Nervous Triggers

When you are faced with a scared or nervous dog the first thing is to identify what the triggers are that gets it into this state. Often it comes about from a series of events that builds up this nervous energy. A walk for example starts as soon as you signal to your dog its leaving the house. If your dog leaves the house in a high energy state it will continue through the walk and can contribute to your dog’s nervous behaviour (read this article on dogs pulling on the leash). It’s a good idea to drain your dog of energy before it goes for a walk, so this maybe throwing the ball around the backyard for 15mins. The next trigger that could occur on a walk is scent or smell. A dog can often smell an approaching dog before it even sees it and without us knowing it can start to get into a nervious state. Signs might be excessive sniffing or a slow down in walking pace. To overcome this trigger you need to be aware that your dog’s behaviour has changed and quickly snap it out of this mood with a quick tug of the lead. The key here is not to heighten its energy by using your voice but to correct its behaviour. The next common trigger will be seeing the approaching dog. A dog will already know what the energy of the approaching dog is well before it actually meets it (they pick up on body language, scent, eye contact and often size of the approaching dog). This is why the dog will often be in a scared / nervous state before actually meeting the approaching dog. If your dog barks you need to stop it straight away – quick tug will off balance your dog and should stop it. I would also use a “ssssssssssssssst” sound and touch it on the back of the neck if it continued. It’s very important you don’t yell or hit your dog as this only reinforces this behaviour. The next part is to simply walk past the approaching dog and make no big deal about it. If your dog gets fixated on the approaching dog you simply correct it. I often walk between my dog and the approaching dog so that it never gets the chance to assert itself and also to lower its dominance in this situation. It means you have better control over your dog and its nervous state. The more times you correctly walk past a dog without your dog reacting the less nervous it will get around other dogs.