Don’t try to lure a fearful dog

[snowbunny]

This is something that I hate to see advised. I’ve said to try it myself, in the past, but now - never. It’s something so many of us have done, and it seems to make sense; when a dog is afraid of someone, have them use treats to teach the dog that they’re nice.
I’ve learned with Willow how counterproductive coercion is, so I was glad to read this blog article by Denise Fenzi:

Come and get a cookie….I won't hurt you…. | Denise Fenzi's Blog

 

[Oberon]

Good article.

I have definitely been guilty of the 'let the scary stranger dispense treats' approach in the past. These days I find it best to act as if I am ignoring the dog and also to adopt a very passive kind of posture (relaxed, kind of drooping a bit, head down a bit, turn away a bit, keep any movements slow, not looking at the dog or moving even if they come closer). That reduces the threat factor and leaves it up to the dog to decide to approach or not, in their own time.

 

[Boogie]

Yes, I think it’s about the dog making the decision - and being given the space to do so. Of course we wouldn’t force the dog nearer to the fearful thing, but persuading the dog to go near it doesn’t work because they aren’t deciding for themselves. The more we can give our dogs space to decide to approach the fearful thing the better imo.

It becomes harder if we can’t move away from the fearful thing to give the dog space to look and weigh it up from a safe distance.
.

 

[Lara_Pigletina]

Oh I am guilty of this with the car after spending best part of a year trying to desensitise her to it without luring, giving her choices etc and not getting anywhere, it got to the stage where we just needed to get her in the car! But I think part of the problem was that we have a communal car park not near our house so I couldn’t train much there, neighbors kept appearing which stressed her out etc. If we had had our car just parked outside the house on our own land she could have approached it off lead in her own time and I think we might have been more successful. But I definitely need to remember this as it is so easy to lure when you aren’t thinking, to get past something scary like roadworks on a walk etc.

 

[snowbunny]

I think sometimes you have to have management strategies. Practicing things like a treat magnet in non-scary situations means you can use them in scary situations to get past things - that's real life, so practicing for it is good. But that is a very different thing to going out of your way to coax a dog closer to a thing they are fearful of, expecting them to change their opinion to a positive one.

With (four-leggy) Willow, I've not done as much with her fear of the car recently as I would like, so we're still a long way from her being happy in it. But that's OK, we just have a very clear distinction between when she has a choice to get in and when she doesn't. When we need her in the car, such as a recent vet trip, we just pick her up and put her in. There's no trying to lure her in; it doesn't work and it damages her confidence in us.

 

[FayRose]

It is an interesting article on an important subject, I agree.

If anything, I'm guilty of the opposite in reaction to this situation with a fearful dog. I feel for the dog's dignity - it is putting him in an undignified position to be coerced when scared - and I really do think whoever said that doing that causes the dog to lose confidence in his owner is spot on.

So, I've been guilty of allowing the dog to avoid the situation that scares him for too long before seeking professional help. I've only ever had this situation with one of our dogs - years ago - a springer who I sadly misread for too long.

 

[Aitch]

I think you have to take into account the dog's character. When Amber suddenly decided she was afraid of the stairs I threw meat all over the stairs and sat to the rear of her talking quietly about any rubbish that came into my head. This worked with her but it most certainly wouldn't have with my other dogs. She was fine from then on.
With Poppy I had to just leave the car open when she got scared of it (new car) and sit away from it with her playing and talking and totally ignoring the car until curiosity got the better of her.
They are all so different. What works for one may not work for another.