Discovering that your dog is kind of shy or fearful can be frustrating. Often people will ask: What is there to be afraid of? Do you think he had a bad experience?
Well, the truth of the matter is: we might never know, exactly. But what we can do is move forward, not worry about the past and make the dog feel comfortable with his fear triggers.
Another important point to remember: Do not judge those fears! Fear is real and just because you might think that it is silly to be scared of a balloon or a flag flapping in the wind or walking over a shiny floor or a vehicle driving by. Please don’t dismiss your dog’s feelings and push your dog to confront the things that scare him. Please do not flood your dog! It will only make things worse. At DogRelations we use a variety of behavioral tools (desensitization, counter conditioning, classical/ Pavlovian conditioning and functional rewards) to allow your dog to re-associate those triggers with something wonderful. Your dog can then experience his triggers as a predictor of overwhelmingly positive and primal experiences