Please Help! Fear Aggression!

Subject: Please Help! Fear Aggression!
Dear Julie,
I have a very sweet 4 month old foster puppy. She was rescued probably about 2 weeks ago and, though once she's used to you, she's awesome, she has fear aggression! I was with my last foster yesterday and my new foster was there too and she showed her teeth, curled her lip, tucked her tail and backed away yelping and growling. What should I do?! She is also nervous around new people, so suggestions for helping her get through that would be awesome too. No one who comes to visit her is going to want her if she is scared of them and fear aggressive! Please help me! She is very people loving and good with dogs when she knows them, but if she doesn't they're big , scary monsters! PLEASE, HELP!
-Colleen

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Hello Colleen,
It's great what you are doing; I applaud you for your efforts with rescue dogs! Good for you! With fear, it is important to create more confidence in the dog. Through obedience training you can do that. Dogs also can feel overwhelmed in our human world so it is important to make them feel secure by taking the position of leader. If a dog feels there is a secure, confident leader taking care of things around them, then they don’t feel that they have to be the ones to control everything. By becoming your dogs leader, and being in charge of the surroundings, including new dogs and new people, your dog will learn to trust your judgment and not feel so scared.
Obedience training also helps establish your leadership role with the dog as well.

For fearful dogs, use high value treats (small bits of food that your dog goes crazy for-like cooked chicken breast, or deli meats). Ask your dog to sit before you feed them their meal, then treat for the sit. Ask your dog to sit before getting pet, then treat for the sit and pet them. The idea here is that several times throughout the day you ask something of your dog and reward them for doing it. What that does is boost their self-confidence. Make it fun and rewarding for you dog. If they are showing signs of fear, try to divert their attention and ask them to perform some obedience, like sits or downs for example, then reward for doing the task.

Also, make sure you are not petting your dog when they are showing signs of fear or aggression or else you will be rewarding that behavior. They should only be receiving praise and attention from you when they are in a positive, calm state.

Don’t force other dogs and new people on your dog at this point. Try to do things at a distance that they are comfortable with. Say for example they show fear at 200 feet from the person or dog; then do some obedience at 250 feet from it, rewarding with those high value treats. Then, over time, try to work up to going closer, each time measuring their level of fear. If done correctly, your dog will begin to change the association of fear when they see the object to pleasure, because they’ll be receiving these nice treats and pleasing you, their leader.

Over time, you should be able to get closer and closer to the object of fear while the dog is still maintaining a level of confidence and security. You must read your dog and work at their pace. It is also important that you maintain a feeling of calm confidence. If you feel worried, scared, or anything negative your dog will feel that from you and either not trust you or the situation. So, do it at a pace you are both comfortable with.

Keep up the good work!
I have so much information on my training website: www.webdogtrainer.com- everything from beginning obedience to advance training, dealing with behavior problems and understanding a dogs mind on my site. I think you’d find a lot of value in the site and I’d be there to help you along the way should you need it.

I hope the information above has been helpful to you! Let me know how it goes and if you need anything else!
Julie
www.webdogtrainer.com
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Julie,
Thank you SO much! That is very helpful! I will try those suggestions with her! Looks like a great website, I think I'll join! Thanks again! Colleen