Scared dogs are a common problem to pet owners.  Dog fear can be compounded in many ways and it all starts at a very early age.

I’m scared

So what do you do with scared dogs? Gee, I thought dogs were supposed to be these strong, tough, brave animals all the time? Well, most dogs are, but you must remember that every animal has its problems, and you can’t expect your pet to be perfect all of the time. Here are a few steps you can take to help lesson the grips of fear your pet may be faced with.

Common Fears of Scared Dogs

Common fear is related to kids, heights (decks, stairs, cliffs, etc…), and loud noises, most commonly that of crackling thunder and honking horns on the road. Why are dogs scared of stairs? Well, they look rather intimidating wouldn’t you think? If your animal has arthritis it would also look a little more intimidating. Although your pet should have overcome the fear of stairs by that point in its life.

Here are some tips on how to calm down scared dogs:

• Remember to reward the dog with praise whenever it does something you wanted it to do. You should practice walking the dogs up and down the steps with a collar and leash on it, so as to relieve any anxiety it might be feeling during the training session. Never pet the dog before going up the stairs. Your dog is most likely feeling nervous and scared and the petting is only going to tell it that it was right of it to feel scared. This is not what we are after. We want the animal to think it was right of it to walk the stairs.
• This is a very basic thing to do and should be done at an early age. If your dog is not a puppy anymore and is still afraid, then you need to begin this process immediately. If your dog is with phobia, it could be because of a number of things. Your pet is going to have to use stairs at some point in its life and now is the time to start. You always want to let the dog experience the things you think are vital to its life at the earliest age possible. Letting things carry on before its too late is not the proper way to go about doing your dog training.

Scared Dogs and Kids

Are you my friend?

What about kids and scared dogs? Why would a dog be scared of a child anyways? Well, the reason is rather similar to that of heights and stairs. Never allowing the animal to see a child (this would be hard to do, but has been done) would certainly make it leery of going near one. Try your best to have your scared dogs socialize with some kinds of kids as your pet growing up. Heck, maybe your dog just doesn’t like children because one of them hit the dog when it was younger, or pulled its tail.

The possibilities are endless but the possibilities can also be changed.  Scared dogs can be trained, that is the beauty of the animal. Allowing it to be with all life has to offer from the start, will help you help yourself. As the dog matures it will remember everything that went on in the early days, and will make your training less stressful in the later years.

***Thanks to masthy and HHHCL for the photos.***