We need to be empathetic and patient if when training an anxious dog. Just like people, dogs can be anxious for lots of reasons. Some dogs have had bad experiences with certain things which make them worry about experiencing that again. For example, they may have approached a dog who was aggressive and they are now worried about mixing with dogs.

Some dogs lack sufficient experiences which make them anxious. For example, dogs who were raised outside and have only ever known this life. When they get brought into a home they may be scared of slippery floors, stairs, or the television. They might also be scared of meeting new people if this isn’t something they’ve done much of before. Nothing bad has happened to them in that situation before, it’s just the unknown factor.

Some dogs are anxious from very early on, affected by their genes. Research suggests that if dad is stressed around the time of mating, or mum is stressed during pregnancy, or either are very anxious generally, their puppies are already likely to develop anxiety too.

Anxious dogs need particularly special care during training to make sure extra pressure doesn’t make them feel even more anxious. Check out this blog on barking dogs to learn more about signs of anxiety, stress and tension. We want to try hard to avoid these during training.

It’s really important to break down tasks into small chunks and work through each step in turn. Your dog must be able to cope with the smallest step before you build on this solid foundation.

– Starting at a big distance from the “trigger” (the thing that makes your dog anxious).

– Or turning down to a low volume.

For example, if your dog doesn’t like other dogs we find the distance at which your dog can cope. We then train at this distance and get closer slowly over time.

If your dog is frightened of sudden loud noises we might start with sudden very quiet noises. Then we increase the volume slowly over time.

Think about how you can introduce your dog to their trigger in a way that they can cope with. Reward the desired behaviour you see at this point. Over the coming days/weeks/months increase the intensity and keep rewarding. The key to training an anxious dog is time and patience. The more you try to push them, the more pressure and anxiety they feel.

One of my own dogs is scared of certain types of objects. When introducing a large tunnel I knew he would have been scared if I tried to get him to go down it fully “up”. By starting out small, he never learned to feel fearful of it, it was doable from the start. This made it easier to gradually increase with him barely noticing the challenge was increasing.

The short answer is, no! Introducing things to our dogs gradually reduces the likelihood or intensity of problems if things go wrong. It allows them to process and behave more calmly around new things. If you’d like to know more about how to gradually introduce your dog (or other animal!) to new things don’t hesitate to get in touch!

I am a Clinical Animal Behaviourist based in the Worcestershire area. With the success of online training you can be anywhere in the world as long as you have your dog and a device with an internet connection!