The trainer out on the town with her fearful dogs…..

I’m writing this today because I’m still having trouble wrapping my brain around telling a person in Lowe’s to not pet the dog we were training and she continued to bend down and do so. This pup was not happy and showed her why I didn’t want her to be approached.

Here is the thing. Not every dog has been in the most perfect socialized home from the womb; When dogs are rescued and/or have even been traumatized due to a fearful event in a critical growth period, there can be lasting changes to their behaviors. They are by no means doomed but caution should be taken because when dogs are afraid, they can show fear in ways that look like aggression; What they are really saying is “Back off, I’m uncomfortable. I do not appreciate your hand and head coming towards me no matter how nice your voice sounds.”

Back in the day, it was taught to place your hand out for your dog to smell to know you’re ok? I’m not really sure where that came from but I can assure you now that I will never recommend anyone to do so; Let the dog approach you if they want. When dogs greet each other, they smell their bums. This is a not threatening way to say Hi. When dogs meet face to face, it can be very threatening and taken as a challenge so I would always steer away from a dog displaying that head strong behavior because it can end very badly.

I’ve spent my whole life studying and learning about animal behavior and in the last decade, specifically dog behavior. It’s wild that primates have been studied more than our own domesticated dog, living in our home isn’t it?

I’m now carrying DO NOT PET bandanas for clients that want to work with their dogs in public situations. I commend them for taking this step because many would just keep their dogs inside and they never get used to public situations. So I say , Be your dog’s advocate and keep them safe and protected; The last thing they want to do is to disappoint you with ill behavior. They want to please us but outside life can be very scary. So know I’m there for you and stand behind your dog so he/she can learn the outside world isn’t so scary if we give them the time to explore it without other people intervening just because they want to say Hi.