I hear this all the time at the OperationKindness shelter “aaw, the poor thing is so scared”, or “I feel so sorry for them”. We are an emotionally driven animal, so it’s natural for this to be our immediate response.
When I hear this I try to approach the person and explain that if they would visit with an air of confidence over their sorrow, it actually helps the dog to feel more comfortable and less nervous of the big scary person & the loud scary shelter.
Dog after dog that comes to Operation Kindness, I spend a few calm confident moments in their kennel, then I get them out for a walk thru our cool “forest” paths. By doing this (passing my energy/confidence, not feeling sorry for them even if I do, and going at the pace they allow) nervous dog after nervous dog, develops a confidence in/with me and quite often I have to start working on excited jumping when we go out.
I see quite a few requests for a trainer to either help their dog “come out of their shell”, or to “get control” of their dog. Both are similar fixes. Be confident, not emotional.
Feeling sorry for your rescue dog more than likely will only push them farther into nervousness and they could develop unwanted and even destructive behaviors, because they follow and need a calm/confident leader. They will “come out” as long as you stay confident and be patient. In the end it won’t take as long as you might think.
The same goes for “taking control” of your dog. More often than not, you start showing frustration. Again, they’re not going to follow an emotional leader – emotion in their world is weak. Stay confident and determined, they will “give in” because most dogs don’t really want to be the leader.
Confidence, Confidence, Confidence. Nothing is “unfixable”, there’s no situation you can’t handle as long as you stay calm, determined, and CONFIDENT not emotional.
