feel safe when you leave, and playing music. I always leave music on for my dog when I'm away, and the Washington Post reported that shelter dogs who listened to Canine Lullabies, by music legend Terry Woodford, adjusted better than other dogs.
Together, we will take a hands on approach to find a solution to resolve the problems you are having with your dog! Take the Lead K9 Training offers board and train services for obedience training and dog behavior modification. I will help you resolve a variety of dog behavioral issues like aggression, anxiety, fear, not listening, jumping up, barking, biting, chewing, running away, chasing the cat, pulling on leash, and not coming when called. I teach basic dog obedience, such as proper leash walking, sit, down, extended stay, and recall to puppies and adult dogs alike! I also train off leash advanced obedience with low level remote collar training, where your dog will respond to you off leash with high levels of distraction. Big or small, your dog can learn and listen to you - in public, around distractions, off-leash, and without having to always have a treat to get your dog's good behavior!
Some dogs suffering from separation anxiety become agitated when their guardians prepare to leave. Others seem anxious or depressed prior to their guardians’ departure or when their guardians aren’t present. Some try to prevent their guardians from leaving. Usually, right after a guardian leaves a dog with separation anxiety, the dog will begin barking and displaying other distress behaviors within a short time after being left alone—often within minutes. When the guardian returns home, the dog acts as though it’s been years since he’s seen his mom or dad!
The use of medications can be very helpful, especially for severe cases of separation anxiety. Some dogs are so distraught by any separation from their pet parents that treatment can’t be implemented without the help of medication. Anti-anxiety medication can help a dog tolerate some level of isolation without experiencing anxiety. It can also make treatment progress more quickly.
You will need to spend a significant amount of time building up to 40-minute absences because most of your dog’s anxious responses will occur within the first 40 minutes that he’s alone. This means that over weeks of conditioning, you’ll increase the duration of your departures by only a few seconds each session, or every couple of sessions, depending on your dog’s tolerance at each level. Once your dog can tolerate 40 minutes of separation from you, you can increase absences by larger chunks of time (5-minute increments at first, then later 15-minute increments). Once your dog can be alone for 90 minutes without getting upset or anxious, he can probably handle four to eight hours. (Just to be safe, try leaving him alone for four hours at first, and then work up to eight full hours over a few days.)
Remember that dogs are a lot like humans- they make mistakes. Knowing this, you cannot expect them to perfect a technique or command the first time around. As a matter of fact, you shouldn’t expect them to catch on in the first few tries. Instead of getting frustrated that your dog isn’t catching on, simply correct them while the mistake is happening. With dogs, fixing a mistake later is considered too late.
Very thorough and well written hub. I would like to direct you to the Anxiety Wrap. It is the original patented pressure wrap designed for dogs – and cats – by Susan Sharpe, a T-touch practitioner and certified professional dog trainer. I believe the Anxiety Wrap is a superior product and recommend it in my own practice with clients who consult me about their anxious and fearful dogs. In a recent study completed at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the Anxiety Wrap was found to be 89% effective in study participants – dogs with Thunderstorm phobia. I have used it on dogs with separation anxiety and generalized anxiety, including my own dog and have found it to provide consistently effective results. Check it out – I think you’ll be quite impressed too, and thanks for writing such a detailed, well thought out hub!
If you can teach your dog polite manners without hurting or frightening her, why not do it? Rather than punishing her for all the things you don’t want her to do, concentrate on teaching your dog what you do want her to do. When your dog does something you like, convince her to do it again by rewarding her with something she loves. You’ll get the job done without damaging the relationship between you and your best friend.
Crate training can be helpful for some dogs if they learn that the crate is their safe place to go when left alone. However, for other dogs, the crate can cause added stress and anxiety. In order to determine whether or not you should try using a crate, monitor your dog’s behavior during crate training and when he’s left in the crate while you’re home. If he shows signs of distress (heavy panting, excessive salivation, frantic escape attempts, persistent howling or barking), crate confinement isn’t the best option for him. Instead of using a crate, you can try confining your dog to one room behind a baby gate.
If your dog has a mild case of separation anxiety, counterconditioning might reduce or resolve the problem. Counterconditioning is a treatment process that changes an animal’s fearful, anxious or aggressive reaction to a pleasant, relaxed one instead. It’s done by associating the sight or presence of a feared or disliked person, animal, place, object or situation with something really good, something the dog loves. Over time, the dog learns that whatever he fears actually predicts good things for him. For dogs with separation anxiety, counterconditioning focuses on developing an association between being alone and good things, like delicious food. To develop this kind of association, every time you leave the house, you can offer your dog a puzzle toy stuffed with food that will take him at least 20 to 30 minutes to finish. For example, try giving your dog a KONG® stuffed with something really tasty, like low-fat cream cheese, spray cheese or low-fat peanut butter, frozen banana and cottage cheese, or canned dog food and kibble. A KONG can even be frozen so that getting all the food out takes even more of your dog’s time. Be sure to remove these special toys as soon as you return home so that your dog only has access to them and the high-value foods inside when he’s by himself. You can feed your dog all of his daily meals in special toys. For example, you can give your dog a KONG or two stuffed with his breakfast and some tasty treats every morning before going to work. Keep in mind, though, that this approach will only work for mild cases of separation anxiety because highly anxious dogs usually won’t eat when their guardians aren’t home.
Taking part in an obedience class with other pet parents can also be helpful in that you will have someone to commiserate with as well as measure your progress against. If obedience classes are not for you, never fear, you can always begin to teach your dog at home yourself or hire a one on one trainer to teach you and your dog obedience in private lessons.
You know your dog better than anyone else. You know when they are relaxed, you know when they are happy, and you even know when they are agitated after seeing another dog across the street. The point is, you should be able to spot any behaviors that are not common for your pup. Once these changes in behaviors arise, pay close attention to what may be triggering this to see if this is what’s causing them stress.
Most dogs will instinctively act in a protective manner towards their master and the rest of the family. In some instances, they will even act in a protective manner towards close family friends or others who are frequent visitors to your home. But, at the same time, you can also train your dog to protect your children from harm. Bear in mind that training your dog to protect your child is not quite the same as training him to behave like the traditional guard dog all the time, they can also take on other roles.
Dogs don’t wake up one morning having decided to be anxious or fearful. Most dogs who exhibit anxiety symptoms have had some event in their past that triggered the anxiety. Dogs develop phobias and fears between the ages of 12 and 36 months or when they reach social maturity. If, during this time, something triggers a strong fearful reaction, they may develop a consistent fear pattern.
In the beginning, I only let him meet with calm people that I know will result in a successful greeting. I also coach people on how to meet him. Often, fearful dogs show aggression because they feel threatened and cornered, and think there are no other alternatives available to them. I make sure I do not put any of my dogs in this type of situation.
Almost every single animal on this planet works under the same principle: in order to continue receiving good things, you need to continue acting a certain way. The same concept holds true for dogs. Whenever they do something that is good, you should reward them. This will reinforce that positive behavior and cause them to continue acting that way. Eventually, they will start acting that way without requiring an award.
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What you have described are exactly same symptoms as my dog. Lady came to my mom’s house one day from the desert. It was clear that someone had abandoned her because she still had on a dusty pink collar with the tags removed. My mom adopted her immediately and kept her for about two years before her she lost her house and partner to a fire. While in transition, my husband and I took Lady in and became so attached to her that she ultimately became a wonderful part of our family. We took her to the vet and found out that she is a German Shepherd/Lab mix and that the closest they can guess her age is “over ten”. She has been “over ten” for four years now. Due to her situation, she has always had some degree of separation anxiety. She also would get nervous during thunderstorms. However, during the last two weeks, her anxiety increased significantly. She started pacing around frequently. My husband and I are both teachers and were on break so we were rarely, if ever, away from the house at the same time. There are rarely thunderstorms in the middle of the winter here. Her anxiety seemed to come from somewhere we couldn’t identify, and it was constant. She has had a very hard time sleeping for the last couple of weeks. She gets into small spaces (corners) and shakes. She positions herself almost on top of me and just trembles. I took her to the vet earlier this week and she tried to find a source of pain that could be triggering the behavior. She couldn’t find any kind of issue that could be the cause of the increased anxiety. Lady does have arthritis, but she has been on pain medication for over a year now. The vet prescribed some valium and instructed me to change her diet slightly. She also administered a drug test and found that one of the kidney levels had jumped from the low normal range to the abnormal range (16 points) in the last year.
If your dog has been diagnosed with anxiety, you can also try to avoid or prevent situations that trigger your dog’s anxiety. For example, if you know that your dog grows anxious around large groups of dogs, you should avoid dog parks. Avoidance does not mean that you need to put your life on hold, but it can reduce some of the stress on you and your dog.
Ah, the great crate debate. While we’d never recommend leaving a dog in the crate for 23 hours a day, crates are an indispensable tool for potty training young puppies. Properly trained, your puppy’s crate becomes a safe space where he sleeps comfortably. While your puppy is in the crate, you can focus on other tasks knowing that your floors, cords, and slippers are safe from the teeth (and bladder) of a young puppy.
Basic or beginner's obedience is typically a short course ranging from six to ten weeks, where it is demonstrated to the handler how to communicate with and train the dog in a few simple commands. With most methods the dog is trained one command at a time. Though there may or may not be a specific word attached to it, walking properly on a leash, or leash control, is often the first training required prior to learning other commands.
Dogs that demonstrate the previously mentioned basic skills, as well as walking reasonably well on a leash and a few other minor tasks, can be tested for and earn the American Kennel Club's (AKC) Canine Good Citizen certification. While not a competitive obedience title, a CGC certification demonstrates that the dog is sociable, well behaved, and reliable in public settings.[1] Some insurance companies will waive breed restrictions on dogs with CGCs, and many states have passed resolutions supporting and encouraging CGC certification as a yardstick for canine manners and responsible dog ownership.
I have a Maltese Yorkie who has been diagnosed with anxiety, multiple vets want to medicate him, however this isn’t the way id like to deal with the problem. He doesn’t seem to have any real triggers he is just constantly anxious, in fact we have to keep the blinds shut because seeing outside causes him to bark nonstop and be unable to relax. Bentley licks compulsively and will not eat unless he chases a ball first, he will cry at the bowl until a ball is thrown. Recently he has also become unwilling to go outside unless a person goes with him (our other dog always goes and waits for him but he won’t leave the step without a human) on walks (which we go on twice a day) he is completely fine and happy. I’m not sure how to fix his anxious tendancies. I’m worried he is not as happy as he could be. Any advice out there would be great.
Begin doorway “wait”-training early. Teaching a dog to respect the threshold is important. You do not want a dog that runs out the door every time it opens — that could be dangerous for him. Doorway training doesn't need to happen every single time you go through a doorway. But you should make the most of your training opportunities early in your puppy's life.
In the last 6 months I would say she has “calmed down”, but we feel it’s due to her getting more used to us and her new home (she was a stray and had a couple foster homes before we got her). She still has lots of energy when we go for walks and to the park. She likes to be in the backyard (even in the evenings) and goes for a walk just fine (in the mornings only). It seems to be she only likes going for walks in the morning, and we used to go 3 times a day (morning, afternoon and evening). The only thing I can think of that would have frightened her on a walk is a few times storms have rolled in (usually a thunderstorm). When there is a thunderstorm she gets anxious, paces, pants and usually hides in the bathroom where she seems to calm down after a while. She loves the dog park and plays well with all the dogs she comes into contact with, and LOVES people. We’re really good about keeping her schedule the same, eats at the same times everyday, walks at the same time ect. We live in a new neighbourhood so there are trucks (all kinds) driving around all day. That would be the only noises I could think of.
Effective dog training does not require many items, but there are a few basic supplies that will help make the process more convenient and effective. Choose a dog collar or harness that is suitable and comfortable for your dog. Then decide which dog leash is best for training. A retractable leash is not appropriate for dog training. You will also need dog training treats that your dog enjoys and are easy to eat quickly so the reward is more immediate. There are plenty of great treats available at pet stores or you can also use something you make at home, like small pieces of plain cooked chicken or turkey.
I applaud the author for finding creative ways to improve her dog’s life, but I am sure she could re-write this in a way that wouldn’t misinform and turn off novice dog owners. For example, she might say “I found that looking for other ways to connect with Sally, such as using play, life rewards, and affection in our day-to-day training, deepened our relationship. I also found that thinking about Sally’s behavior and our quality of life more holistically, outside of simple obedience cues, helped me address some overwhelming issues that I wasn’t sure how to tackle at first, such as getting and keeping her attention in distracting situations. While food treats are the easiest way to train a dog, they might not work for every dog and every situation. Even dogs that aren’t food-motivated can be trained.”
