How Do You Solve a Problem Like a Shy Dog?
I’m shy
There is more than one way on learning how to help a shy dog. Believe it or not, dog shyness is something that is experienced by more owners that you might have previously imagined. A dog will normally become very anxious if they tend to show signs or symptoms of shyness. What can you do about it and how can you make your dog’s life seem more at ease? Let us look at a few of the factors surrounding this mystery of dog behavior.
Signs and Symptoms of a Shy Dog
What are the signs and symptoms of a shy dog anyway? Nervousness is normally a common related sign, such as the dog scooting away when hearing loud noises. Hiding from visitors in your house, and also not eating as much (due to stress). Each case will vary slightly, but the overall criterion is generally the same. Most dogs love attention and they love the idea of going out into the city to meet and greet people. They want to stick their nose into the ground and smell all the wonderful smells. If your dog does not like doing this, you may have a problem on your hands.
Shy Dog No More
What are the steps you can take to help the process of fixing this problem?
I don’t know how to act around you
- Well, if your shy dog is still young, you have a better chance. Normally (just like with humans) a dog will become shy as it grows older, if there was a lack of outgoing activities earlier in its life. A sheltered upbringing plays an important role in this troublesome area. Other things such as a “very gullible puppy” could have played a role. Your pet could have been one of the “get pushed around” pups from the litter. All of these things play a key role.
- What else can be done? Are you a very loving owner of your pet? If your have some new knowledge of dog behavior (which you do now), you should be able to your shy dog. Well, you should be, but there is a soft love and a good love to training and down ownership. You don’t have to be hard with your pet in order to be a good owner. The reason for this is that you might be smothering the animal to much and without you, it feels insecure and doesn’t know what to do with itself (not in a good way I might add). You need to open up the doors of life to the pet and let it live a little on its own. You are hurting yourself for the later years if you keep this behavior up.
- Never praise an animal that is acting cowardly. You may mean to do so, but this soft loving ownership has a detrimental effect on what your goal is. Praise is a positive reinforcement and you do not want that for a shy dog. You want praise for a dog that is strong and brave and well behaved. One of the best tools you can have at your disposal for shyness training is a collar. Take the dog into the world alongside you, and let it experience some of the things it may have been lacking all of these years.
***Thanks to cajophora and susanklimmek for the photos***
