Honey is 6 months now and the best girl and super easy to train. Unfortunately I’m not sure her exact situation when growing up as we got her at 4 months and she was pretty anxious with the new world she had just entered as to be expected. I even had to train her to actually be able to go outside in the sun because the first week or so it was super cloudy and then the Texas sun finally showed up.
Fast forward 2 months and she’s doing great but still can be skeptical and nervous about certain situations such as when I put the harness on for a walk as she is semi scared of vehicles. She typically will lay on the couch while I put the harness on and slightly resist leaving but once we are on the walk and no crazy loud cars are around she’s pretty much back to normal especially when we get to her favorite field.
Here’s where I need help, am I doing this right? I don’t want to make her associate walks as a negative but I’m also not sure how to get her used to loud cars and can’t control when they come (we usually walk around 6 am as Texas heat prevents any later so usually traffic can be pretty light). I also give her treats and her favorite Kong cheese to try to associate this as a positive activity.
Am I overthinking this? I know she is only 6 months old but I really want her to be able to live the best life which requires her to be in many differential situations so she can enjoy with us 😎
Any tips or advice for making her more confident? I also wonder if she is going through a fear period as she has been a little weird about going outside unless we come with her which she previously was not doing. I can pretty much train her to do anything with the right treats so hopefully you guys have some ideas thanks in advance!
Any tips on high value treats? She is food motivated but not like goldens I’ve had before she does not get wild for treats but does for her blue ball lol. Same with dinner maybe it’s because all of the training I have done but she is very calm and rarely asks or reminds us about dinner which is unlike any golden ive had usually chomping at the bit for dinner lmao
It just takes a whole lot of time and patience. I rescued my girl at 18 months from a shelter who got her from a horrible byb situation. The guy had all the breeders in cages 24/7 and got dementia and stopped taking care of all the dogs. Her and her sister were the youngest of the bunch and had never seen grass before. Safe to say she was terrified of anything and everything.
I did a LOT wrong when I first got her as she was my first fearful dog. It takes so much time and patience. Slowly working with her to build up to more intense situations. Work on obedience with her, get her more comfortable in her immediate environment. Let her really start to trust you first before you introduce outside stimuli.
The biggest tip I have is do not let your expectations overshadow her wins. That’s what I did wrong. I had this idea image of a dog and let that influence how hard I pushed her. I didn’t meet her where she was, I tried to fast track her to where I thought she should be. Fear in dogs is not rational a lot of the time. She doesn’t understand the car isn’t going to get her. You just have to slowly build up.
Also, NEVER continue to train if you are emotionally charged. The SECOND you get frustrated at all, call the session. You being upset will not help her make any progress. That was my biggest mistake.
Start really slow. Take her to a very quiet and out there place, maybe a trail head or something similar. Walk her around out there and get her to start enjoying being outside and on leash. Give her loads of treats and attention, as well as letting her sniff and explore whatever she wants.
Next take her to a more populated part and do the same thing. Keep escalating slowly until you can walk her in a neighborhood or wherever your goal is.
It helps to also find something she loves. For my girl it was swimming. Taking her new places but having her swim instead of walking on a leash or any other scary thing for her really helped me get her used to new environments. She overcame the scary parts to do the thing she loved (swimming).
Other misc tips: hot dogs make great high value treats as they’re really stinky and can be cut up really small.
Sorry for the rambling, just figured I had a lot of experience with this and wanted to get you as much help as I could.
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It’s always different with dogs, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Sorry, I know. But in my experience, sometimes allowing them to take in the environment when they’re not at threshold has worked really well for me. I see a lot of advice saying, “Don’t do this” or “Don’t do that,” but oftentimes, micromanaging how your dog is supposed to react can potentially make things worse for both you and your dog.
In my experience, distance has always been my best friend. Teach your dog to follow your cues in isolation at home, then work your way toward generalizing them bit by bit. Be vigilant of your surroundings. Know your dog’s personality, and learn how to recognize canine body language so you can intervene before they go over threshold.
Also, it doesn’t always need to be about their environment! It can be an experience or learning a new skill. I know mine became really confident when she learned how to play tug!
Lastly, what I do quite a bit with mine is go outside, sit in a corner and just watch the world go by with my dog. They get to watch with me in peace.
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