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Pet Tales: My dog has outdoors anxiety
Dear Trainer,
My dog Lucky, is a 2-year-old mix-breed that is outgoing and devoted to his family. I rescued him when he was 4 months old when he was found on the side of the road with a serious head injury. Since then he has been insecure and nervous around people and situations that he is not familiar with. I love to bring him out, and it seems that he is really excited too. He jumps into the car and loves to ride with me while I do my chores, but when we get out of the car he would whine, or run around in panic, and sometimes he would crouch against a wall with his tail between his legs. I can’t get him to focus on me, it’s like I’m invisible. But I know he loves me but he won’t do anything I say, especially when we’re out of the house. Please help!
– S Yadav
Our Response:
Dear S Yadav,
It sounds like Lucky may be fearful of the great outdoors. With fear issues, it is important to take it slow and start where the dog is still fairly comfortable. What you may want to do for a start is just get him used to the immediate area around your house. Take Lucky just outside your house and feed him treats or even his daily meal. If you can feed him all his meals outside the house, even better!
Hang out with him there, feeding him food, until he looks comfortable being in that area. This may be very quick or may take a few days (or even weeks). Proceed then to the lift landing if you live in an apartment or a couple of meters down the road if you live in a house. Repeat the process of feeding your dog until he feels at ease (however long that might take). Then move further out again. Keep doing this with Lucky and slowly expand the area of comfort for your dog. This process is called desensitization and counter-conditioning.
Remember never to push Lucky too far too fast. A good way to know if you’ve pushed too far too fast is if Lucky will not eat his treats or food. If he will not eat, he is too stressed and you should return to an area where he is comfortable and not venture too far out just yet. Don’t blame him for not focusing on you right now – it’s hard to focus when you’re very scared! Imagine if you were in a dark creepy abandoned house worrying about ghosts, spiders or other scary things. You will have difficulty paying attention to me too if I asked you a question, as you would be too concerned about your surroundings!
Take your time with this and he will slowly gain some confidence outside and will be more able to focus on you. He is still very young and it will pay off to be patient with this training. Good luck! Lucky is indeed very lucky to have found such a concerned owner!
– Michelle Chan
Michelle Chan is owner and head trainer of Pup Pup ‘N’ Away, a Singapore-based dog training school that believes in positive reinforcement training methods. Michelle is one of the pioneers of positive reinforcement dog training in Singapore, and is enrolled in the Academy of Dog Trainers, one of the most highly respected and advanced trainer programs in the world, under the tutelage of Jean Donaldson, one of the world’s top dog trainers. Michelle is also a committee member of the Humane Society (Singapore) and a member of the Dog Sports Committee of the Singapore Kennel Club after stepping down as Chairperson in 2013.
Michelle Chan can be contacted at mi@puppupnaway.com.
Michelle Chan can be contacted at mi@puppupnaway.com