5 Common Dog Phobias and How to Combat Them
It’s perfectly natural for your pup to have fears. However, if your pup has an irrational fear that causes them extreme amounts of stress or anxiety, action must be taken. There are methods you can use to ease your pup’s fears and potentially make them go away in time.
To help you approach and understand your pup’s fears, here is a list of 5 common dog phobias and how to combat them!
1. Fear of Thunderstorms
Those loud, dark, rainy days may be alluring and beautiful to some, but for some dogs they can be intimidating. If your pup is scared of thunderstorms, you can always have them listen to the sound of thunder on C.D. to get them more used to it. During a thunderstorm, you could have them wear a Thundershirt, or spray calming pheromones to help them relax. It’s generally recommended by veterinarians not to coddle your pup during a thunderstorm. You want your pup to think that it’s a normal, harmless occurrence, so while it’s happening, act calm and normal. Acting calm and collected will lead them to be the same way.
2. Separation Anxiety
If you leave your pup home alone and they exhibit destructive behavior, or they get overwhelmingly stressed out, then they may have separation anxiety. A good way to combat this is by leaving your pup alone for a few minutes, then increasing those few minutes to 20 minutes, then an hour, and so on until you can leave them alone for hours at a time. This training process may take time before it is successful, but be patient and you will see results! You could also leave your pup audio books featuring human voices while you are away so that they can remain calm.
3. Fear of Riding in the Car
If your pup is overwhelmed with anxiety whenever they take a car ride, then that could potentially be a big problem. They will need to get to the vet, friends’ and families’ homes, and other important places throughout their lives. To alleviate their fears of riding in a car, you could buy them a crate to stay inside while commuting. You could place some of their favorite toys or items in the crate with them so that they feel safe and close to home. You could also take test drives with them to places they enjoy, such as a dog park, or a beach! Over time, this will show them that there’s nothing to worry about, and that riding in a car isn’t that bad.
4. Fear of Strangers
To prevent this fear from developing, it’s important to socialize your pup with humans from a young age. Even then, there are some dogs who will just naturally have a little fear when around other people they don’t know. It’s important to let your pup approach people at their own pace, and to not stress them out by forcing people onto them if they are not comfortable with it. Some pups may just take time to open up to people. If you have a friend or relative that visits often that your pup is afraid of for example, have that person try to bond with them without overwhelming them. Have the person offer your pup their favorite treats and talk to your pup in a gentle voice. They may come around with time and patience.
5. Fear of Children
If your puppy didn’t have much interaction with children during their early years, then they may end up developing a fear of children. It’s recommended to never leave dogs with this fear alone with children, and the best course of action to take with a dog like this
would be to bring them to a pet trainer. You could also try to slowly introduce children to your pup from a distance while they are on a leash. Do not let the child touch the dog, instead, let them toss treats to them from a few feet away, to show your pup that they are not threatening.
Have you witnessed any fears in the dogs in your life? Leave a comment and let us know!