Fear Problem

[corky1]

Hi,

I have a male boarboel,13 months old, which is shy and very fearful.He is not aggressive also.Can you please provide me with some material or solution to help correct this problem. This canine is to provide us some security at home with time and therefore need to overcome this fear syndrome.
Kind regards,
James.

[KOPsarah]

hi james and thanks for your post
I was wondering if I could get a little more information. In waht situations is it fearful? Does it act as if it is scared of you? Also how long have you had him?

[corky1]

Originally Posted by KOPsarah

hi james and thanks for your post
I was wondering if I could get a little more information. In waht situations is it fearful? Does it act as if it is scared of you? Also how long have you had him?

Hi Kopsarah,
Thanks for the post.
I had him at 5 months of age. On arrival, he will not go on a walk on leash. I guess we worsened the problem by trying to pull him on the leash for a walk.
On verification from where I got him from, I was told they don't take the dogs for a walk.
Of course, (they have six of them at the moment), they have a big fenced yard for them to roam freely.
Now though, there is no fear of the the leash problem.
However, we hardly can go for a long distance walk because outside home,on leash, at the sight of humans and other dogs, he remains rooted to the spot and will not move. Not wanting to pull on the leash, I wait for the situation to clear before moving on. At times, he will refuse to move on from the spot so we have to return home.
No, he is not fearful of me or the other family members.He is very friendly and playful with all.
When visitors enter the house, he will run to the safety of his crate cage without any form of aggression. He will not even back.
When I am packing my car inside the house in the evenings, he will run to the entrance of his cage and will only come to me when I get out of the car.

He is kept locked-up in his cage from 6hrs GMT until 19hrs GMT, when he is fed and released to roam freely in the fenced yard until the next morning at 6hrs GMT, when he is sent back to his cage.
May be this narration may give you an idea of our problem.

[kjd]

Gee, Corky1,

He is shut up in a crate for thirteen hours during the day? Aren't there people in the house?

I realize you would love your dog to bark, but I don't think you would be happy if he showed aggression to visitors you invited in. I've always had German Shepherds. I encourage them to love people. Good as they are with people, strangers only see a large dog -- they don't have to growl or bark to scare people. With keeping him crated during the day, you may have inadvertantly trained your dog to go to the crate when he sees other people. Rather than being afraid, he may simply be obedient (as he sees your wishes). Try socializing him to people. A dog you can have in the room with you when you meet a stranger is more protection than a dog that has to be crated or put outside for fear he'll bite.

The breeder of the only puppy I had, recommended I never let her around strangers, so she would "protect" me. I ignored her suggestion. A year later, I met up with her again. The pup she had kept, which she never let around strangers, now had to be evicted from the house when guests arrived, she'd become so aggressive. Meanwhile, my dog was leaning out the car window to say "Hello"! Did she protect me? When strangers approached the car at night, she gave a low growl, but quieted as soon as I said it was OK. Unless you leave in a very dangerous neighborhood, I'd take a friendly dog over an aggressive one for protection any day.

[corky1]

Quote:
Originally Posted by KOPsarah View Post
hi james and thanks for your post
I was wondering if I could get a little more information. In waht situations is it fearful? Does it act as if it is scared of you? Also how long have you had him?
Hi Kopsarah,
Thanks for the post.
I had him at 5 months of age. On arrival, he will not go on a walk on leash. I guess we worsened the problem by trying to pull him on the leash for a walk.
On verification from where I got him from, I was told they don't take the dogs for a walk.
Of course, (they have six of them at the moment), they have a big fenced yard for them to roam freely.
Now though, there is no fear of the the leash problem.
However, we hardly can go for a long distance walk because outside home,on leash, at the sight of humans and other dogs, he remains rooted to the spot and will not move. Not wanting to pull on the leash, I wait for the situation to clear before moving on. At times, he will refuse to move on from the spot so we have to return home.
No, he is not fearful of me or the other family members.He is very friendly and playful with all.
When visitors enter the house, he will run to the safety of his crate cage without any form of aggression. He will not even back.
When I am packing my car inside the house in the evenings, he will run to the entrance of his cage and will only come to me when I get out of the car.

He is kept locked-up in his cage from 6hrs GMT until 19hrs GMT, when he is fed and released to roam freely in the fenced yard until the next morning at 6hrs GMT, when he is sent back to his cage.
May be this narration may give you an idea of our problem.
Edit/Delete Message

[KOPsarah]

Hi again Corky,
It sounds like your dog does have a little anxiety. The best way to work through this is to ignore his anxious behavior as you have been doing but then also to excitedly praise and treat your dog as soon as it shows calm confident behavior again. This will help show your dog that he is right to feel safe and confident around other people and dogs. I was also wondering why you keep your dog in his crate for 13 hours when you have a fully fenced yard? This may be contributing to his anxiety as he may feel isolated from his pack and dogs are very social creatures by nature, it will also allow him to build up a lot of energy through the day that can also be released as anxious and later even obsessive behaviors. So if it is possible to allow the dog free access to the yard during the day this is definitely something to consider. You can also try doing a little basic obedience with your dog each day and treating him or praising him excitedly every time he does the right thing to help build his general confidence.

Having a non-anxious confident large dog should be plenty of security. Dogs seem to have a six sense about people and are excellent at detecting moods and body language, when they are well bonded to their pack members they will almost always protect them should an extreme situation occur. Just having your large dog free in your yard should also be extra protection for your home and is also another good reason to have your dog free in the yard during the day.

I hope this helps. All the best,