It is heartbreaking to see your dog shy away from people and other objects. Dogs can show fear of different things, such as loud voices, storms, and fireworks. This fear may be mild or severe; it adds stress in the life of dogs and yours. Your dog may disappear on the arrival of people or loud voices until the visitors have gone.
You can help your dog to get rid of these fears by desensitizing him.
Forpetloverz will discuss here how to desensitize the dog.
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What is the desensitization of the dog?
Desensitization is the eventual exposure of your pet to situations or stimuli that are causing an undesirable behavior, but at a level that there is no negative response. It is the best process to cease the fear of your pet.
How to desensitize a dog
You can desensitize your pet in the following ways:
Identify the dog’s triggers.
The trigger is the thing that causes the dog to panic; it may be a person, object, or place. Reactions of dogs are different at different triggers. He may show aggression to some stimuli, whimper in fear, bark, lowering the head, or bristling the hair on his back. Observe the situations in which your dog shows signs of anxiety, aggression, or other unwanted behaviors. Try to identify what triggers your pet.
Rank your dog’s triggers.
When you have discovered the triggers of your dog, write each trigger on a paper. Start desensitizing your dog from the least trigger, and working your way down to the more serious. If your dog is disturbed by all visitors in the house but is especially overexcited by young children, you can rank the adults as less scary than children for the dogs. Now list the situation with the following questions.
Does dog demonstrate fear at being picked up?
Do all little children trigger your dog, or crying children more traumatic for your dog?
By using this type of question, you can get the exact trigger that is causing fear in your pet.
Expose the dog to its triggers gradually.
Start exposing the dog to the mildest trigger. Let’s suppose your dog is terrified of men, less afraid by the women and mildly scared by the children, then start your dog exposing to the young children for a few times every day. Gradually your pet will able to realize that the trigger is nothing to be afraid of. Expose your dog to the children for at least 5 minutes each day.
After a weak exposure, increase the time from 5 to 10 minutes each day
After two weeks increase the time limit to the 15 minutes
When you note that your dog is comfortable with the young children, then expose him to the next trigger level. Repeat the process as mentioned above until your pet is healthy with this trigger too.
A lot of patience and consistency are required to train your dog to get rid of the fear.
Do not expose your dog to its triggers outside of training.
Do not expose your dog to the trigger outside the practice. For instance, if your dog is scared by the young children, and you are exposing him to the little number of triggers in your training session, then do not bring him in the playground until you have completed your training session. The reason is that if your dog exposes to a stimulus in an uncontrolled way, then it may revert your dog to the old habits.
Choose how to modify your dog’s behavior.
You can modify the behavior of your dog in two ways:
Counter-conditioning
Gradual desensitization
The two modes are almost identical and are used together. Use with care over a long period; either method will reduce your dog’s trigger responses gradually.
Gradual desensitization is the process in which the dog is slowly exposed to its trigger over time. Increasing the amount of proximity of contact with the trigger until it no longer causes your dog’s negative behavior.
Counter-conditioning the process in which dog is slowly exposed to its trigger over time and respond in a more positive way than it naturally would when in the presence of the trigger. If your dog learns quickly and likes treats, counter-conditioning is probably the best choice.