Ok, so you've got a dog who convulses with fear at the sight of ______(insert your dog's trigger here- i.e. Nail clippers, uncle Bob, the evil vacuum, women in hats, garbage trucks, car rides, the christmas tree, your father's harmonica, running water, your boyfriend's mother, being restrained by the vet, the wind-up snowman doll that sings "let it snow" and does the mechanical gyration dance, etc. ). He can't control himself, he tries to flee at all costs, clawing his way in the opposite direction.

You happen to really want to help your dog to overcome this fear, or at least be able to see this thing without throwing up. Here's what you do, in a nutshell:

Once you figure out what's setting them off,

Find what they love most in the world (usually food, sometimes toys, perhaps a certain favorite person, etc..)

Combine the two!

In other words, you get a hold of some liverwurst, roast beef, hot dog bits, olive loaf, squeaky tennis balls, gouda cheese, jarlsberg cheese, pecorino romano cheese, queso blanco cheese from the spanish section of the market, whatever your dog goes COMPLETELY NUTS OVER. And give them that thing ONLY when they see the nail clipper, the harmonica, the evil hairdryer, or whatever the trigger is.

If you do it consistently, every time your dog sees the bad, bad thing, he will begin to thing of gouda when he sees it. And THAT, my friends, is the magic of animal behavior!

Continue reading... "how this freaky site works..."

From: Jim

So I adopted Virgil 3 months ago, and a week after I got him, he broke his leg jumping a fence that is as tall as me.
He is a pit/lab mix that I adopted from the Downtown Dog Rescue here in LA. He is sweet, but terribly shy.

So after all of that, he had surgery, and the cast came off on Monday. His leg is all raw, and he is wearing one of those One Crazy Summer collars to keep him from licking his legs.

so the question is, what is the most effective way to get him over his shyness. he tends to hide in my room on his bed, and only comes out of his shell when we go for walks.

He's a good dog, and I just want him to be happy.

thanks
jim.

From: m@dropthatsock.com

here we go...

okay, so you find the one thing in life that virgil (best name for a shy pittbull, b.t.w.) goes batpoop for. maybe hot dogs or roast beast or whatever it is. so you only give him that thing when he's around something that makes him nervous. bring the goods on your walk, and wherever else you take him.

when you have people over, tell them to ignore him completely, no eye contact, verbal interaction and hell-no to petting, especially over the head. if he chooses to come around, even if it's within 10 feet of the threat, give him the hot dog chunk and tell him what a great-ass dog he is.

this whole process could take awhile, depending on how shy he is. but the rule: let him make his move. don't force it. if he wants to make the move, he'll get showers of hot dogs, but only if he stands up to the fear. you have to make him associate whatever his fear triggers are with something out-of-this-world good. and he gets no hot dogs any other time, not for sitting and staying, not for rolling over or whatever. use milkbones for that stuff.

also, the lampshade collars can make fearful dogs more freaked out because they smash into things like walls and when they do, the noise is amplified by the lampshade. so give him some breaks from that collar whenever you can, so long as he's not eating himself.

also, you can make the silent rule this: he gets none of your attention unless he's being marginally brave and/or somewhat confident. so if you see him prancing around, head high for any reason, he gets physical attention. and you can pet him on his chest, not on his head. petting under his chest encourages a more confident body posture.

don't coddle him when he';s scared, no massages to "soothe" him. sometimes a dog thinks it's praise and you don't want him to be praised for acting all shivery and snarky.

you took on a dog with issues, i'm proud of you! usually the scared dogs tend to bond with the owner pretty tight, so you'll have a good friend out of this.

and don't have any wild budweiser parties with him at home. it'll just make him go crazier. take it slow and let me know how you're doing, okay?

m

...read on for the virgil update...

Continue reading... "questions from readers- a fearful virgil..."

Q: The reason I am writing is because I have taken in two beagles who were hunting dogs. Their previous owner used them to hunt rabbits and gave them to us last week. One is about two years old and got
lost in the woods for three days. When we found her, she was hungry and didn't want to hunt with her owner and since my sister and I were fawning over her, he said we could have her. She seems fairly healthy and well adjusted. The other one is about eight years old and the hunter was going to shoot her because she was slowing down the pack. My dad told him that we would take her and so we did.
She seems to have been abused though and is very skittish. She won't go near my dad at all and hides when he comes in the garage. She will come to me though but is very nervous and jumpy at sudden
movements or loud, unfamiliar noises.

Continue reading... "emailed q&a......"