My dog has anxiety around strangers. How can I help his fear?

Hello, sorry to hear about Oscar. There are some things you can try at home to manage his fears. Here are some basic definitions and tips to better orient you, however, successful management of his fears may require patience and time as counterconditioning to the stimulus can sometimes take a long time. Hope this helps and best of luck. DOES YOUR DOG HAVE FEARS? Fear in a dog may present in a variety of ways. Recognizing that your dog is indeed fearful is the first step. Some signs that a fearful dog may display include: tucking its tail between its legs, lowering its head, shaking or trembling, lip licking, rolling over to expose the belly, urinating, or becoming immobilized. A scared or frightened dog may also display aggression, including barking or growling, if it feels it cannot escape what is feared. Avoidance behaviors such as running away, hiding or backing up into a corner may also be seen. WHY IS MY DOG FEARFUL? Many dogs are fearful of specific stimuli or situations. These fears may stem from a lack of exposure to the stimulus, or may develop due to an adverse experience. Both can result in the dog having a fearful, emotional reaction when confronted with the stimulus. Often dogs respond fearfully to things in their environment that in nature would be potentially dangerous, such as loud noises or strangers. This behavior can be troubling for owners to watch. Often, owners become concerned that they have done something to make their dog fearful and their natural reaction is to try to comfort the dog which may amplify these behaviors. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP YOUR DOG? 1. Identify specific triggers This is an important step in moving forward and helping your pet overcome their fear. Knowing what stimuli are a “triggers” is key in creating a treatment plan because it allows you to have more control over the behavior and avoid such stimuli when possible. 2. Avoid the stimulus Initially it is often best to avoid the things that will trigger a fearful reaction. This may provide an opportunity to work on your relationship with your pet and develop trust without distraction. 3. Define your relationship with your pet How do you and your family members react to the behavior? Often times the natural reaction to the fearful pet is to comfort them by petting or picking up small dogs. This response may enhance the dog’s reaction to the fearful stimulus because they perceive the comfort as positive reinforcement of their fearful behavior. Rather, a more appropriate reaction is to act as though nothing unusual is going on and try to redirect the dog’s attention to you through a “look” or “sit” command and then treating that behavior. Some dogs are so fearful they may not be food motivated. Perhaps there is something else that your dog considers a “treat”. You may use this in the place of food. In these cases it is essential that all family members are consistent and treat the dog in the same manor.

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Some dogs just do not like other dogs no matter what you do. you can try training and anti-anxiety medications like Prozac from your vet to help any anxiety cause. Then it’s slow desensitization. With the dugs you do short sessions with people touching her. But also realize her walking away from them is better than her biting them. Consider spaying her to help with the dog issues. You can also try a calming collar and treats first. But no drug is going to work without training and effort on your part. Good luck! https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=37239 https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=20934

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Aggression like this is serious. Dogs reach their social/behavioral maturity around 2-3 years of age. This is when a dogs behavior can change. Since he wants to bite and attack I recommend a trainer or a veterinary behaviorist. They may want to start a behavioral modification drug while you start trainer. You will need to put in the effort and also make realistic expectations for how Pablo will be. He may never be a dog that strangers can walk up to and pet. You need to learn his triggers and learn to avoid situations where someone could be hurt or negative behaviors are initiated. I hope this helps and I wish you and Pablo the best!

Poor Bongo! I bet the amount of people being around was overwhelming to him. Heck- it overwhelms me. If he has a good food drive, I would recommend using that to train him. It is best to use one person st a time. Make sure they have a yummy treat- something he only gets during training. Have the person walk by & gently toss the food to him & keep walking. No telling or staring at him. He will start to associate yummy treat with people. Have the person move closer if Bongo isn’t responding. The person holding Bongo’s leash needs to remain calm and praise positive behavior & ignore unwanted behavior. When he has that down- have him sit & allow the person to hand him the treat (make sure you trust that person). I would not place him in situations with large numbers of strangers for a while. I would also recommend a good basic obedience class-it will help him learn in a group setting. Thanks for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Poor Milo! He is afraid for certain. Don't panic; this is a very common problem I see every day in practice. If you're willing to work at it, you can change his response to being afraid. It is never to late to help him be better socialized with new people. Please go to this fantastic veterinary behavior website www.dogstardaily.com for really great free techniques to get your dog over his fear of strangers. Hope that helps!

Hi there! Thanks for you question. Oh dear, sounds like a lot is going on! Thank you for the picture- he looked like a sweet guy despite the troubles you mention. From you description, it sound like he may have a little fear aggression as well as anxiety. I would strongly encourage you to seek the council of your full service veterinarian as well as seek advice from a canine behaviorist and dog trainer. Depending on what they diagnosis, he may need behavioral modifications to his and your daily routine, Rx medications if warranted by your veterinarian, and some dedication with training on your part. I hope all goes well and best of luck to you and Ceasar!

First of all, well done on noticing this and realizing you need to take some action to avoid problems in the future. It's pretty common for dogs Conan's age to start showing signs of being fearful - when they are puppies they just deal with being nervous about some situations and as they get closer to adulthood they start to use aggression to ward off scary things. So Conan could definitely work up to biting someone if he continues to be fearful. The most helpful thing would be to start working with a good trainer and/or veterinary behaviorist. You want to use positive only techniques. If that's not possible, you can try to work on this on your own by asking random men to drop him treats and dropped treats whenever you walk past a male on the street.