Teaching my dog to chill out

[minabey 3,687]

So.. there was this funny thread...

...with a note from the source about noise phobia:

"Although this is not a noise phobia, if you Shih tzu  shows any of the following signs you should defiantly talk to your

Trembling
involuntary urination
Hiding and escaping
Most incident of noise phobia start when the puppy is between 1 year to 2 years old and gets worst by time if left untreated."

 

I wonder is some type of phobia has made Monkey the way he is because of some fear he had experience as a pup?

Monkey was carried by someone from his home to ours ( a few houses away) and he was probably overwhelmed by being taken by himself and then brought out into the street and into a strange place. When they released him on the floor in our living room, he immediately went under the couch and wouldn't come out even long after his people left. Maybe that's why he is so afraid of new things/people/experiences and he copes through defensive barking. Now that I look back, when we would leave him alone for a few minutes (he was/is almost never alone), we would find a few drops of pee on the floor - could be involuntary urination.

Now if he sees a new thing, he crouches and slinks away from it while he tries to analyze if it's a threat or not. I have to sit by that thing and touch it or engage with and call him to it to show that it's not going to do anything to him. It had been a bag (especially black objects) a few times, a bike parked near our door; one time, it was a cap my uncle left on the table he barked at. It could be anything or anyone.

It just a stark contrast to my cousin's dog Shelly, who is so chill at any place he goes (except when he sees cats, then he goes Cujo). He just lies there and watch or nap whereas Monkey would be on alert mode, back straight, head high, ready to bark and lounge at anyone who comes close.

He won't get stolen for sure since he doesn't trust anyone apart from our household and my cousins who he sees often. He is so good at evading being picked up when he doesn't want to. I think that's a good thing, but I also want him to be more friendly and not so on alert all the time when we're out. I wish I could teach him to just chill.

[Pawz4me 6,802]

In my experience dogs are just like humans seem to be -- a combination of nature and nurture.  How the ratio works out can depend.  The inclination is always to assume something traumatic happened to make the dog that way, but I've known more than a few dogs (and had a couple of my own) that I'm positive were on the shy/skittish side due to 99.9% genetics.  These weren't dogs from top breeders, but dogs who had been in a secure, loving environment since birth.

Also in my experience phobias can go together.  Dogs who have noise phobia also tend to have at least a bit of separation anxiety.  It's the general trend toward being easily stressed, I think.  But that's just my own experience, I don't know if that would be supported by veterinary studies or not.

Many people are totally against giving dogs medication for anxiety/phobia related issues, but I think that's a totally wrong approach.  Anxiety can be debilitating in people, and I think it's the same in dogs.  And it's very difficult for anyone (dog or human) to learn new ways of dealing with things when the brain is in total overdrive due to stress.  I think the best approach is to get the dog on some medication (or supplement, if you can find one that works) to calm its brain down a bit and then work on socialization and training.  The training is to build confidence -- the more a dog knows, whether it's obedience commands or tricks, the more confident the dog becomes.

[Missysmom 24,975]

I have to say I've been reading up on fears and trying to figure out a way to work Missy through her fears also. Pawz makes an excellent point about them being so overwhelmed by their fear that they are on overload and can't even think. One of the approaches I had been reading about was working with them very slowly to gradually get closer to something they fear just like you're doing with Monkey, I'm glad to hear that has worked for you. I will continue doing that with Missy and hopefully work through some of her fears! 

[Sophie's Haven 17,464]

I know this maybe my imagination but if it is I have a far out imagination. With 7 paws each of them have their own personalities from being shy, jumpy/nervous and calm.  I have 3 that are freaked out by loud noise such as gun shots, thunderstorms, heavy wind and noise from heavy rainfall. Even being around people that are loud freaks them out.......I happen to be playing soft jazz one day when I was grooming my guys and noticed a big difference in their attitude. We have always been a talk radio listener and from all that is happening in the world we noticed in ourselves how stress we got listening to it daily......change over to music stations and got ticked of all the commercials that were on......so we decided to do Pandora on our computer and have been doing this now for 3 months from the time we get up in the morning and till we go to bed it is playing. Within two weeks I noticed a change in attitude in the paws........the other day for example we had some gunshots going off and no one came running to me for protection.....A FIRST.......we rarely have company but the hubby's brother spent a few days with us and the paws that go bonkers when someone strange is in the house were so calm and got along with the BIL........I was shocked to say the least.  Our Missy goes and hides until who ever leaves but she was right in the bunch. So we have a lap top just for the paws to have music playing all day..........soft jazz or piano music or classical is our stations of choice. Everybody is calm........humans and paws a like. Our two Border Collies sleep in the barn at night and the hubby has a radio playing classical for them all night. They use to meet us at the door but sometimes they are still in their beds when we go down. I have even noticed that Bailey relaxes faster in the car  now if I am playing my Kenny G CD.......This my way of Chilling.....Music

 

[minabey 3,687]

Wow, those are all very thoughtful responses. Thank you all. 

I guess I have a skittish dog. I will look into something to reduce his anxiety and do some socialization with him. The only problem with that is I don't know a lot of people that aren't afraid of dogs that I could rope in to "meet" him. One time, a cousin of mine who sometimes volunteers at a rescue, was able to get close to Monkey by playing and loving on the other dogs, Shelly and Shay, moving closer and "accidentally" touching Monkey. That took some time but it could be done, with the right person. At the end of the playtime, he and Monkey still weren't close but at least Monkey stopped being hostile to him. Monkey loves stuffies and when sees them brought close to him, he thinks it's for him. I could probably stock on new toys that other people could "give" him since he doesn't like treats.

On 2/23/2016 at 10:05 PM, Missysmom said:

I have to say I've been reading up on fears and trying to figure out a way to work Missy through her fears also. Pawz makes an excellent point about them being so overwhelmed by their fear that they are on overload and can't even think. One of the approaches I had been reading about was working with them very slowly to gradually get closer to something they fear just like you're doing with Monkey, I'm glad to hear that has worked for you. I will continue doing that with Missy and hopefully work through some of her fears! 

Ooh, I didn't know Missy has similar issues. I'm glad what I was doing was a right move. I just did that instinctively as I was thinking that if he sees me touching the stuff, he'll feel safer to approach. I hope you find something that works for you and Missy, too.

On 2/23/2016 at 1:55 AM, Sophie's Haven said:

This my way of Chilling.....Music

This is interesting. I heard or watched about dairy farms in YouTube. They said that playing classical music to the cows made them produce more milk. So there you go! We play a lot of rock music though, so maybe Monkey isn't a fan after all. Hmmm, and I thought I saw him bobbing his head to Fall Out Boy.  I think I have Kenny G! I'll try that or find some other relaxing music.