Episode 237: A Plan For Your Fearful Dog (Part 2): Susan Garrett’s Strategic Plan For Anxious Dogs

In episode 236 I detailed 10 reasons why dogs might show fear. In today’s part two, I’m giving you a strategic plan to help fearful, anxious dogs grow into calm, confident family pets. My uncommon approach is a game changer for dogs that are constantly afraid, anxious, over-reactive, or extremely excitable. Be sure you’ve listened to Part 1 first so you can identify the triggers that might be contributing to your dog’s fear. Leave me any questions below and here’s to helping you and your dog create a joyful life together!

In this episode you’ll hear:

Susan Garrett’s strategy for overcoming fear in dogs.
When to seek help from an applied veterinary behaviorist.
The science behind Susan Garrett’s dog training methodologies.
Myths about reinforcement-based dog training.
How to observe your dog’s body language.
The steps to identifying triggers and good environments to train.
About Classical Conditioning aka Pavlovian Conditioning for fearful dogs.
Why I use both Classical and Operant Conditioning for helping fearful dogs.
Published research on Classical plus Operant Conditioning for overcoming fear in rats.
How dogs habituate and generalize fear triggers into white noise.
The Triangle of Growing Confidence for dogs.
The transfer of value into games your dog loves to play.
Two categories of valuable games.
The Yerkes-Dodson Curve of Arousal in animals.
Examples of compound games for dogs.
Valuable calm games for dogs.
How to play the games at the place and time your dog is most comfortable.
How to create a distraction-free training den.
How to use the hierarchy of reinforcement for rewards.
My Success Story: Triangle of Confidence for my scared dog, This!
That counter-conditioning fear takes more than treats.
How to get all the dog training games with coaching support.

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One Comment

Maya July 9, 2024 at 12:47 am - Reply

So why stimulating games in the presence of triggers? I thought you were going to advise calming games only. Please help me understand that bit. I’m thinking you’re meeting the dog where they’re at, and then playing calming games to calm them… not sure.

Episode 237: A Plan For Your Fearful Dog (Part 2): Susan Garrett’s Strategic Plan For Anxious Dogs