Preventing Fearful Behaviors by Desensitizing Your Puppy

by Brianna - Online Dog Coach

Welcome home new puppy! There are so many things to explore…

My favorite thing about puppies is their genuine curiosity. Our job as responsible and loving pet owners is to help our puppies confidently and safely explore their new world using positive dog training techniques.

How many adult dogs do you know that are deathly afraid of the vacuum, run the other direction when the grooming brush comes out, are nervous wrecks at the vet office, or go crazy when the door bell rings? Once these behaviors are learned it can be very difficult to retrain adult dogs. Fortunately, many of these conditioned responses can be avoided by using positive reinforcement to expose your new puppy to a variety of situations and provide opportunities for socialization.

Where to start? Great news! You can start desensitizing your puppy on day one virtually anywhere. All you need to do is look for opportunities and be prepared with a favorite toy or a few treats.

What kind of desensitizing opportunities should I look for?

The key to effective desensitizing is to focus on situations that your dog will frequently encounter. Examples of situations that nearly every household dog will encounter are:

A ride in the car
A trip to the vet
Noises from household appliances such as the vacuum, washer, dryer, or dishwasher.
Doorbell ringing
Mailman
Children
Noises from pots and pans in the kitchen
Grooming including brushing, nail trimming, and ear cleaning
Greeting other dogs

How do I desensitize my puppy?

Desensitizing your puppy can easily be part of your daily activities. Whenever your new puppy encounters a situation that elicits a fear response you should do the following:

Stay calm and confident. This is important because your puppy will pickup on your emotional signals. If you are confident, your puppy will be confident. If you are fearful, your puppy will be fearful
Do NOT acknowledge fearful behavior. Although you may think that you are comforting your puppy, you are actually encouraging a fearful response.
Reward and praise when your puppy demonstrates confidence.

Example: As an example, let’s talk through training your puppy to remain calm and confident around the vacuum.

First, simply bring the vacuum into the room and allow your puppy to sniff the vacuum. Reward and praise each time your puppy confidently walks up to the vacuum.
Next, turn on the vacuum and leave it in the corner of the room. Continue to play and reward your puppy with the vacuum running.
Start to vacuum once your puppy is confident with the noise from the vacuum. Have a family member continue to play and reward.

This may take several sessions depending on the temperment of your puppy. Remember to take it slowly, train often in short sessions, and have fun!

About the Author

Brianna has had dogs as companions for over 20 years. She has been formally training her dogs for over seven years including agility, obedience, and trick training. Her dogs have competed and have earned titles in AKC and USDAA agility. She has also volunteered at the local shelter to train the “un-trainable” dogs.

Brianna’s Dogs

TJ (Cocker Spaniel, “USDAA”: http://www.usdaa.com Agility Dog Champion), Shiner Bock (Carolina Dog), Kelvin Jay (Golden Retriever Rescue), Rankine on the Rise (Golden Retriever)