Question: My dog is scared of other dogs, I don't know why. I took her walking yesterday and when we walked up to another dog it went crazy and tried to run away. Is there a reason for this or is she just being weird?
Maybe the other dog looked scary to yours? Not sure about dog psychology. I guess dogs do respond to a natural pack order and maybe the dog in question showed that alpha male attitude that put your dog off? Was there any thing else that scared your dog?
I am also not sure of the dog psychology, but is it one particular dog that it is scared of or dogs in general? If it is just one particular dog, then something negative may have happened between the two or the other guy is just aggressive or bullish and your dog is sensitive to that attitude.
I saw this qu on our chat yesterday, but didn’t have time to reply to it. I’m glad you posted it here.
Dogs will find thing fearful that we wouldn’t even notice, and just like us, some dogs tend to be more fearful than others. This fear is related to anxiety. So when your dog behaves like this she isn’t being weird, she’s just responding to something she thinks is really scary.
If your dog hasn’t been socialised with other dogs before, then it’s understandable that she was fearful. The point that Brent and Harjeet made about other scary things in the environment, or if your dog has had a particularly bad encounter with that specific dog before.
There are things you can do to improve your dog’s experience in these situations – reducing her anxiety and fear. Comforting your dog when she’s getting near unfamiliar dogs and starting to show signs of fear is one way to do this. Slowly exposing her to other dogs is another way to do this.
You will need to be patient with her, it takes time to overcome fears, and unlike with people, you can’t rationalise with your dog – you can’t convince her why she shouldn’t be scared.
When looking online for this sort of information you need to make sure the person giving the advice is well qualified.
Just remember, animals are the same as us, and they don’t behave in strange ways for no reason, it may be that you just can’t figure out what the problem is.
Hi daughterofares,
Maybe the other dog looked scary to yours? Not sure about dog psychology. I guess dogs do respond to a natural pack order and maybe the dog in question showed that alpha male attitude that put your dog off? Was there any thing else that scared your dog?
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Hi daughterofares,
I am also not sure of the dog psychology, but is it one particular dog that it is scared of or dogs in general? If it is just one particular dog, then something negative may have happened between the two or the other guy is just aggressive or bullish and your dog is sensitive to that attitude.
0
Hi Daughterofhades,
I saw this qu on our chat yesterday, but didn’t have time to reply to it. I’m glad you posted it here.
Dogs will find thing fearful that we wouldn’t even notice, and just like us, some dogs tend to be more fearful than others. This fear is related to anxiety. So when your dog behaves like this she isn’t being weird, she’s just responding to something she thinks is really scary.
If your dog hasn’t been socialised with other dogs before, then it’s understandable that she was fearful. The point that Brent and Harjeet made about other scary things in the environment, or if your dog has had a particularly bad encounter with that specific dog before.
There are things you can do to improve your dog’s experience in these situations – reducing her anxiety and fear. Comforting your dog when she’s getting near unfamiliar dogs and starting to show signs of fear is one way to do this. Slowly exposing her to other dogs is another way to do this.
You will need to be patient with her, it takes time to overcome fears, and unlike with people, you can’t rationalise with your dog – you can’t convince her why she shouldn’t be scared.
There are lots of links online to additional information. Try these sorts of pages:
https://www.cesarsway.com/training/dogtraining/Rehabilitating-a-Fearful-Unsocialized-Dog
https://companionanimalsolutions.com/blogs/dogdog-aggression-or-is-it/
When looking online for this sort of information you need to make sure the person giving the advice is well qualified.
Just remember, animals are the same as us, and they don’t behave in strange ways for no reason, it may be that you just can’t figure out what the problem is.
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